actor

As white Americans move into the minority, some are claiming they're the ones now subject to racial oppression. Do they have a case?

For a small, nerdy cluster of folk -- social science and cultural studies wonks, market researchers, armchair political pundits -- this month is the Super Bowl, Oscars and Olympics rolled into one. That's because the next few weeks will see the gradual, yet grand unveiling of data from the 2010 U.S. Census, an event literally 10 years in the making.

Louis Vuitton finally has given a nod to its most important demographic in Asia: Chinese men.

Last week, the French luxury brand unveiled a new advertising campaign featuring Godfrey Gao, a Taiwanese-Canadian actor and model — the first time the company has used an Asian man to showcase its products.

Mr. Gao, a Vancouver native, has appeared in a number of Taiwanese television dramas, including “Volleyball Lover” and “I Want to Become a Hard Persimmon.” His celebrity is prominent enough in Asia to attract Hong Kong paparazzi — in December they caught him canoodling with a local starlet, though one could argue it was because of the starlet that he got snapped.

It’s highly likely that you’ve heard of Jay Chou before—he’s the Taiwanese singer-songwriter behind hits such as “Cute Girl (Ke Ai Nu Ren),” “Simple Love (Jian Dan Ai),” and “Silence (An Jing).” If you haven’t heard the original songs, you may have seen YouTube covers by Mandarin and non-Mandarin speakers alike (our favorite: sisters Riney and Bam, who used Chou’s music to learn Chinese), or heard his catchy melodies while singing karaoke.

If you’re a fan (or if you grew up in Asia), you may have even caught him on the big screen. He’s acted in movies such as “Initial D” and “Curse of the Green Flower,” and even directed a movie called “Secret” in 2007, with a sequel planned for next year.

But if you haven’t heard of Jay Chou before, get ready to get introduced to him in January, with his first foray into Hollywood as Kato in “The Green Hornet.”

How do you stand out in the ensemble cast of Predators, which features actors like Adrien Brody, Laurence Fishburne, and Topher Grace? Simple: you bring a big freakin’ samurai sword. As the Yakuza assassin Hanzo, Louis Ozawa Changchien gets what may be the Nimrod Antal-helmed reboot’s most striking scene: a “mano-a-alien” battle royale that draws on Chanchien’s years of Kendo experience. Still, while the swordfighting skill is all his, in real life, Changchien couldn’t be more different: he’s a quick-witted nice guy who’s just as excited about his considerably more down-to-earth roles coming up in Fair Game and Kathryn Bigelow’s new project.

Last week, Changchien called up Movieline to discuss those parts as well as one of his earliest roles: a Jell-O pudding commercial opposite Bill Cosby himself that left him battle-scarred in a way far worse than any swordfight gone awry.

Just five gold medals were presented Saturday at the Asian Games in a rather rather slow-paced denouement for an event the Olympic Council of Asia president referred to as “one of the best ever.”

Zhou Chunxiu won the women’s marathon in the morning, giving China its 198th gold medal of the games, one shy of its eventual record total, and Myanmar took its first two—in the men’s and women’s doubles finals in sepaktakraw.

OCA chief Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah told a closing news conference that even a military conflict on the Korean peninsula during the games could not damage its image.

North and South Korean “athletes stood shoulder-to-shoulder to compete even though there had been some problems in their countries,” Al-Sabah said.

The closing ceremony on Saturday evening began with an impressive display of fireworks from the 600-meter (2,000-foot) Canton Tower and along the Pearl River, the focal point of China’s third-largest city of 10 million.

Both Los Angeles-Based Attorneys Honored by the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (Cyndie Chang on left, Michelle Sugihara on right)

LOS ANGELES, CA – Last Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010, the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association (NAPABA) recognized 20 of the nation’s most talented and accomplished Asian Pacific American lawyers under the age of 40. Los Angeles-based attorneys and local bar association leaders Cyndie M. Chang (an associate at Duane Morris LLP) and Michelle K. Sugihara (a senior associate at Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP) were among the honorees to make NAPABA’s 2010 “Best Lawyers Under 40” list. Ms. Chang is Vice-President of the Southern California Chinese Lawyers Association (SCCLA) and a board member of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association (APABA) and Ms. Sugihara is Secretary of APABA and a board member of the Japanese American Bar Association (JABA).

