BIO
Susan has enjoyed a diverse and exciting career as a director of staged plays and short films, and an actor in film, television, animation voice over (dozens of audiobooks, animated tv series, and commercials), as well as having worked in award winning theater with Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights at prestigious regional theaters in the US.
Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, Susan graduated high school from Baltimore School For the Arts and later received a B.F.A from Boston University. Upon graduating she moved to San Francisco where she worked acting in commercials for companies such as Toyota, Tse, Hidden Valley Ranch, Apple, Hewlitt-Packard and Gap. While in San Francisco she also played leading and supporting roles in theater productions with American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, CA Shakespeare Theater, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and later at Indiana Repertory Theater.
Upon moving to Los Angeles, Dalian found more opportunity working as an actor in roles in film, television, and commercials some of which include: The Brothers directed by Gary Hardwick with Morris Chestnut, Shamar Moore and Gabrielle Union, The Kid directed by Jon Turtletaub with Bruce Willis, Emily Mortimer and Chi McBride, Undefeated directed by Walter Hill with Wesley Snipes, Room 6 directed by Micheal Hurst, I'm Through With White Girl's directed by Jennifer Sharp, Chevy commercial directed by Mark Pellington, Star Trek: Voyager, The Practice, Felicity directed by J.J Abrams & Todd Holland, The Hughley's with D.L Hughley, Joey with Matt LeBlanc, the voice of "Storm" in Wolverine and the X-men and Cap Com vs Marvel Video Game, and the voice of "Haku" in the popular anime series Naruto as well as several video games.
Susan has performed lead and supporting roles in stage productions with several Los Angeles theater companies, some of which include: South Coast Repertory in plays with Pulitzer Prize winning playwrights Lynn Nottage (Crumbs from the Table of Joy), Tracy Letts (The Man from Nebraska) and Bill Rauch (Lovers and Executioners), The Actors’ Gang directed by Tim Robbins (Mephisto, The Guys), Bill Rauch & Tracy Young (Medea, Macbeth, Cinderella) and Tracy Young (Dreamplay), Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company directed by Lisa Wolpe (The Merchant of Venice) and 24th Street Theater (The Importance of Being Earnest) directed by Gregg Daniel.
As a writer Dalian's work includes: co-writer of the play, Ambrosia, that explores the relationships between three young women and their deceased grandmothers produced originally in Los Angeles and later at the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival (Fringe NYC) and in Baltimore. She also wrote an original comedy play, The Real Housewives of Tusktown, that was produced in Mammoth Lakes, CA.
For four years Susan was Resident Director at Sierra Classic Theatre in Mammoth Lakes, CA where she directed non-traditional Shakespeare productions that kept the words of the Bard intake while reimagining the settings of the plays in different eras: A Midsummer Night's Dream set in the modern day town of Mammoth Lakes, Two Gentlemen of Verona set in "the talkies" era of Hollywood, The Merchant of Venice set in the 1849 U.S. westward expansion era, As You Like It set in 1969 CA "Summer of Love" and Macbeth set in a post-apocalyptic 2069. She has also directed other productions for Sierra Classic Theatre that include John Patrick Shanley's Outside Mullingar, and a staged reading of Gina Gionfriddo's Rapture, Blister, Burn. She also directed The Importance of Being Earnest, and a theater for young audiences play Art Dog for Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre.
Susan has worked extensively as a director in development of new plays. This work began when she directed a staged reading of The Narcissist Next Door written by Ellen Buckley at The Matrix Theater in Los Angeles. In 2019 that play received a full production as part of Hollywood Fringe where it received a Hollywood Fringe Encore Request as well as a Double Sweet Bitter Lemons Critics and Audience Award. Some other projects directing new works for the stage include: Lie After Lie After Lie by Stephen Dierkes (Cal Tech: MACH 33 Science Driven Playwright Festival in collaboration with Pasadena Playhouse), Broken by Aaron Braxton and Waiting by Aja Houston (Inkwell Theater New Play Development), A Bagfull of Stars by Dionna Michelle, The Honeycomb Theory by Garrett Mercer, Token by Bernardo Cubria, and How To Raise a Freeman by Zakiyyah Alexander (AMMO Theatre Company), Iseult et Tristan by Pia Wilson (IAMA Theatre Company, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club), Villians by Marq Ewing (LA Writers Center) and Breaking Barriers by Katrina D. RiChard (USC's MFA Playwright Festival).
Susan's has also directed film projects including a high concept, virtual reality 3D film of scenes from Macbeth and Hamlet featuring Michelle Hurd, Neil Flynn, Eddie Steeples, and Kelly Perine with Shakespeare in the Sphere. She co-directed and co-wrote the short film Bite Me which had its World Premiere screening at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival 2019 and was also selected to screen at the 2019 Catalyst Content Festival & Festival Angaelica.
Dalian has been nominated for an NAACP award for acting, and received an LA Weekly Ensemble Award and Backstage West Garland Award (Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella at The Actors' Gang). For her work in audiobooks she received an Audie Award for her audiobook narration for the novel When No One is Watching for HarperCollins Publishing and was a 2024 Audie Award Finalist for Obsession Collection. She is also an alumnus of Director's Lab West and for two years has been one of their associate producers.
Susan is currently an Associate Artistic Director & Conference Producer at PlayPenn (a new play development theater company in Philadelphia). She is also an adjunct professor guest directing productions at and Cal State LA, and University of Southern California, School of Dramatic Arts and continues in her ongoing work on various audiobook narration projects. She most recently directed Hamlet at Santa Cruz Shakespeare and recently been announced director for August Wilson's Fences at Santa Cruz Shakespeare in June 2026. In Jan 2026 she will direct Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Eboni Booth's play Primary Trust at Boise Contemporary Theatre in Jan 2026.
