Dina Morrone achieved her dreams in the entertainment industry through tenacity and determination.

As a young girl growing up in a family of Italian immigrants in the remote Canadian city of Thunder Bay, actress and playwright Dina Morrone did not have a lot of opportunities to pursue her dream of becoming an entertainer.

No one in her family had ever been in show business, and while her grandfather and parents were supportive, her hometown of approximately 100,000 people on the shore of Lake Superior did not have a thriving theater scene or the industry to support her dream.

“I was constantly pushing things that I wanted to do, and it was always in the form of entertainment, of being in front of people, getting dressed up and doing something that was creative in front of people,” Morrone said. “And it was very hard for my parents, because they didn’t have money. Their whole thing was let’s survive, let’s just eat and let’s have a roof over our head. It was very different. There wasn’t much opportunity for what I wanted to do.” 

But Morrone was undaunted. When she became a teenager, she started figure skating and modeling, which led to more opportunities. With perseverance and determination, Morrone made her dream a reality. 

“I had these big dreams. It was all through sheer tenacity,” Morrone added. “I said, ‘I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this,’ and I moved to Toronto.”

She attended and graduated from the Metropolitan University in Toronto and began working in television production in Canada. Fluent in Italian, she later moved to Rome and within three months was chosen for an advertising campaign for the Ford Motor Company. More work in commercials, film and television followed in Italy, and her career blossomed. While working with director Norman Jewison on the film “Only You” (1994) in Italy, she met film editor Stephen E. Rivkin, her future husband. In 1995, Morrone moved to Los Angeles to further pursue her career in entertainment. The couple later married and has lived in Beverly Hills since 2000.

Encouraged by her husband, Morrone wrote plays about her life stories, including “The Italian in Me,” a one-woman comedy she wrote based on a chance meeting with Maestro Federico Fellini when she lived in Rome. Morrone also created “Moose On The Loose,” a comedy play about an Italian family and a Canadian moose, and “My Uterus, A Womb With a View,” a “stimulatingly funny” show about women’s experiences. “My Uterus” is being staged on March 21-22 at Theatre West, where Morrone has been a member since 2001. She said the upcoming show is among her proudest creations.

“I have my [summary] that is pretty much the whole way I feel about it, ‘Dina digs deep into her pelvic cavity to explore what the uterus really is, what it means to own one and to probe and examine how and why it continues to get screwed over again and again by those who have no business being in there.’ That pretty much sums up the show,” she said. “I think it’s a perfect play for Women’s History Month. We wouldn’t be anywhere without a uterus, and the uterus was inside a woman.”

Morrone said she hopes her plays – and career accomplishments – are inspirational, particularly to young women undecided about pursuing their dreams in the entertainment industry. She gives back by helping others to create plays, providing guidance and encouraging women to “never give up.”

“Not everybody’s past is the same, and I had to learn that the hard way, because you look at somebody and go, ‘I want their life or I want to be in that movie or I want to be doing her job.’ I think I’m where I’m supposed to be right now, and I think I’m in the right place,” Morrone said. “And as long as you’re doing what you love, then you’re in the right place too and should never compare yourself to anybody. The thing I want to stress is that as a woman and as a woman’s voice, I learned that speaking up and saying what I say really helps people. I’m incredibly proud of that.”

“My Uterus, A Womb With a View” will be held on Saturday, March 21, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 22, at 2 p.m. at Theatre West, 3333 Cahuenga Blvd. West. For information, visit theatrewest.org.