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'We're the geeks, the prostitutes': Asian American actors on Hollywood's barriers

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L

lightskintwin

Banned
Pun Bandhu’s training at the prestigious Yale School of Drama didn’t help much with the skill he needed for so many auditions after graduation – the “Asian accent”.

The Thai American actor – who has appeared in a wide range of TV shows and films over the last 15 years – said he was once told that an accent he used for a Thai character, modeled after his parents, was not working for an “American ear”. Instead, the director went with a Chinese accent.
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While much of the recent debate around Asian representation in Hollywood has centered on whitewashing – when white actors are cast to tell Asian stories – working actors said a lack of opportunity was only one part of the problem. Asian American actors said they rarely, if ever, got auditions for leading roles, and when they did get parts, they were frequently secondary to the plot or portrayed offensive tropes.

Asian men said they were often relegated to roles as tech nerds, assistants, doctors – sometimes highly emasculated, desexualized characters. Asian women, meanwhile, regularly go up for parts as masseuses and sex workers or characters described as submissive, fragile or quiet.

“We’re the information givers. We’re the geeks. We’re the prostitutes,” Bandhu said. “We’re so sick and tired of seeing ourselves in those roles.”

Asian American actors said there had been an increase in diverse roles in recent years, though, and some were hoping that the recent controversy surrounding Ghost in the Shell – which starred Scarlett Johansson in the remake of an anime classic – would inspire directors and producers to stop whitewashing Asian characters. The film flopped, earning only $19m in the US in its opening weekend, a small sum relative to its $110m budget. One Paramount executive said the casting backlash was partly to blame.
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Emma Stone, Matt Damon and Rooney Mara have all faced whitewashing criticisms for their roles in films that ultimately performed badly at the box office. But improving diversity and representation in film and television goes far beyond avoiding casting blunders in commercial movies.

“We’re so desperate for opportunities,” said Kanoa Goo, a mixed-race actor who is Chinese, Hawaiian and white. “Often it’s pretty one-dimensional. It’s the tech computer analyst who doesn’t have much to say. His role is really just in service of the leads.”

Goo, who appeared in the 2016 film Other People, said most of his auditions were for parts specified for Asians or non-white actors, and sometimes those roles could feel tokenized – designed to check off the diversity box.

“Within the sort of marginalized group of diverse actors, Asian American actors are still at the very bottom. They are still the underdog,” he said.
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Asian characters made up only 3%-4% of roles in scripted broadcast and cable shows in the 2014-15 season, according to a recent University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) report. Of the top 100 films of 2015, 49 had no Asian characters, and zero leading roles went to Asians, according to another study.

In addition, “the quality of roles is problematic,” said Darnell Hunt, a UCLA professor who co-authored the diversity report.

Lynne Marie Rosenberg, an actor who runs a Tumblr called Cast and Loose, which publishes offensive character “breakdowns” from auditions, said she frequently saw casting calls that listed nearly all ethnicities – except Asian.

“The number one problem is invisibility,” she said.

There is also sometimes a comical overgeneralization of Asians. Rosenberg provided an example of an Asian character described as an artist who remained “focused while he composes his drawing”. The breakdown added: “Makes you wonder what kind of life he had back in Asia.”
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Vinny Chhibber, an Indian American actor, said when he first started acting, he often went up for “terrorist #1” or “socially incompetent emasculated Asian stereotype with an accent”.

As a writer and producer, Chibber said he also often heard prejudices emerge in casting meetings, where someone might say: “Well, if you cast a Chinese girl, it’ll change the story.”

Chibber said he now turned down auditions for roles that promote stereotypes, in part because he understood how damaging those characters could be: “The work we do has such a profound impact on the way people see the world.”

The lack of three-dimensional Asian characters makes the whitewashing choices all the more painful for actors and audiences, Bandhu said.

“When a white actor gets the role, it denies us our bodies and it denies us our voices.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/11/asian-american-actors-whitewashing-hollywood

It pretty much sucks to be an Asian American actor, unfortunately I don't see change happening fast enough until we start seeing more Asian American screenwriters and directors who primarily focus on Asian American narratives so they can create three dimensional Asian American characters and cast accordingly.

Here's a link to Cast and Loose Tumblr account that curates collection of cast breakdowns that showcases the very serious issues in the Entertainment Industry: misogyny, racism, ageism, body shaming, heteronormativity, and objectification to name a few.

Here's an example that shows exclusion in casting that affects Asian Americans.
#NotAsian #NotMiddleEastern

[ RACHEL, THE BRIDE ] Female, 20’s, Caucasian, Black/African American, Hispanic. Always in command. English accent, must be good with farce.

[ BILL , THE GROOM ]
Male, 20-30, Caucasian, Black/African American, Hispanic
Rarely in command. English accent. Must be good with farce

[ TOM. THE BEST MAN ]
Male, 20-30, Caucasian, Black/African American, Hispanic
Solid, dependable English accent. Must be good with farce

[ JUDY ]
Female, 20-30, Caucasian, Black/African American, Hispanic
Very attractive, English accent. Must be good with farce

[ JULIE, A CHAMBERMAID ]
Female, 20-30, Caucasian, Black/African American, Hispanic
The chambermaid, kooky, volitile. English accent. Must be good with farce
Click to expand...
 
