Daniela Sea (born 1977) is an American musician, performance artist, former circus juggler, and actress.
Sea grew up in Malibu, California, raised by her artist/surfer/hippie parents. When she was a child, her father came out as gay. Her stepfather taught her to surf and moved the family to Hawaii so they could enjoy better surfing. Her earliest memories are of the ocean, later inspiring her pseudonym.
Sea "I ran away when I was 16 from L.A. and I moved to the Bay area, like a good gay kid would." While there in Berkeley, she joined the DIY/punk/feminist/artist space Gilman Street Project, studied improv acting in Laney College, and played in several punk rock bands, including The Gr'ups and Cypher in the Snow.
Sea traveled all over Europe and Asia. She hitchhiked through Turkey, did some street theatre, and performed as a fire juggler with a traveling circus in Poland. As a punk rocker, she and her band cross-dressed. At one point in her world travels, she lived in India for eight months as a man.
She said about her sexuality:
After Sea returned from Europe, she moved to New York City. and decided to re-enter the acting world, giving an audition tape to a friend who worked on The L Word's writing staff. Sea then got a call at her restaurant job in New York and was asked to fly to Los Angeles for an audition. She was then offered to perform the role of Moira Sweeney, an androgynous computer technician who moves from the Midwest with Jenny (Mia Kirshner). Over the course of the season, Moira comes out as a transman, adopting the name "Max Sweeney". She and Leisha Hailey (Alice) are the only out lesbians in The L Word ensemble cast, although Laurel Holloman (Tina) is bisexual.
Recently, she has helped to form a band called Bitch and the Exciting Conclusion with Bitch (formerly of Bitch and Animal).
Besides The L Word, Sea's filmography also includes the films Shortbus (2006) (with Bitch, playing characters based on themselves) and Itty Bitty Titty Committee, released in 2007. She also appeared in the John Cameron Mitchell-directed music video for Bright Eyes' "First Day of My Life" with Bitch.
