Unscripted - A Blog for Actors - Backstage

Training the Eyes

"There are two kinds of beauty Eastern and Western." This is the first sentence I hear out of a pair of perfectly glossed lips the day Thanksgiving.

A friend of mine from New York connected me with a professional make-up artist, Renee, who also works with a headshot photographer here in Los Angeles, in an attempt to enhance my own make-up skills for on camera auditioning. 

"You have more the Eastern look, which isn't necessarily about being Asian," Renee continues. "It just means your features are more round, soft and youthful; as opposed to Western features, which are harsh, sharp and angular."

Make-up. Some girls are born knowing how to play with it, how to highlight and change the natural contours of their own face with a little powder here and a lot of concealer there. Not me.

I'm more the 'slap it on in five minutes' and head out the door in a t-shirt and jeans kind of gal, and pray it doesn't shine. 

But when it comes to auditioning, particularly for film and television, the way a person's face looks on camera has a lot to do with how their performance is received by the eye of the audience. 

Playing in Pasadena

    In 2009, I co-starred in a short film about female Iraq war veterans. "Carla", directed by Henry G. Sanders, will be shown at the United Nations Association film festival at the Laemmle Playhouse 7, in Pasadena on Thursday October 25th.

    This short film, which I'm sure will be the first of many (possibly features), is about the controversial, tragic problem of United States female soldiers being physicall and sexually abused by their fellow American male soldiers.

Hope to see you there on the 25th! 

(photo courtesy of the United Nations Foundation)

Yours Truly -- Ann Hu

 

 

The Usual Fall Line Up

It's been over a month since my last post. Silence equals busy. Did another staged reading of another great play.

Participated in another fundraiser for a theater company and was interviewed about it by a youth arts program underground radio station. (Click to hear)

Found another great acting coach. This one's a keeper. And met many other great people to introduce and keep in the inner circles of my life.

I even crossed off a few other things off the bucket list like attending the LA County Fair, quenched my curiosity for speed dating (it was a birthday present for a girlfriend of mine don't judge), and pulled an all nighter with some new friends, as if we were teenagers.

I guess I've got a really long, specific bucket list.

And I started taking a workshop/class about networking in the business. I'm on avail, still on avail, called back, called back again, pinned and pinned again. You know the limerick, the drill, the usual fall line up.

Anonymous We

Meryl Streep says that real life is like high school.

Well, if the latest Hollywood scandals dominating the media focus are any indication, I'd say she's right.

 But does this old saying ring a bell; He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone?

The capacity to be flawed is not special. It runs in everyone, famous or not.

The truth is, and I learned this very early in life, you never know what situations you will be faced with and whether or not in those moments, you will be able to rely on the integrity of your actions.

Who are any of us to judge? You're not living unless you're making mistakes.

 Like most people, the only way I was going to learn about life, to learn about myself, was by making one constructive, healthy, dramatic, tragic, reactive, stupid, careless mistake after another.

Enough mistakes anyway, to form a bunch of gooey, yummy good stuff in between. Thank God no one knew who I was!

If the mistakes I made in my formative years were exposed to the degree that much of young Hollywood's lives are today, I guarantee you I'd be in worse shape than they are now. Wouldn't we all?

50 Shades of T-Ann

I have a minor problem. I don't know what my natural skin tone is anymore.

In fact, I don't even remember the last time I looked in the mirror or went to the make-up counter in the same skin tone...on all parts of my body.

For someone of the Asian persuasion, living in sunny SoCal means you could end up any shade of Asian at anytime of the year.

I used to be Neutral 05, Sand 1, or even a Fawn 2. But now, I'm more like a Medium Beige 2 or 3.

I don't know how actors living in Los Angeles keep themselves from tanning just by driving down the freeway.

I tan so easily that if you pointed a flashlight at my forehead and held it there for about two hours I bet I'd have a target circle burned into it.

In New York I was about a Natural 3 and during the winter, I got as fair as a Fair 5.

