Lissa Carandang-Sweeney

Lissa Carandang-Sweeney is a mixed Filipino American actor, producer, and costume designer based in New York City, but raised in and around Philadelphia. Her first on-camera role-as a featured bar girl in the third season of Amy Sherman-Palladino's The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel-kicked off her determination to pursue acting professionally. Her first leading role in a feature film, Alice-Heart, cemented her conviction to work on projects she believes in and to support the films she contributes to, both on and off camera, when invited. With Alice-Heart also being the first feature she lead-produced, Lissa was ecstatic to receive Slamdance 2025's Honorable Mention for the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize, as well as the festival's Outstanding Acting Award.

Lissa hopes to rekindle the liberated spirit of independent, low-budget filmmaking and to encourage more Gen Z artists to tell stories that are true to them-no matter how seemingly trivial or grand. She firmly believe that film sets should be environments that foster collaboration and friendship, and she aspires to influence a future where this outlook becomes customary.