T

The Artisan

Member
it sounds like sucks to be an Asian American actor whether you're Eastern Asian, Middle Eastern, brown/South Asian, or Southeast Asian
 
LordOfChaos

LordOfChaos

Member
Surprisingly Power Rangers was one of the better ones in this regard. Underprivileged Asian families aren't often shown.
 
L

Litan

Member
Slayven said:
Steven Yuen still breaks my heart.
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I was sad they decided to follow the comics and kill him off, not just because I liked the actor and character, but because I knew the chances of seeing him in another good role afterwards were low. Also, there wouldn't be another Asian actor coming into the WD to fill that spot.
 
N

neorej

ERMYGERD!
EdibleKnife said:
Yep. And more people need to stop excusing it as "not wanting forced diversity" or "hiring bankable stars"
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Yeah, make it good, and people will watch it. Marvel already did away with the attractive young female lead trope, it still puzzles me why Danny Rand wasn't Asian-American in Iron Fist. It wasn't to make him more relatable, because I hada a pretty hard time connecting with a martial artist who got handed billions without having to put in a second of work.
 
E

eizarus

Banned
neorej said:
Yeah, make it good, and people will watch it. Marvel already did away with the attractive young female lead trope, it still puzzles me why Danny Rand wasn't Asian-American in Iron Fist. It wasn't to make him more relatable, because I hada a pretty hard time connecting with a martial artist who got handed billions without having to put in a second of work.
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Wait what? Every lead actress they have is attractive so far.
 
N

neorej

ERMYGERD!
eizarus said:
Wait what? Every lead actress they have is attractive so far.
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I mean, she's not ugly, but Krysten Ritter isn't exactly a babe, either.

how-jessica-jones-star-krysten-ritter-crushed-her-audition-to-be-marvels-next-female-superhero.jpg
 
L

lightskintwin

Banned
guek said:
Asians get very little sympathy in the US :-(
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I don't think it's that, I think a major part of it is the legacy of segregation which is why a lot of our entertainment is separated from predominately White TV shows to predominately Black TV shows, to predominately White movies to predominately Black movies and Asian American actors trying to find a place to fit in.

neorej said:
I mean, she's not ugly, but Krysten Ritter isn't exactly a babe, either.
Click to expand...

What? Krysten Ritter is dope.
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
"Must be good with farce" on everything. So you're always asked to play the clown.

What the fuck.
 
S

Slayven

Member
Litan said:
I was sad they decided to follow the comics and kill him off, not just because I liked the actor and character, but because I knew the chances of seeing him in another good role afterwards were low. Also, there wouldn't be another Asian actor coming into the WD to fill that spot.
Click to expand...

Exactly how i felt, and it was even worse after the Dumpster Outrage
 
Z

Zvonimir Boban

Banned
Akuun said:
"Must be good with farce" on everything. So you're always asked to play the clown.

What the fuck.
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I think you've got the wrong end of the stick there.

Looks like casting for a comedy and they want anybody BUT Asians to fill the roles. Apparently English accents and comedy is beyond Asian/Indian/Middle Eastern folks
 
P

PixelatedBookake

Junior Member
Huh something I never considered was how African-Americans have formed a solid foothold in pop cuture that Asian-Americans haven't quite formed. I hope eventually they can get to that point in movies and television. Master of None was a good step in the right direction and I think Netflix would be a great outlet for such ventures.
 
L

LionPride

Banned
George Oscar Bluth II said:
He's a minor character but I do like how in the Riverdale show Reggie (the jock) is played by an Asian actor.
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He even brought up in an interview how he liked playing Reggie because it's not mentioned that he's Chinese. He liked playing Zack on 13 Reasons Why because it wasn't a point that he was Chinese
 
B

BlazinSkatinAxel

Member
PixelatedBookake said:
Huh something I never considered was how African-Americans have formed a solid foothold in pop cuture that Asian-Americans haven't quite formed. I hope eventually they can get to that point in movies and television. Master of None was a good step in the right direction and I think Netflix would be a great outlet for such ventures.
Click to expand...
That took black people shooting their own projects. Remember the Blaxotaition movies of the 70s-80s?
 
Grizzlyjin

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
LordOfChaos said:
Surprisingly Power Rangers was one of the better ones in this regard. Underprivileged Asian families aren't often shown.
Click to expand...

Yeah, this one surprised me. Zack isn't a role you'd typically see Hollywood give to an Asian actor. Actually that entire main cast is diverse as fuck, even compared to the OG Power Ranger cast which was already progressive in that regard.
 
R

Roland_Gunner

Member
neorej said:
I mean, she's not ugly, but Krysten Ritter isn't exactly a babe, either.

http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/564c88aadd08955d568b45b9/how-jessica-jones-star-krysten-ritter-crushed-her-audition-to-be-marvels-next-female-superhero.jpg[/IMG[/QUOTE]

Ritter got started as a model. There may be unattractive models but people were willing to pay her money to wear clothes and walk around.
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M

mugurumakensei

Member
LordOfChaos said:
Surprisingly Power Rangers was one of the better ones in this regard. Underprivileged Asian families aren't often shown.
Click to expand...

