Cherylene Lee

Cherylene Alice Lee (June 13, 1953 – March 18, 2016) was an American actress and writer born and raised in Los Angeles. A fourth-generation Chinese-American, she had two sisters, Priscilla, known as "Puggy," and Virginia.

Lee began performing as a child actress and dancer at the age of three. She and her sister Virginia formed a song and dance team that performed in Las Vegas for three summers. Her stage career continued into adulthood, and in 1975 she appeared on Broadway in A Chorus Line, returning to the production again in 1977.

Outside of performing, Lee pursued an extensive academic career. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Paleontology from UC Berkeley and a Master of Science in Geology from UCLA. She subsequently worked as a Disney Imagineer, managing an alternative wastewater treatment plant.

In 1983, Lee turned her attention to writing, producing plays, poetry, and fiction. Her plays include The Legacy Codes, which addressed the Wen Ho Lee affair, and Carry the Tiger to the Mountain, which centered on the death of Vincent Chin. In 2015, she self-published an autobiography titled Just Like Really: An Uncommon Chinese American Memoir.

Lee died on March 18, 2016, in her sleep, following a long battle with breast cancer. Her two sisters were at her side at the time of her death.