On Sunday, Asian-American actors Daniel Dae Kim (”Hawaii Five-O”), C. S. Lee (”Dexter”), Harry Shum Jr. (”Glee”), Ellen Wong (”Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”), and Aaron Yoo (”Friday the 13th”) talked casting, graduate school and stereotypes at the Asian Americans in Hollywood panel at the San Diego Asian Film Festival.

In particular, each of the actors stressed that their current status as recognizable faces didn’t happen overnight. Lee and Kim both studied acting at graduate school (Lee at Yale and Kim at NYU; the former even asked latter for advice about where he should go), and Shum Jr explained that he first moved to Los Angeles in 2001 to act. After realizing he could “kinda dance,” he built up his skills and his dancing ultimately took over. (For “Glee” fans, he added: No, he doesn’t really sing as badly as Mike Chang does, and yes, there will a continuing storyline for his character this season).

The most anticipated film of the summer had its big Hollywood premiere at Mann's Chinese Theatre on Tuesday, and fans carrying both English and Japanese-language signs stood patiently behind barricades, waiting (some since 6am) to catch a glimpse of their favorite actors. Photographers crowded each other for shots of Marion Cotillard and Ellen Page. Security guards positioned themselves on either side of Leonardo DiCaprio as he walked along the street to greet his fans and sign autographs. One of the earlier stars to arrive, Ken Watanabe gamely waved at the fans, inciting cheers as he walked down with his wife Kaho Minami.

A FURORE has erupted over a new mini-series about the deadliest sniper at Gallipoli, Chinese-Australian Billy Sing, who is played by a white.

This portrayal in the The Legend of Billy Sing has been attacked by Australians of Chinese ancestry as a betrayal of their heritage, robbing them of a rare historic hero.

Director Geoff Davis has cast his son Josh in the lead role, while Sing's Chinese father is played by the veteran actor Tony Bonner, who came to prominence as a blond-haired helicopter pilot in the Skippy TV series.

Sing, born in 1886 at Clermont, Queensland, to a Shanghainese father and an English mother, moved as a young man to the canefields of Proserpine, where he became a keen cricketer, kangaroo hunter and a crack member of the local rifle club.

The movie is based on the true story chronicled in the book The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million and Bucked the Medical Establishment in a Quest to Save His Children by Geeta Anands. There is a real John Crowley who really did start a biomedical company to develop a cure for Pompe disease.

But the real guy who developed the cure was not a Dr. Robert Stonehill, nor looks anything like Indiana Jones. The real guy is a fellow named Dr. Yuan-Tsong Chen, who developed the treatment with colleagues at the Duke University Medical Center.

I learned this from, of all places, Roger Ebert's movie review:

BEWARE OF CUPID - a Valentine's Day show
FEBRUARY 5 - 21, 2010

Falling in love for the first time, struggling to make a relationship work, getting over the one that got away... BEWARE OF CUPID presents a collection of original scenes and monologues that explore love and other matters of the heart.

OPENS FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5th
Fridays, Saturdays @ 8:00pm
Sunday matinees @ 3:00pm

THE ACTOR'S PLAYPEN
1514 N Gardner St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(off of Sunset Blvd, near the Guitar Center)

FEATURING
Jared Asato | Sara Ceballos | Julia Cho | Benjamin Kim
Lynnette Li | Chris Miyasaki | Jason Rogel | Sandy Yu

TICKETS
$14 Generation Admission | $20 Opening Night + Reception
(Discounts and group rates available.)

To purchase: 1-800-838-3006 | www.brownpapertickets.com/event/92523
For more information: bewareofcupid@gmail.com
 

Japanese film Looking For Anne, directed by Takako Miyahira, took the top honours of Best Film and Best Director, the AFFF said in its press release.

The movie tells the story of a 17-year-old Japanese girl with a secret mission to find her recently deceased grandmother's first love.

First-time producer Sona Jain bagged four awards - including Best Producer - for her film, For Real, a story about a family seen through the eyes of a child.

Last Friday's event was the fifth instalment of the AFFF.

