This article is fifth in a series on Luxembourg Americans who have gone through the process of reclamation of Luxembourg nationality to become Luxembourg citizens. These dual citizens, who were assisted in their citizenship journey by Luxembourg Legacy, reflect the passion that new Luxembourgers in America have for all things Luxembourg.

Lisa Demaine, of Los Angeles, is a director best known for her work in TV directing popular shows like “Power Book IV: Force,” “Lucifer,” “Chicago PD,” “Chicago Fire,” “NCIS: Hawaii,” “The Rookie,” “FBI Most Wanted,” “Fire Country” and “The Good Doctor.” 

That’s an impressive resume, but the first thing listed on her bio is that she’s a Luxembourg-American dual citizen.

“There is just the pride of it—having been there and just wanting to reclaim that heritage. And secondly, I’m trying to get more work in Europe now that I have my dual citizenship and EU passport.”

According to Lisa, not only is film and TV production generally much less expensive in Europe than in the U.S., but consolidations like the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. by Netflix could lead to fewer opportunities in the U.S. for people in the film/TV industry. 

“The landscape of film and television in America is definitely changing, and a lot of work has left California and gone overseas. So, I’d like to see if I can work in Luxembourg and Europe. Our son is in college now and we can travel, so we’ll see what comes,” said Lisa, whose husband Kent owns a tech business. Their son Beau, 20, is studying cognitive science with an AI emphasis. The family has a boxer named Kiwi.

How did a woman from a small town in southwest Minnesota become a successful film and TV director in a male-dominated field? 

Born and raised in Lismore, Minnesota, Lisa and her family—mom, dad and brother—moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, after Lisa graduated from high school. Lisa attended Arizona State University where she earned a degree in broadcast journalism. As a college student, she worked for an NBC affiliate in Phoenix. She moved to Southern California where a former work colleague had a production company.

“Working for him introduced me to the whole world of film and TV and I was like, ‘Oh, now I know what I really want to do.’” 

Working Her Way Up 

Lisa started out as a first assistant director, learning the business and cutting her teeth on independent feature films. Her first assistant director credits include the film “Seabiscuit” and TV series “Ray Donovan” and “Westworld.” About eight years ago, she took on the role of director and has since worked on several hugely popular TV series.

She recently directed an episode of a show scheduled to be released this year called “S.W.A.T. Exiles,” a spinoff of the “S.W.A.T.” series.

“The producers and writers are thrilled with that episode, and everyone is calling me to tell me how good it is. I feel really good about that one. It doesn’t have an air date yet, but I’m really excited.”

Not only has she broken through in a field where women have been underrepresented, but Lisa has done a lot of work in a genre that is not seen as a woman’s domain. 

“Coming up in this business and being a female first assistant director, which is a pretty rare thing because it’s a male-dominated world, is a big accomplishment. There is no easy path in this business. It’s truly a hustle and I did it without having any connections in the industry.”

Lisa, who directed an episode of Chicago Fire (Season 14, Episode 12) a few weeks ago, said she is proud of the work she has done in big action-type shows. 

“Women are expected to do Hallmark Channel- or Lifetime Channel-type of shows. I like doing the big, challenging action stuff. If I’m blowing something up and there’s a big gun battle, that’s really fun for me to coordinate and to decide how to best do it.” 

Lisa has the adeptness to quickly navigate the thousands of decisions a director must make in a day: what color should a wall be painted, what props to use, and her favorite, who to cast.

“You’re watching audition tapes and casting actors. The part I probably love the most about my job is working with actors. Once you start filming, helping them find and craft just the right nuanced performance is really fun. I have the best job in the world, and I feel very lucky every day I get to do it.”

When she’s not on a set working, Lisa is a voracious reader. She also enjoys traveling, hiking and spending time with friends and family. And, not surprisingly, she watches a lot of TV.

“It is part of my job to know what’s current and what’s playing. When someone asks, ‘Have you see the new show that Mark Ruffalo is in?’ I better have seen it!”

She also watches all previous episodes of a series before stepping into the production office to work on the episode she’s directing. 

“I have to know what’s happened that season so that I’m prepared story-wise. It’s part of my work to do the research to be prepared and to understand the show.” 

Lisa’s Luxembourg Ancestors

Lisa’s Great-Grandfather Henry Stoffel was born in 1863 in Diekrich, Luxembourg, and immigrated to the U.S. in 1888. He settled in Nobles County, Minnesota, along with many other Luxembourgers. Henry married Mary Margaret Krieps in Adrian, Nobles County, Minnesota, in 1898. Mary was born in 1873 in Kaundorf, Canton de Wiltz, Diekirch, Luxembourg, and immigrated to Nobels County, Minnesota, in 1891. Henry died in 1936 in Lismore, Minnesota, and Mary died in Luverne, Minnesota, in 1960. Lisa is believed to be distantly related to Luxembourg actor Vicky Krieps. Lisa got her dual citizenship about a year ago with her mom and brother and her son Beau is waiting for his currently waiting for his citizenship certificate.

Q & A With Lisa Demaine

Did you family celebrate Luxembourgish heritage when you were growing up or was it something you discovered and explored later in life?

When I was a kid, I remember my grandmother Mary [Stoffel] Hoffer had a pen pal in Luxembourg City. My grandmother’s cousins could speak and read Luxembourgish so they would read the letters to my grandmother and translate her letters from English to Luxembourgish to send to her pen pal. I traveled to Luxembourg for the first time about 25 years ago when I was in Berlin working on a movie. I had the name of the cousin who was my grandmother’s pen pal. I looked her up in the phone book and called and said that I was in Luxembourg City and would love to meet her. She was thrilled and she and her son came to the hotel that day to meet me. My cousin Bill Krieps took off from work the next day to give me a tour of Luxembourg City and the American Cemetery. It was really fantastic. 

Why did you apply for dual citizenship and what does it mean to you?

I thought about it for years and never did it. Finally, I started gathering all the birth and death certificates and contacted my cousin Tom Krieps, who’s in the government in Luxembourg City for advice, and he told me about Kevin. 

What was your impression of Luxembourg and best memory from your visit? 

Luxembourg is such a beautiful, beautiful city and it’s so clean and the transportation is so easy. The food is great. The people are great. On our visit this past May, we did a four-hour electric bike tour through the entire city, and it was fantastic. We were lucky because we were there in May and it didn’t rain a single day. When my son and I were there in December, it didn’t rain a single day either. It was gorgeous both times.

There’s a hotel and bar that my great-grandfather ran that’s still open and we went and had a beer in the little bar. 

What was your experience working with Kevin and/or Rebecca, of Luxembourg Legacy, in the dual citizenship process.

It was fantastic. Kevin is very thorough, very thoughtful, very clear and just celebratory. There was a real joy in helping us get our citizenship, which was really fun.