That’s Hollywood – Chinese style

Raised in Hong Kong, Chinese actress Elizabeth Sung’s long and distinguished career has taken her from The Juilliard School to Hollywood.

I recently spoke with Elizabeth for Asiance Magzine. We talked at length about her career, being Chinese in Hollywood and what the future holds for Asian Pacifics in entertainment.

ASIANCE: Growing up in a Chinese household, what did your parents think of your artistic interests?

ES: My late mother, even though she did not have the chance to pursue her natural artistic talents, was a naturally gifted fashion designer and interior designer. I guess that’s where my late brother got his gift for fashion design and my sister, her love for architecture.

Elizabeth Sung

However, due to the times in which she was raised, she of course did not approve of our pursuit of the arts. But after I got accepted by the dance department at the Juilliard school, she conceded. However, she never stopped worrying about how I was going to make a living. I guess that’s only natural for any parents.

ASIANCE: How did they react to your later life pursuit of acting, dance, and arts?

ES: My father passed away during my 1st year of college in the US. Had he been alive, I am sure he would not have supported my pursuit of dance. As for my mom, she never believed that I was going to make this a life long career. It was only quite recent, (shortly before her death) that she knew this was a life that I loved and she started to accept it. Having said that, my mother was present at most of my performances – be they dance or acting — whenever she was in the US. So, like all parents, she was perpetually worried about my choice, yet she was also there to support my dream.

ASIANCE: When were you first exposed to stage and theater?

ES: I was first exposed to theater and stage at the young age of 8 when I participated in a dance concert at my ballet school in HK. I played a bear in that performance.

ASIANCE: How did your brother and sister affect your career choices? Were they supportive?

ES: My late brother, Philip, was a naturally gifted fashion designer. That was the only thing that he wanted to do and loved since he was 2 1/2 years old. I admired his self knowingness so early in life. He was also the first to receive the HK Trade Development Council fashion design full scholarship to study at the renowned NY Fashion Institute of Technology. His commitment and unyielding passion for his career was quite an inspiration. I was particularly grateful to him because he put me through 4 years of college at Juilliard. Without his support I probably would not have been able to follow my dream.

As for my sister, Diana, she started out wanting to major in painting at Pratt. Eventually, her interest shifted to a field that has both the artistic end and the pragmatic end – industrial design. After receiving her undergrad degree in Industrial design from Pratt institute in NY, she eventually grew to love architecture and got accepted into the graduate program at Columbia University. My sister was an all around gifted person in both arts and sciences. I think she would have excelled in any field that she put her mind to. I always admired her focus and commitment. She gave me endless support during the times that I wavered in my path as a dancer, especially after I injured by back and had to take time out of dance to heal. Without her love, I don’t think I would ever have made my way back to dance.

ASIANCE: Has your ballet and dance training at Juilliard helped you in your acting?

ES: Absolutely. My dance training at Juilliard gave me the discipline and focus necessary to pursue acting. Knowing how hard it was in dance, I knew that acting would not be an easy path. It takes training, practice, commitment, and patience. It also gave me the stomach and strength to handle rejection as well as the drive and belief that I could make it happen.

ASIANCE: Tell us what inspired you to become an actress.

ES: I came to acting through dance. I had a persistent lower back injury that made me realize my dancing days might be coming to an end. Yet at that time, I could not let go of my love of performance and the stage. So I channeled my creative energy into acting and started training from scratch.

ASIANCE: What attracted you to Sanford Meisner as an acting instructor?

ES: I took a summer intensive with Sandy in Bequia in the West Indies where he owned a home.

Jiang Wen is a famous actor/director from China (Beijing) we worked together in China many years ago on a French/Chinese/Canadian feature film called “ Le Palanquin des larmes,” We met up again in a film festival at the DGA in LA 2 years ago.

There I was exposed to his philosophy of acting: Acting is reacting; acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstance. We did a lot of acting exercises, in particular, the repetition exercise, working with an independent activity and the double conflict exercise, all of which focused on dealing with your partner moment to moment and taking the attention off of yourself.

What a great way to learn acting.. Because I was no longer acting, but just being, reacting, and listening truthfully and being affected. Sandy’s training was amazing and life-changing.

ASIANCE: Where did you get your start in showbiz?

ES: I got my start in New York as a dancer while I was studying at Juilliard. Then after I graduated, I was a member of the Alvin Dance Repertory Theater. After that, when I made my transition into acting, I got into all the unions, EQUITY, AFTRA and SAG doing plays, extra work on soaps and feature films.

ASIANCE: How did you transition into Hollywood?