China is moving to take back one of its own — even if it is legend. Mulan is the Middle Kingdom's gender-bending heroine, its Joan of Arc. The character from folktale is a daughter who disguises herself as a male soldier to take her father's place in the conscription army. The problem for the Chinese is that, since 1998, the definitive version of the story has been Disney's.

Indeed, because of the animated Disney film, the character Mulan has become one of the most recognizable symbols of Chinese culture worldwide. Baby girls adopted from China have been named Mulan by their American parents. Disney has staged musical versions of the movie Mulan from Mexico to the Philippines. And posing for a photo with Mulan is a must for hordes of tourists at Hong Kong Disneyland. (See China's long road to prosperity.)

It’s Raining, y’all! With the advent of his first starring role in a major Hollywood feature, the Korean pop god known simply as Rain sat with us exclusively to talk up his martial arts manifesto, Ninja Assassin. We chatted about the film’s surprising violence, his future as a singer, his fans and his mom. Never let it be said that LMD was ever smart enough to come in out of the Rain.

Dig it.

The Lady Miz Diva: Ninja Assassin is a really violent, bloody film. Were you concerned that so much of your fan base, which consists of younger kids and people who might not usually go to this type of movie, wouldn’t be able to see your big Hollywood film?

Rain: Yeah, I know, but it’s gonna be huge. I believe they will like my movie. I am a little bit worried, but it’s something different from what I’ve done, so it’s interesting that way. And I believe more male fans will be interested in this movie.

Actor Takeshi Kaneshiro, one of Asian cinema's biggest superstars, could soon be following in the footsteps of fellow Asian stars Rain , Jay Chou and Lee Byung-hun and heading to Hollywood.

The 33-year-old was recently spotted by fans in Los Angeles, fuelling speculation that the Taiwan-based actor is in talks to star in a Hollywood film.

While Kaneshiro's agency has confirmed that the actor is indeed in Los Angeles, it said he is actually there on vacation to visit friends.

The actor has always been cautious about taking on foreign films. In 1998, he starred in "Too Tired To Die" with Oscar-winning actress Mira Sorvino but has kept his distance since, and even turned down a role in "The Last Samurai" starring Tom Cruise.

In recent years, the actor has once again caught Hollywood's attention after starring in 2004's "House of Flying Daggers" with Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi and Hong Kong director John Woo's war epic "Red Cliff".

By Jennifer Torres October 24, 2009
Record Staff Writer

STOCKTON - Among the panelists scheduled to speak today at a forum on Asian gangs was a young man set to discuss how gang violence had affected his family.

Then, a little more than a week ago, he was jumped outside the Park Village Apartment buildings on Alvarado Avenue.

He reconsidered talking, said Vanna Prasit, who helps coordinate social services at the community complex, home to mainly Cambodian immigrants and their families.

"They are not comfortable coming out," Prasit said. "They don't want problems. ... It takes a lot of encouragement for families for them to make any kind of report."

The Southeast Asian immigrants who came to San Joaquin County as refugees fled war and persecution, a legacy that has contributed to gang activity among younger generations, said organizers of "The Real Gran Torino Story: Stockton's Secret War on the Streets," a forum to be held today at University of the Pacific.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in New York and Asian CineVision will co-present the stunning new Taiwanese film "No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" (Cannot Live Without You) on October 26th from 5:30 to 8:00 at TECO, located at 1 E 42nd St. in Midtown. The script writer and leading actor of the film, Wen-Pin Chen, will be on hand for Q&A following the screening, moderated by Mr. John Woo, Acting Director of Asian CineVision. A Chinese-style buffet dinner will be provided after the event.

"No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" has received international accolades, winning Best Film among other awards at the 2009 Taipei Film Festival, the Grand Prize of Japan's Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, and Best Feature Film of South Africa's Durban International Film Festival. It has been selected to represent Taiwan in the competition for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2009 Oscars. The film will make its New York-area premiere at the 2009 FilmColumbia Festival on October 24th.

