• Bio

    Joycelyne Lew

    SAG/AFTRA/AEA 

    If academic degrees guaranteed a high paying, stable career in Hollywood, Joycelyne Lew would be at the top of the acting pyramid. Like every good actress, however, she knows that she must dedicate her life to the pursuit of her art, regardless of diplomas earned. The passion to make a career in acting isn't fueled by logic.

    Joycelyne grew up in Culver City, California, near the backlots of MGM Studios. Long before she was born, her father was often a chauffeur to Hollywood luminaries like Lucille Ball, Anita Loos, and Jean Harlow. Her mother was a movie extra, who eventually played Marlon Brando's mother-in-law in the film "Sayonara," and both her parents worked for actor William Holden for a time.

    Joycelyne started accompanying her mother to the studios by the time she was three years old; and began long-begged for lessons in ballet, tap, and acrobatics. A career in entertainment seemed inevitable, as she was a top child model by the time she was 12.

    Although thoroughly hooked on entertainment, Joycelyne followed the wishes of her parents and the traditions of many Asian-American families, by giving up her budding career and going to school. She earned a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre Arts at UCLA, with a certificate in teaching; and a Master's Degree in Education from Pepperdine University. She began a teaching career in elementary education.

    Never giving up her dream of a career in the entertainment industry, she tried to have both, which soon proved impossible. She would often have to rush to and from auditions and jobs, making complete changes of clothing, hairstyles, and make-up while driving, as she once did while enroute to an appearance on "The Tonight Show." Eventually, she abandoned the classroom for the soundstage.

    Joycelyne began appearing in films, such as "Fatal Beauty" with Whoopi Goldberg, "Tai Pan", "Hindsight", "Shattered Image", and a lead in "The Big Brawl", for which she received excellent reviews. She had the largest part ever given a woman in the "Kung Fu" television series; and other television credits include "The Golden Girls", "Married with Children", "General Hospital", and "The Young and the Restless."

    She has been recognized and listed in "The Who's Who of Women", and she is on the Blue Ribbon Committee of the Emmy Awards, and the National Endowment for the Arts Judging Committee for Film Grants.

    Joycelyne's physical assets have helped keep her busy as a hand and leg model in commercials for dozens of products, from poking Pillsbury's Doughboy, to providing legs for Kim Basinger's billboard.

    She even did Dream Dresser's lingerie catalog! Weight lifting helps keep her in shape; and her body has been shown in "Allure", "Muscle and Fitness", "Fitness",; and "Hardbodies" magazines. She has been featured on numerous programs, like "E! Entertainment", "Current Affair", and "Hard Copy" shows in the U.S., to "Peep" in Germany, and a British documentary for September Films in England, as well as "Live It Up!" in Canada.

    Her ability to mimic characters using many accents has led to her demand as a voice-over artist. Joycelyne recently re-dubbed the lead in Bernie Casey's directoral debut, "The Dinner." She also has done cartoon voices for Hanna Barbara, industrial narrations, trailers for features, commercials, and dramas on National Public Radio.

     

  • It is not often that a convention gets to book someone for whom memorable roles in the all-time legendary film “The King and I” with Yul Brunner and the martial arts classic “The Big Brawl” with Jackie Chan are just two highlights if an extraordinary, diverse resume.
    But that’s what you’ll be getting with Joycelyne Lew.

    Under contract with 20th Century Fox at the age of 8, Joycelyne will be able to regal attendees with tales of Hollywood’s true Golden Age. There is her role as Princess Ying Yaawolak in the aforementioned “King”.
    She can also talk about being carried off into the sunset by Rock Hudson in “Battle Hymn of the Republic”; singing while Humphrey Bogart played the piano in “Left Hand of God”; her role as a reporter in “Wrong Is Right” with Sean Connery and starring with George Hamilton in “The Happy Hooker Goes To Washington”.

    Oh, and her first film was with a guy named Ronald Reagan.
    She has been inducted three times in the the USA Hall of Fame, and garnered the 2023 Hall of Honors award.as Entertainer of the Year. Joycelyne’s most famous roles are arguably in martial arts projects.
    She played a bombshell in one of Jackie Chan’s biggest films, “The Big Brawl”. She also had the largest role ever written for a woman in the iconic “Kung Fu” series starring David Carradine. Additionally, she played a geisha in “Blade Runner”, a ninja fighter in “Big Trouble in Little China” and the mistress in “Samurai Cop 2”.
    She is a member of the television academy, further making her name in some if the biggest shows of the past few decades: classics like “Golden Girls”, “The Jeffersons”, “The Fall Guy” and “Married..With Children” as well as soaps like “Days of Our Lives”, “The Young and the Restless” and “General Hospital”.
    She currently spearheads an entertaining cooking show called “Cooking In With Joycelyne”, during which she makes inexpensive, nutritious dishes with guest celebrities. She has her own streaming channel on XOTV featuring meals for restricted diets, the latest being “Diabetic Dishes with Joycelyne.”
    Speaking of guests, Joycelyne was a guest on more than one occasion at the famed Playboy mansion – and to this day puts out a pinup calendar annually.
    Her sex appeal and penchant for comedy combine when she assumes the role of Mae East, a quirky version of Mae West in which Joycelyne writes her own jokes ” with an Asian slant”.
    A skilled voice actor and impressionist, she has pulled off everything from a convincing 50 year- old on Cartoon Network to baby voices in Japanese cartoons.
    As a hand model, she has poked the Pillsbury Doughboy.
    As a leg model, she doubled for Kim Basinger’s limbs on a huge billboard that was placed on the Sunset Strip.
    Having filmed 3 movies in the past year, Joycelyne shows no signs of slowing down.
    She is currently zombified in “Amityville Uprising” and singing in “Call Me Emmanuelle.”She plays Ms. Moon in “Pepitos Mamadas” which was nominated for an Emmy in 2023, and her Evil Lyne character is in the film “Raiders of the Lost Leche,”which was derived from the Señor Leche series.

    Her next martial arts film is “Fatal Needles of Death” and she’ll be playing a social worker in “Who’s Gonna Take Care of Me?” She has a huge range of voiceover characters, accents and impressions. Currently voicing all the female characters on the Neptune 9 anime show as well as numerous episodes of Radio Vault Mystery Theatre.