Well, Power Rangers actually did pretty well in general with its cast. There is far more heart put into the movie and the character arcs than what would be expected.
 
R

radios shipping overview

Member
I'm waiting for some folks from the GITS threads to come in here and tell us that those Asian actors just aren't putting in the legwork, or don't have the sex appeal, or don't have the box office draw, and that's why they don't even have roles open to allowing them to audition.
 
M

Mighty Chin

Banned
My 8 yr old son is half Chinese. I make sure we watch shows like Fresh of the Boat, Kim's Convience. I want him to be exposed to variety as much as possible. I wish there was more though.
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
Zvonimir Boban said:
I think you've got the wrong end of the stick there.

Looks like casting for a comedy and they want anybody BUT Asians to fill the roles. Apparently English accents and comedy is beyond Asian/Indian/Middle Eastern folks
Click to expand...
Oh, my bad. You're right - I missed the part with the desired races.
 
N

neverknowsbest

Member
The corollary of this that affects Asians in real life is that there are no Asian-American male sex symbols, and women in American culture often don't consider dating Asian men. And before you say it's because they're "just not physically attracted" to them, that's nonsense. Attraction has been shown to have a large cultural component, and I (an Asian man) have personally dated white women who "weren't attracted" to Asian men.
 
F

Firemind

Member
Mighty Chin said:
My 8 yr old son is half Chinese. I make sure we watch shows like Fresh of the Boat, Kim's Convience. I want him to be exposed to variety as much as possible. I wish there was more though.
Click to expand...
Watch Asian dramas together. You can probably find them subbed on the net.
 
G

guek

Banned
lightskintwin said:
I don't think it's that, I think a major part of it is the legacy of segregation which is why a lot of our entertainment is separated from predominately White TV shows to predominately Black TV shows, to predominately White movies to predominately Black movies and Asian American actors trying to find a place to fit in.
Click to expand...
I know I'm merely speaking from personal and anecdotal experience but you're kind of proving my point here.
 
L

llehuty

Member
This things are so dangerous and create images and stereotypes that are really difficult to break. Like it or not, Hollywood movies are watched everywhere.

Just recently I was watching an interview that explains the racism black people face in South Korea, where part of the population sees them as dangerous and involved in crimes because is the portrayal they have gotten in western media for years (mainly, the only contact most of them will have with black people).
 
J

jdstorm

Banned
jiji said:
I'm waiting for some folks from the GITS threads to come in here and tell us that those Asian actors just aren't putting in the legwork, or don't have the sex appeal, or don't have the box office draw, and that's why they don't even have roles open to allowing them to audition.
Click to expand...

That "box office draw" aspect is unfortunately true, and is a direct consaquence of these casting practices. Who would you say is the most famous Asian actress in Hollywood right now? Hannah Simone? Lucy liu? Maggie Q? Chloe Bennet?

According to google it is Zhang Ziyi Fan Bingbing Gong li Michelle Yeoh and Arden Cho

Insert Guardians of the Galaxy Who.Gif

4/5 of those actresses are over 35 and i had only previously heard of one. Michelle Yeoh.
 
G

GeoNeo

I disagree.
Bobby Lee had really sad story about his type of stuff on fighter and the kid podcast.

https://youtu.be/Vn-vyWkc6w4

The whole podcast is worth watching some real shit goes down some funny shit goes down. But, Bobby Lee really did go through a ton of shit in Hollywood. His Steven Yeun story was sad.

starts talking about it 56 mins in.
 
M

Mael

Member
neverknowsbest said:
The corollary of this that affects Asians in real life is that there are no Asian-American male sex symbols, and women in American culture often don't consider dating Asian men. And before you say it's because they're "just not physically attracted" to them, that's nonsense. Attraction has been shown to have a large cultural component, and I (an Asian man) have personally dated white women who "weren't attracted" to Asian men.
Click to expand...

People are usually attracted to what culture shows as attractive.
Take any country that has very low representation of people of a certain type and you'll find little people attracted to that stereotype.
They really should cast asian typed people more regardless of genre.
If koreans can make hilarious comedies, no reason why a korean or an asian actor can't play in a US comedy.
 
milkham

milkham

Member
jdstorm said:
That "box office draw" aspect is unfortunately true, and is a direct consaquence of these casting practices. Who would you say is the most famous Asian actress in Hollywood right now? Hannah Simone? Lucy liu? Maggie Q? Chloe Bennet?

According to google it is Zhang Ziyi Fan Bingbing Gong li Michelle Yeoh and Arden Cho

Insert Guardians of the Galaxy Who.Gif

4/5 of those actresses are over 35 and i had only previously heard of one. Michelle Yeoh.
Click to expand...

I don't know what to say when Arden Cho is in a list with gong li and Michelle yeoh.
 
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