ES: I was accepted into the two year master acting program with Sanford Meisner. (At that time, New York was like my second home in the States) I had to think long and hard if I wanted to uproot myself and come to LA. I came to realize that if I wanted to have a career in film and television there would be more opportunities in LA. Since I had been accepted into Sandy’s program, I felt I had a very strong purpose for coming to LA. My backup plan was simple, if nothing panned out after 2 years of acting training, I would just go back to NY. At least I would have given myself a chance to find out what LA was about.

ASIANCE: What has been your experience as Asian Pacific actress in Hollywood?

ES: Needless to say, it had been an uphill battle. The roles were few and far between when I was starting out for a young AP actress. The roles were mostly femme fatales, prostitutes, dry cleaning shop owners or restaurant owners. However, amongst the roles that I played, I did have a few favorites. Role of 2nd Wife in Joy Luck Club, Role of the interrogator in China Cry Role of Luan Volien Abbott in The Young and the Restless, Role of Mrs. Wong in Ping Pong Playa.

ASIANCE: Are there limits to the kind of roles you are offered?

ES: Earlier on, I was mostly offered roles as a villain or femme fatale. Later, in the role of Luan Volien Abbott on The Young and the Restless, I was almost saintly. I have to say that Luan had no mean bones in her at all – sometimes I felt she was so nice that she even become an inspiration in my real life.

ASIANCE: What kind of roles appeal to you?

ES: Characters that are 3 dimensional and have both strong and weak traits. I think we can all identify with that.

ASIANCE: What are you working on now?

ES: I have a few projects that I’m working on with my husband, screenwriter, Peter Tulipan, all bicultural projects. One feature (fantasy drama) project and two projects for the new media (sorry I am not able to divulge further details at this point).

ASIANCE: What advice do you have for young aspiring Asian Pacific actor/actresses?

ES: Talk to veteran actors who’s career you admire. Find out how they got where they are.

Have a career plan. Have a solid business plan to support your career plan. Have good solid training. Know your casting. Have good representation. You need that to be seen and to get auditions. Have all the necessary info for your agent and manager that they need to work on your behalf. Be a part of the union. Attend good networking events. Never stop learning and training.

ASIANCE: Has talk of SAG going on strike affected you?

ES: Of course, SAG is not on strike yet, however, the pending strike has put a lot of TV shows on hold until this is resolved. A lot of producers don’t want to sink money into a show and find that they might be facing a strike. The west coast lost a lot of TV shows to the East Coast and those shows all went for an AFTRA contract.

ASIANCE: Talk about your short film directing experiences.

ES: I love directing. I got my first opportunity to direct when I was accepted to the AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women. My first project was called Requiem, a tribute to my late brother, Philip who taught me to always follow my heart. This film won quite a lot of awards from festivals.

One thing I am really proud of was we discovered the talented Brenda Song. She is now a huge star on the Disney channel. Requiem was her first theatrical acting job, she was only six at the time. My husband and I could see her love of acting even at that young age. She is a shining example to a lot of aspiring young AP actors. After this experience, I realized that one film does not a director make. My husband and I both enrolled in The American Film Institute and received our MFA degrees there, myself in directing and he in screenwriting. Our goal is to create projects that are bicultural. I made 3 more shorts at AFI I also found that I really love stories that are based on Asian Mythology and told in current times. As a matter of fact, Peter and I created The White Fox based on the Asian fox fairy mythology. My graduate thesis short, The Water Ghost (shot 30% underwater) was based on the Chinese water spirit mythology. This project has also garnered a lot of awards from festivals. It was also a film that I submitted for the ABC/DGA television directing fellowship.

ASIANCE: What does the future hold for Asian Pacifics in entertainment?

ES: I think this is a very exciting time for Asian-Pacifics. With the whole digital media explosion, filmmaking has become a lot more accessible to committed and resourceful people. Yet the key is good story and good writing. For Asian-Pacifics, make use of this technology and initiate your own independent project. Make sure you have a wonderful story with heart as well as commercial appeal to guarantee distribution. The only way we can push the envelope is to create stories and have them be seen. With America’s relationship with China and with our new president, the U.S. is screaming for change. What is happening in politics has already affected what is on screen. Watch commercials, there are a lot more ethnic faces. This is a great time for AP filmmakers and actors. Really be in the know and seize the opportunities. That means: be ready and have good training so when the opportunity knocks, you can leap.

Also, I teach an on-camera class semi-privately. My students are smart, passionate and committed to their careers. They usually come from great schools and very accomplished careers. They often do that to satisfy their family. Now they are pursuing acting for their soul. I understand that. I was there when I was their age. What inspires me is their commitment to their dream. I am 100% behind them. Hopefully my class will give them the tools to facilitate that and help them make a career change in the shortest amount of time. I am proud and happy that they chose me to be their category_ide.

For those seeking more information about Elizabeth’s acting classes, please email her at: efsung@earthlink.net or visit her website at: www.elizabethsung.com