Kelly Hu, who previously appeared in The Scorpion King and X-Men 2, has signed on to star in indie romantic comedy Almost Perfect. Hu will play a 30-something career woman who has to juggle her high-maintenance family just when she finds the perfect boyfriend. Writer/director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan said in a statement: “I am so excited to work with Kelly, who not only kicks butt as an action hero, but is also an incredibly thoughtful and nuanced actor, with a killer sense of humor.” The film will start shooting this month in New York City.

Edison Chen will appear in his first movie since his career was derailed by a sex photo scandal more than a year ago.

The 28-year-old Chinese-Canadian actor-singer will feature in the English-language comedy, “Almost Perfect,” which stars Kelly Hu, according to the Web site of New York-based production company Slew Pictures.

BOSTON - It's one of the great closing lines in movie history, "Come on, Jake. It's . . . Chinatown." Those words, spoken to Jack Nicholson in, of course, "Chinatown," suggest all too accurately the sheer otherness of the Chinese experience as seen by Hollywood.

That otherness has run the gamut. Patronizing, reductive depictions of China ("The Good Earth," say) have gone hand in hand with Chinese-American stereotypes (cooks and laundry operators mostly, with the occasional opium smoker, for variety's sake, and, more recently, kung fu masters). The most famous Chinese and Chinese-American characters have been shameless caricatures - Fu Manchu, for example, and Charlie Chan.

Tomita was born in Okinawa, the daughter of Shiro and Asako Tomita. She is of one quarter-Filipino descent (her mother is half Filipina, half Japanese). Before becoming an actress, she won the title of Queen at the Nisei Week Pageant in Los Angeles in 1984, and Miss Nikkei International in 1985.

Check out her filmogrpah here at IMDB Website

To read more visit Visualization, Tamlyn Tomita will be appearing live on Visualization Tuesday Octber 6th don't miss it, you can also submit your questions to her as well.

October 6 at 6 pm Pacific Time (7 pm MT, 8 pm CT and 9 pm ET).
Click here to Register

Tamlyn Tomita, whose inspirational career as an actor spans movies, television and the stage, and whose leadership and activism spans the Japanese American and Asian American Pacific Islander communities.

Lumina's leading actor, Michael Chan speaks to Orientelle about his experiences on the set of Lumina, his preferences in women and his advice to beautiful, career-oriented women still looking for Mr. Right out there. Check it out-

1. Tell us about your background. What projects did you do in the past and how did you get here (both in Hong Kong and on Lumina)?

I was born and raised in the province of Quebec, in Canada. Spoke French in everyday life and Cantonese at home with my family and grand parents. Since my childhood, I’ve always been the only Chinese/Asian kid in school and everyone asked me if I knew kung fu! I guess I kind of felt ashamed to answer no, so I secretly started to practice all kind of martial arts in my back yard.

New trailer movie for Astro Boy has been released. Astro Boy movie is based on a popular Japanese comic book is set to be released this Fall. The US movie version has Nicolas Cage, Charlize Theron, Kirsten Bell and Samuel Jackson as voice actors. While the Japanese version has Aya Ueto and Koji Yasusho as voice actors. .

Japanese idol and actress, Aya Ueto, will be the voice behind upcoming movie, Astro Boy (known as Atom). Astro Boy began in 1952 as Comic but became a hit through television series in the 1960s. The movie is scheduled for October 2009 release in Japan and followed in the US.

Actress Aya Ueto appeared in a public recording event for the Japanese-dubbed version of the computer-generated animation "Astro Boy" on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Examiner (Ed Moy) A recent blog post by Asian American actor Roger Fan on his website has drawn a lot of attention on the Internet.

In his post, Fan describes what it's like working as an Asian American actor in Hollywood and goes into detail about his recent decision to turn down an opportunity to do a "table read" of the sceenplay for an upcoming remake of "Red Dawn."

For those who have never seen the original "Red Dawn," it was a Cold War era movie written and directed by John Milius, who devised a World War III invasion of America by the Soviet and Cuban forces.

The original film follows a group of Midwestern teenagers who take on their high school mascot name,  "Wolverines" as a rallying cry of resistance.