On The Road

This past spring, I was asked to join a theater company in Los Angeles known as The Road.

I've never been a member of a theater company before. I wasn't sure quite what it would require of me. Time? Opportunities? Hard work? Fun?

I figured it would be a wonderful way to keep the creative juices flowing, force myself to sustain a sense of belonging in an artistic community (against my 'loner' self), and stay warm as an actor.

Fighting a Men-tality

Recently, an older Caucasian man asked me, "So what kind of Chinese are you?" Yes, those were his exact words.

Having just visited his son who lives in Hong Kong, he felt he could help me clear the air on my own lineage.

I could feel him looking at me as if I were a glass figurine sitting on a shelf in an Oriental antique shop.

And I could feel myself fighting the feelings that come when I know I am being objectified.

I am actually a mix of Korean, possibly Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese, etc. Most of us are, but in short, my family is dominantly Northern Chinese.

"No you're not. You don't have northern features. You're southern," the man persisted, even though he didn't know anything about me. True story.

Things you see at a Chinese Wedding Banquet

The final chapter of my travels in June ended in Maryland at my parents house and at a cousin's wedding at the Hilton in Arlington, Virginia.

Being the oldest of eighteen immediate cousins, it takes a lot for us to get together; cousins, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, siblings and all.

That's about 50 people on my mother's side alone.

And of all the cousins there, I am the only one not pulling in a six figure salary.

I am the only one who isn't a software engineer, or a chemical engineer, or a financial engineer (if there is such a title, oh hell! why not!), or working in the medical field somehow.

I am the only one whose lifestyle is an enigma to everyone else. I am also the only one who has the freedom to take three weeks off in June. 

And yet my aunts can't help but ask, "Ann, when are you going to turn that television family into a real one?" Ugh.

However, if there is anything that garners the center of attention at a Chinese wedding, besides the beautiful bride and groom, it is the food.

The Monsters of New York

After a hot and humid week in Miami and Key West, I hopped on a plane and headed to New York.

Come on! I can't not go there if I'm on the East Coast, right?

The city looked ominous to me on the drive from the airport.

Those skyscrapers looked like monstrous shadows of all the reasons why everyone who is anyone, is hard pressed to leave the city in the first place.

My voice teacher, MaryJo Duprey, a native of New York, who is currently a professor of voice at UCLA, put it perfeclty when she said,

    "New York is like a hot young lover who knocks you around and messes with your head, who you just can't get enough of; while Los Angeles is like a husband, warm, cozy, easy to live with, but maybe sometimes just a little bit boring in comparison to the lover." 

If anything this time around, I was determined to see a Broadway show, while visiting my old 'lover'.

Home at Hemingway's

One of the must-see places for me during my stay at Key West was the home of Ernest Hemingway.

I have long been a fan of Hemingway's literary works and a romancer of what he must have been like as a person, in person.

I rushed around the block to the ticket booth just fifteen minutes before they were giving their last tour.

Hemingway was a man's man, who left behind a legacy of literary pearls followed by a trail of heartbroken ladies, each marking a new period in his life.

As an actor, I've often heard this question from other non-actors, "Why is it so hard for actors to keep a relationship together?"

And I've also heard this one, "You know what they say, once your personal life goes to sh--t, your career takes off!"

Miannmi

Sometimes being an actor means saying no to everything else you want in life.

For me, one of the things I've often had to say no to is spontaneous recreational travel.

Oh, the price we pay for being available at a moments casting notice!

I once told my mother that if I wasn't an actor I'd probably, "...just sell most of my things, pack a bag and travel the world."

Her response, "You mean? You'd be a BUM...?!"

Oh, Mom...just look at that sunset!

Nine is the number of completion...

Before I set off on my travels in June I did one more stand up show at M-Bar in Hollywood. This was my ninth time being up on stage doing stand up...ever. I know, I know.

Why am I not dedicating more time to it? Why am I not hitting the clubs every night, working jokes every night, meeting new comics and trying to pack the houses every night?

