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Sea was born on July 26, 1973, in Malibu, California.[1] Their parents Melantha Kathleen Tatum-Bobrick and Stuart Wayne Miller were artists and their maternal grandfather Donn Tatum was the CEO of The Walt Disney Company.[2][3] Sea described their parents as hippies who "left a lot of doors open for me to experiment with my gender expression and life choices".[4] Despite an accepting home environment, Sea still describes having a rough childhood due to the way society viewed being queer and trans in the 1980s and that they were bullied for being a 'tomboy' and 'weird'.[4] Sea grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons, and found refuge in books - especially sci-fi and fantasy - punk and friends who were also outsiders.[4][5]
Sea traveled across Europe and Asia. They hitchhiked through Turkey, did some street theatre and performed as a fire juggler with a traveling circus in Poland. As a punk rocker, Sea and their band often performed in drag.[7] At one point in their world travels, they lived in India for eight months as a man.
Career
After Sea returned from Europe, they moved to New York City[8] 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 their restaurant job in New York and was asked to fly to Los Angeles for an audition.[6] They were then offered the role of Moira Sweeney, an androgynous computer technician who moves from the Midwest with Jenny (Mia Kirshner).[6] Over the course of the season, Sweeney comes out as a trans man, adopting the name Max Sweeney. In 2022, Sea reprised the role in the third season of the sequel series The L Word: Generation Q. When the episode aired, Sea was interviewed by the Los Angeles Times[5] and Indie Wire[9] about their experience performing the role of Max Sweeney, and about their return to the show.
Sea played in an unnamed music project with Will Schwartz. They played their second show at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, in October 2010.[11]
In their most recent work as a conceptual artist, Sea works through language, music and memoir in a practice that is expansive, crossing several mediums. In 2018, Sea co-created a decolonial theater piece with Marissa Lôbo and Jota Mombaça collaborating with Brazilian artists Ani Gonzala, Juliana Dos Santos and Indigenous leader Sônia Guajajara.[5] Sea is co-writer, producer and songwriter on La La La Little Shows, a decolonial children's sci-fi series, which includes animation, music performance, narrative storytelling and interviews with artists. This show centers BIPOC and Queer characters and artists.[12]
Personal life
Since 2017, Sea has been living between Vienna and California.[5]
Sea has been vegetarian since they were 15,[13] and a longtime vegan.[14]
Sexuality and gender
In 2006, Sea revealed that since they were 19, they only had significant relationships with women, leading them to identify politically as "a lesbian, or a dyke, or on the queer spectrum" but that "every few years it changes, how we want to define it."[6] They also reiterated how since they "don't believe that gender is just binary, and [...] never have, they identified more with being bisexual or "open-ended".[6]
In a May 2021 interview with Autostraddle, Sea reflected upon their journey with sexuality and gender. They talk about having been with people of different genders growing up, and that they identify as "something like pansexual".[4] Sea mentions the difficultly having to navigate being non-binary in the media and public eye while playing a trans character, Max Sweeney, in The L Word due to a lack of understanding. Sea later clarified they identify as trans, non-binary, gender expansive, and queer.[4] They have also added the pronouns he/they to their bio on Instagram.[15]
