
NÉA DUNE









Bio
She's the modern renaissance woman - award-winning actress and model, HMUA/SFX artist, creative director/producer, underwater stunt-woman and mermaid, creature performer, activist and educator, multi-faceted neurodivergent creative with a linguist and STEM background. Born-and-raised in Croatia (ex-Yugoslavia), Néa Dune is splitting her time between Europe and USA, based in Los Angeles. She first moved overseas as an extraordinary abilities alien in the fall of 2015. After arriving in Hollywood, it took less than 2 weeks to land her first feature film role and hair modeling campaigns, ultimately earning her a greencard in record time.
Néa speaks 8 languages, with a natural ear for dialect/accents and nurtures a rich skillset, breaking glass ceilings and winning awards in every field she immerses herself into. The model-turned-actress has been working with renowned directors and creators on both mainstream and indie projects; modeled for over 150+ brands and graced 45+ magazine covers worldwide. Néa first gained recognition through international editorials and vixen roles, signing with her first foreign model agency back in 2012 in London, UK.
Before her move overseas, Néa studied acting at the only English-language acting school in Zagreb - International Arts Centre, and continued honing her craft through L.A. workshops with respected teachers and industry coaches. Before starting her on-camera career, she earned two Master degrees in linguistics and STEM fields, won a Rector's Award for her work and continued with a ph.D, that she traded for a full-time entertainment career. She's been implementing her linguist skills as a Voice-Over actress and translator for over a decade, specializing in Balkan languages (her native Croatian, as well as Yugoslav languages), English and Spanish. Now SAG-Core, Néa directed, wrote, cast and produced 2 film projects in festival circuit gathering over a dozen laurels, including winning a Best International Short Film award for her debut "SlavInLA" that she is developing into a full project. When not in front of the camera, she creates looks behind the lens as a certified Make-Up/Hair/SFX celebrity artist and pose coach.
Néa has been a dedicated volunteer and humanitarian for the majority of her life, both hands-on (from environmental work in Croatia and Iceland, STEM/space events or training low-income dancers competitions in Croatia, to US ambassadorships and supporting events with a cause) and online to bring awareness to various causes she advocates for: conservation and marine activism, invisible illnesses, equality and opportunities for women, innovation, alt subcultures and her native culture to help remove stigmas.
She served in the European Youth Parliament for almost a decade, which polished her English language mastery and ignted the activism spark. Néa also offers her expertise to fellow foreigners to the USA as a certified life/career coach specializing in O1 and EB1 visas, with all success stories - pulling from her rich teaching and speaking experiences.
Ever since early childhood she has been exceptionally creative, always crafting and bringing her ideas to life as a true neurodivergent polymath. As such, Néa achieved a lot of firsts - including recognition as the first successful Croatian alt model & covergirl (while also being crowned Top5 US Alt Models in 2018); the first Croatian mermaid SireNea and creator of MerAdria project (Croatia's and Balkan region's first and only mermaid eco-events benefitting the Adriatic Sea); the youngest academic researcher at the time, as well the first regional alternative aerialist/coach at the time.
Néa is always on the hunt for new skills and abilities, thriving on intertwining them: she enjoys producing meaningful content, specializes in underwater stunts as a professional mermaid and certified PSS freediver, as well as a trained ballroom dancer/aerialist with 20+ years of experience; a creature performer and stilt-walker, archer, lover of extreme sports, well-traveled linguistic aficionada (native Croatian; native level in Balkan languages Serbian and Bosnian; fluent English and Master degree in Spanish; proficient in German, French, Slovenian and Latin etc.).