Well...a few reasons, or excuses to be honest. First, last winter/spring was busy and great, and it's not like you can afford to make mistakes in acting auditions. EVER. I needed to commit the time to acting first.

Secondly, I don't like doing the same set over and over again. I like coming up with new material, so at least half my set is new each time; but, this means longer time in between shows...for now.

And the process of the open mic, where comics fine tune their set, feels like rehearsing in front of an audience; which, for someone who is trained as an actor, is weird and very vulnerable.

Thirdly, I have and have always had the HIGHEST respect for comics. I think they are the true seers of the world. And I don't have the guts to call myself one yet. But since nine is the number of completion, maybe my incubating stage is over...?

My Picture Blog #22

A couple years ago, on one of my impromptu visits to New York City I took a photo of a mailbox that was being used as a trash can. Stuffed to the brim. Classy.

Truth is, seeing that photo back then made me feel awful; as an artist and as a New Yorker.

The huge differences in lifestyle and environment from the East Coast to the West Coast have, no doubt, influences on the creative mind and spirit.

What's pretty vs. what is raw. What's glossy vs. what is honest. 

All things infiltrate the aritsts' subconscious and either add to our source, or need to be filtered out.

Well...today, while on my bike here in sunny SoCal, I took this photo of an actual trash can, also stuffed to the brim.

The thing is...that's a bumper. A car bumper.

Talk about things you only see in Los Angeles! Happy Memorial Day Weekend Everyone!

I'm about to start traveling in June...you'll see where...

(photos courtesy of yours truly and the thoughtful residents of Santa Monica)

Yours Truly -- Ann Hu

 

Ode to Gary Oldman

I have this fantasy. 

I am on a movie set, lying in a huge bed, draped in taupe, surrounded by a crew, about to shoot an intimate scene with one of the greatest talents and heart throbs of all time...Gary Oldman.

Yes. Gary Oldman: one of the most talented, seamless, versatile, dynamic, brilliant and under-awarded actors of our time.

Gary Oldman.

"True Romance." "The Professional." "Immortal Beloved." Gary Oldman. 

If there is any actor who deserves to be acknowledged as the epitome of stellar acting in its most mind-blowing forms; if only to raise the bar, heighten the standard of what great acting truly is on a universal level, that actor is Gary Oldman.

Personally, I think Gary Oldman is the male Meryl Streep.

Mass Hysteria

Last week I attended an invitation only screening of a new film to be released by Sony Pictures Classics on May 18th.

I was grateful to be invited by one of the film’s executive producers.

Starring Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Rupert Everett and Jonathan Pryce, Hysteria, based in the Victorian era, tells the story of how the fictitious female disease, known as hysteria, led to the invention of the vibrator.

The screening room was the size of a small movie theater. The chairs were comfortable and wide.

And instead of showing your ticket at the door, you showed your ID at the gate and a visitor pass at the front desk.

There were no refreshments, no popcorn, and no waiting lines. Just about everyone there knows everyone else and the dress is casual. No red carpet.

The director, Tanya Wexler, made a small announcement in the beginning. She thanked the audience for coming and then left us to the screen.

This is what I learned...

If it's yours...it's yours

Around the third week of March my bike was stolen; out of the laundry room, out of my building and onto the streets of Los Angeles.

This was a new feeling for me. Ten years in New York and not a single break-in, mugging, mail fraud...nothing. Lucky dragon.

This was the bike I bought at the East West Players Gala last year in May at their annual fundraiser.

It was exactly what I wanted; a black, white, and hot pink beach cruiser, a little too heavy and a little too big to go with my west side lifestyle.

That Monday night in March I left for work, checked that my bike's tires were peeking out behind the laundry room door where she was locked up along with four other resident's bikes, "...still there."

But, when I got home there was nothing there but a huge white negative space where my hot girlie bike used to be. Somebody stole my bike!