Aceshowbiz - Hong Kong actor Stephen Chow was out from "The Green Hornet", but there will be another Asian actor filling in his shoes as Jay Chou is being recruited to star. On Friday, August 7, Sony Picturesmade the announcement that the Taiwanese singer-actor has joined the cast as martial arts master Kato, the role originally made famous by Bruce Lee in its TV series version.

"THE GREEN HORNET gets his Kato in Taiwanese Superstar Jay Chou," the studio tweeted on the casting confirmation before issuing the official statement completed with commentary from both the actor and director Michel Gondry. "It's an overwhelming experience to take on a role made famous by Bruce Lee," so claimed Jay in Sony's press release.

Well this is no surprise since Rain is the hottest Asian in Hollywood now, we know he's Korean but to them we supposedly all look alike anyway. We can now only pray this movie isn't going to be butchered like every other Hollywood remake (especially whitewashing them).

Here is the reported story.

About two years ago this month, the trades reported that Warner Independent Pictures has set "The Shield" exec producer Kurt Sutter to write and make his feature directing debut on "Awaken the Dragon."

A noir-style remake of "Enter the Dragon," the 1973 martial arts classic that made Bruce Lee a global star, Sutter said he's writing "Awaken the Dragon" as a contemporized drama about a lone FBI agent who pursues a rogue Shaolin monk into the bloody world of underground martial arts fight clubs.

Sutter will look to discover a fight star in the role of the monk and cast an established American actor to play the FBI agent.

Well, guess what? I think they found their fight star.

Koreanet - Thanks to the Korean wave, or "Hallyu" boom, movie lovers can see more Korean movie stars in Hollywood films these days.

Most recently on July 29, a group of Japanese fans flocked to Seoul to see Korean actor Lee Byung-hun at a press conference to mark the launch of his latest movie “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” with his co-stars Sienna Miller and Channing Tatum and the director Stephen Sommers (who made "The Mummy 3" (2008)).

Lee Byung-hun captured the hearts of Asian fans on the popular SBS drama "All In" (2003) co-starring Song Hye-gyo, and also his movies including "A Bittersweet Life" (2005) and "The Good, the Bad, the Weird" (2008). Lee's filmography has attracted the attention of other Hollywood film directors like Steven Spielberg and James Cameron.

(U.S. ASIAN WIRE SAN FRANCISCO) The Filipino American Arts Exposition (FAAE) presents the largest celebration of Filipino Americans in northern California as the 16th Annual Pistahan Parade and Festival and 2nd Annual Filipino American Jazz Festival takes place this Saturday and Sunday August 8-9 at the Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco.

FAAE selected Marily Mondejar as Hermana Mayor to lead the 2009 Pistahan celebration and this year the festival is dedicated to the memory of former Philippine President Corazon Aquino.

The Pistahan opening ceremonies begin at 10 a.m. on Saturday August 8 on Beale Street followed by the parade at 11 a.m. featuring beautifully themed floats and nearly 100 contingents.

Over 50,000 attendees are expected and will experience and discover the best of Filipino culture and entertainment as this two-day event showcases exhibits, workshops and demonstrations in art, dance, music and food in various pavilions throughout Yerba Buena Gardens.

FATE SCORES, a film by Chinese-Canadian director and actor Albert M. Chan, will have its New York premiere on Sunday July 26th, 2009, at 2:15pm at the Museum of Chinese in America (215 Centre St. New York, NY) as part of the 32nd Annual Asian American International Film Festival (AAIFF).

The film has also screened this year at the Boston International Film Festival, the Wisconsin Film Festival, On Location: Memphis International Film Festival, and the Southeast New England Film, Music & Arts Festival.

FATE SCORES explores themes of isolation, connection, and chance, and is a thoughtful look at the seemingly random interactions between ten strangers on a city park bench, eventually culminating into something extraordinary.

Examiner.com - Doctor turned comedian turned actor, Ken Jeong, who first hit the big screen playing a short-tempered doctor in “Knocked Up,” can be seen portraying an angry Asian crime boss in the new comedy “The Hangover."

Those who have seen the movie will probably agree that Jeong's character Mr. Chow is quite possibly the most blatantly over-the-top racial stereotype of an Asian man since Mickey Rooney put on "Yellow Face" makeup to play a "crazy Jap in the upstairs apartment" for the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's."