January 11, 2006
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THE NUMBERS
Happy 2006. It’s taken me a while to get motivated enough after the holidays to begin blogging again. How columnists, talk show and radio hosts always have something interesting to say everyday is beyond me.
The holidays and summer time are usually pretty slow in the business, so nothing eventful career-wise occurred in the past few weeks. (Helpful Tip: Summer’s a good time to send your submissions out to agencies as that’s when they are less busy and are in the midst of cleaning house of unwanted actors on their client list).
One thing of note was that NBC show I was up for last year, “The Book of Daniel“, premiered last Friday. Although I think the show’s got a little too much dysfunction for a viewer to process; the role that Ivan Shaw plays is pretty progressive for an Asian Male and he does a fine job with it — you should try and check it out.
It was a pretty tough situation at the time losing out on such a great role but whenever I find myself feeling ill will towards my fellow Asian Actors, I take a look at the Screen Actor’s Guild’s latest demographic actor breakdown.
This one was released in Fall 2005 and it just goes to show statistically, the disparity between Caucasian actors and everyone else (there was ONE lead female actor of Native American Indian descent in ALL of 2004!)
Because minority actors always see the same group of people in an audition room and are constantly pitted against each other — after a while, it’s easy to equate the anger/disappointment of losing out on a role to a particular face. It’s only human to be teed off from time to time but I think it’s also important to remember the grand scheme of things.
Because no matter who winds up booking the role, it’s making a dent in the numbers up on that chart. And any in-fighting/negative support amongst same ethnic groups achieve nada. All you can hope for is that he/she does a good job with the role; making the most of the opportunity to open other doors. (Although being pissed off because they sucked a** and wasted an opportunity is okay.
)
On a less serious note, I realized over the holidays that my excessive television watching as a youth has slightly, adversely affected me. While listening to the usual compilation of Christmas Tunes on the radio and TV, I noticed whenever I heard the melody to Tchaikovsky classic 1892 ballet, “The Nutcracker Suite“, I found myself singing:
“Smurf Berry Crunch is fun to eat,
A Smurfy fruity breakfast treat,
Made by Smurfs so happily,
It tastes like crunchy Smurf Berries,
It’s berry shaped and crispy too,
In berry red and Smurfy blue.”
For those too young (or old) to grasp the reference; at the height of “The Smurfs’” popularity in 1983, a red and blue breakfast cereal was released by Post Cereal. The jingle above was played incessantly to the tune of “The Nutcracker Suite” during the barrage of commercials promoting the colorful morning concoction. I’m sure there’s an MP3 of it somewhere on the net you whippersnappers can download.
Sigh… I used to be so cultured.
Comments (14)
Speaking of Asians and TV, did you hear that Asian comedian Russell Peters is heading to LA to create a sitcom? I think we’re making a dent.
the smurfs song is awesome!
the chart seems to show that there was a decline in the number of roles for any actor, supporting or lead, in 2004 from 2003, yet, there was an increase in asian roles. that’s pretty good, no?
hahhaha the only thing i learned was the la la la la of the smurf song.
i really do hope that you succeed in having that dream role. one role one good role and it ll catapult you. best of luck!
Great chart! Thanks again for the bloggage Parry. I met someone here in Hawaii that’s met you and I felt proud haha. His name is Mike Ing, from Hawaii. Anyway, hope to read more from you soon!
=)
Regarding the smurf song, that’s not so bad. I think a lot of kids first exposure to some of the classical music was Bugs Bunny – “Kill the Wabbit” or “Rabbit of Seville” anyone??
)
Parry, you need a new hobby. Haha
kiddin’.
Ivan Shaw does a MORE than “fine” job with the role on “The Book of Daniel.” When I got to screen it I felt that he was easily the stand-out. Although it must be frustrating for you to test against John Cho and the usual suspects seemingly every time for every single “asian” role out there, it’s refreshing for the audience to see a new face. Just got to keep pushing writers and networks to see that we’re a diverse group of people and an integral part of the fabric of this country so they’ll start portraying us that way.
keep up the good work, at least your trying and not like some actors were they are just given the role and the movie is a flop because them.
p.s- i have recently seen you in the movie “The New Guy” i think you potrayed the part very well.
I gotta check out “Book of Daniel.”
Hey are you attending the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards this Thursday? I really don’t want to miss you this time!
Check out my friend web site, he’s in my acting class. He’s so cute kekekek
http://www.john-ly.com
hi, just a random reader here but i was just scrolling thru your blog and can’t help but notice that you filmed in shreveport? was the crew nice to you? i am from new orleans myself and yes, it is so true that no story is too shocking. it’s all really mundane now like you said. matter of fact, a couple of weeks after the storm, i didn’t even want anyone to ask me, “how’s your house?” i know everyone is sympathetic and feels sorry for our loss but just hearing about it over and over again became everyday reminders of what we loss. so now it’s been….almost 5 months since katrina! i can’t believe it…. i haven’t been in my house for 5 months. that’s just crazy! thanks for the entry. it was nice to read what someone outside of new orleans had to say about it.
The best time will be when the chart you posted is the way it is because of acting skill alone.