American Asian Actors

There's this interesting trend happening right now in Asia - here in China in particular that I see.  (HK too).  It's not exactly new but at the same time because of the kinds of people involved with it, there is no doubt that it's been a bit eyebrow raising.

Asian American actors have been coming back to their 'mother' land for years to take a crack at the biz.  I've seen them come and go and for ones like Daniel Wu, Maggie Q, and my old college friend Allan Wu, this side of the pond has treated them well.  (Edison Chen...well, that's another story).

That a sudden influx of more Asian American actors has been recently coming in is not the point of this blog.  No, rather, who has been coming in is something that I find particularly interesting - and telling - of the US industry.

I've long had my own opinions of being an actor in Hollywood/the US as an Asian American.  There's no need whatsoever for me to reiterate the laundry list of complaints we as a community have - the lack of positive roles, the stereotypes we face, the tokenism we represent.  Yes, there are individuals doing great things and carving killer careers.  I don't need to list who they are.  You know them.

Two years ago, when I came out to Asia to figure out the lay of the land here for myself, I started to see why Americans would come out this way to give it a go.  While our language limitations prevented us from fully thriving, being an Asian face at least meant there was interest in you as a lead because meaningful roles here are created for Asians just as meaningful roles in the West are created for Caucasians.

There has been no shortage of idling actors such as myself who found a limited degree of success out West who have come over here to give it a whirl.  (This is to say nothing about the quality of a lot of the work out here and the cultural and professional differences going from West to East one has to deal with.  I'm not saying finding work out here is easy by any means and in fact unless you are totally fluent in an Asian language, it's very challenging in its own right.)

But when guys like Russell Wong and Archie Kao ( THE PEOPLE I'VE SLEPT WITH is closing the NYAAIFF fest!), guys who have worked regularly on the big and silver screen in projects out West suddenly find themselves out here in China looking at opportunities and ways to work, it's intriguing to say the least.  Russell and Archie, based on their work in the West, have been able to have doors opened and interest generated in them since hitting the ground here.  Russell's done 3 pictures in the last year including a project with Joan Chen and even one with Archie where they worked with Hugh Jackman in a film shot in Shanghai.  Wong's set to work on the Chinese remake of What Women Want that stars Gong Li this summer.  Both are studying Mandarin Chinese at a school in Beijing and, really, if you stopped, took a step back, and wrapped your head around the situation, it's a bit mind numbing.  If you asked these guys years ago if in the future they could see themselves in China acting in films, tens of thousands of miles removed from the set of Vanishing Son or CSI, what do you think they would have said?

I think it's great these guys are doing this.  I applaud their efforts and if I were them, I'd be doing the exact same thing I'm sure.  It also can't help but force one to wonder - what has driven them out here?  Asian men who have been at the top of the industry out in the West have hit a ceiling for now.  A lot of energy clearly lies in the East at the moment, and so it stands to reason, that people will start to gravitate towards that energy when the energy in the area in which they are has waned.  Could that energy pick up again at some point?  Sure, life is about cycles and waves.

I'm not here to whine about the West.  Is it scary how barren it feels there in America?  Absolutely.  Is it tiresome to see annual reports year after year telling of the lack of diversity in primetime network television?  Totally.  Does coming down on M. Night or some studio or whatever producer in Hollywood for the lack of this or the misrepresentation of that get old?  Zzzzz...a lot of negative energy is wasted on it as far as I'm concerned.  We are not seeing any meaningful change in the West.  Too much explaining oneself/asking for change and not enough time on the actual work is spent.  (I'm not saying it's not important to do that or that AA actors should give up the journey, I'm only looking to think outside the box here.)

There is the craft and the art and then there is the business.  These are two very different things.  We need more American Asian actors out here like we need a hole in the head, but at the same time, if you're thinking about doing it, you'd better get on the bandwagon.  Quick.  It's all the rage.  After all, even Russell and Archie are here.