I was in shock. I started laughing. It was absurd to me that someone would go to that much trouble; pick the lock, plan an escapable time to commit the petty crime, all over my heavy beach cruiser...?!

I told my landlord who was still awake and tried to be more upset as opposed to flabergasted.

But the truth is, ultimately, this was just an inconvenience.

Six Producer Sessions and Counting...

I have now had a total of six producer sessions between two sister episodic television shows.

Six and counting. Pinned on a few, not pinned on a few. Some were co-star parts, some guest star, and/or recurring.

Except for the first appointment, I have gone straight to producers each time.

And aside from the last time where I had a minor line stumble and recovery (which is like an Asian F, but whatever...let it go), each time I've felt great about my work; getting laughs and moments where they were least expected.

Booking the room! But not yet...the job.

Now, I know this happens to a lot of actors and I know what they may be thinking, "When are they finally going to cast me? What are they looking for?!"

And it would be easy to get frustrated at this point.

It would be easy to give up, to stop believing in the possibilities and begin to close off.

It would be easy to focus on what is presently not manifesting and become stuck in that pattern of thought.

But would that actually be easier? In the long run?

Three Year Swim Club and a Nine Year Friendship

When Meryl Streep accepted her third Oscar for The Iron Lady, she wholeheartedly thanked all her friends and colleagues throughout her career.

"...This is such a great honour, but the thing that counts the most with me, is the friendships and the love and the sheer joy we have shared making movies together..." Her speech deserved an Oscar itself. (Click here to watch)

I wept, humbled by Meryl's grace and humility, as did most of the viewers and the people in that room.

That's Meryl, for ya.

And speaking of friends in February, I attended the opening night of a friend's latest artistic project.

My very good friend Keo Woolford made his Los Angeles director debut in East West Player's current theatrical production of Three Year Swim Club. 

Three Year Swim Club, currently in its last week of performaces, is an LA Times Critics Choice.

As someone who knows the director personally, Three Year Swim Club is just as Keo is; mesmerizing, clever, honest, uplifting, courageous, compassionate and truthful.

Morning (SAG-AFTRA) Merger Wake Up Call

Wednesday morning. Leap day. No appointment hopping today. Just the usual writing sessions, networking, and gym ratting.

Yes, I am a gym rat again. Yay. But this morning, this Wednesday morning, I can sleep in for a change, right?

WRONG!

8:02AM the phone rings. Ugh. Why?! Please, God! It better be someone on the West Coast with important news.

No. It's an 855 area code. I don't know this area code. Oh, dear. Trouble with the law. Joking.

I answer just to stop the phone ringing. I manage a faint, "Hello?".

I hear a loud female voice on the other end, "Is this Ann Hu?"

I answer, "Yes..?", in my froggy, half-brained, still have earplugs in my ears, morning voice.

LIN - FEVER!!!

I am not a sports fan. I am not. I have great respect for the journey of the athlete, respect for the game, and the discipline needed in sports, which often mirrors the discipline needed in the performing arts.

Occassionally I watch ice hockey, gymnastics, and soccer. But I have never found an emotional hook towards any sports game or team.

I did have a crush on Joe Montana, of the San Francisco 49ers when I was around 9, but that's because the guy on my cereal box was hot.

Recently, however, I have caught...LIN-FEVER!!!!

I'VE GOT LIN FEVER BABY, YEAH!!! AND IT FEELS...LIN-MAZING!!!

Finally! Jeremy Lin has arrived! A superb athlete, who is jaw-dropping, who is Asian American (Taiwan-Chinese) and who is as tall as all of my cousins!

Finally! People will stop calling me a liar, just because they're too small-minded to entertain anything but stereotypes, when I tell them my cousins are 6', 6'3", and 6'7" respectively. Really?!

As if Yao Ming wasn't enough proof! And do you really think we could have built the Great Wall at only 5' tall?

I jest. But. Finally! The attention of the sports world is whiplashed by an athlete of Asian descent born and raised in America. Not that it really matters, but let me explain why I differentiate.