{"id":2863,"date":"2007-09-04T01:09:44","date_gmt":"2007-09-04T01:09:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2025-10-15T13:25:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T13:25:44","slug":"i-now-pronounce-you-candace-kita","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=2863","title":{"rendered":"I Now Pronounce you Candace Kita"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i class=\"intro\">You definitely won&#8217;t blink and miss Candace Kita in her latest role as the sexy Hooters girl in &#8220;I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry.&#8221;  Don&#8217;t let the comedic role fool you though, Candace is also a classically trained flautist and performed with the Palm Beach Symphony Orchestra in Palm Beach, Florida. <\/p>\n<p>\nCandace was also one of Wilhelmina&#8217;s first Asian models.  Standing at only 5ft 6 inches tall, Candace defied the roles of height and ethnicity.<\/p>\n<p>\nCandace&#8217;s acting credits include three seasons as a series regular lead on FOX-TV&#8217;s &#8220;Masked Rider&#8221;, a series recurring on the Oxygen Network sketch comedy series, &#8220;Running with Scissors&#8221;, and a series recurring role on Howard Stern&#8217;s &#8220;Son of the Beach&#8221;. She has over a dozen national commercials to her credit for companies such as Coke, Sprite, MSN and Budweiser. And she has guest starred in a number of shows such as Movies at Our House, Even Stevens and The Out of Timers.<\/p>\n<p>\nIn her free time, Candace has been an interpreter for the deaf and continues to be involved in the deaf community. She also enjoys yoga, karate and all outdoor activities.<\/i><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<h3>ASIANCE: What is your Asian heritage?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> I&#8217;m Japanese American.  My family is primarily here.  I&#8217;m in contact with my family here. I&#8217;m real Japanese American. <\/p>\n<div class=\"pullquote\">\n<div class=\"pullquoteTop\">\n<blockquote><p>\nWilhelmina is one of the top modeling agencies.  They took me on.  I was one of the shortest people there. I&#8217;m only 5 feet, 6 inches.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"pullquoteAttribute\">Candace Kita<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>ASIANCE: You were in graduate school and then dropped out to pursue modeling?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Yeah I just have my thesis left.  I came out here to pursue modeling and acting.  You know how people get the acting bug?  Well that was me and it just happened.  I said this is for the birds.  I think that was a good decision for me.  I wouldn&#8217;t recommend everyone to drop out of grad school.<\/p>\n<p>\nRight now I&#8217;m enjoying acting.  I was working on Sociology with an emphasis in abnormal Psychology and I just know for me, I&#8217;m happy pursuing this.  I took the scarier road and I&#8217;m following it.  I&#8217;m really enjoying living in the moment and doing what I&#8217;m doing. <\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Are you still in the production of &#8220;Falling?&#8221;<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> We just now finished.  It should be out in early 2008.  It&#8217;s a small Indie.  It&#8217;s an Independent movie.  It&#8217;s a drama.  I&#8217;m a supporting character.  It&#8217;s about a young woman who goes through depression and is able to pull herself out of the depression.  I play Julie who helps her out of the depression.<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Is it going to be shown at any film festivals?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Yes. It will be shown throughout the film festival circuit.<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Tell us about being on Pepper Dennis and working with Rebecca Romijn.<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Rebecca plays Pepper Dennis.  When I first got the job, I knew nothing about the series.  Apparently it&#8217;s a cartoon character.  The episode I did, according to the cast and crew, was the best and funniest out of the whole season, which I actually take a lot of pride in.  <\/p>\n<p>\nWe actually got to shoot in a real women&#8217;s correctional facility.  I played a female inmate. It&#8217;s amazing the security that you have to go through just to get on the premises during the day. We were watched the whole time.  It was a lot of fun but it taught me that you really don&#8217;t want to go to jail. The rooms are little tiny cubicles and you have one fluorescent light above you.  The food is dreadful.  Rebecca Romijn is soooo nice!<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: What do you have coming up?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Well I have a calendar coming out.  It&#8217;s called The Modern American Pinup. What&#8217;s great about it, is that it a salute to the old 1940s style pinup.  That is coming out at the end of the year.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imgRight\">\n<div><a rel=\"lightbox[picture]\" href=\"\/files\/active\/0\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg\n?phpMyAdmin=b6e7070bd5fbb419ad8364bda928eebb\" title=\"Candace Kita\"><img decoding=\"async\" border=\"0\" width=\"300\" src=\"\/files\/active\/0\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg\" alt=\"Candace Kita\" \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"imgCaption\">Candace Kita<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>I also have another movie coming out.  It&#8217;s an Indie and it&#8217;s called Faith Happens.  I play a woman whose husband was involved in espionage in China. She and her husband are trying to make a new life in America.  So it&#8217;s a drama. I don&#8217;t usually do dramas.  I most often get cast in comedic roles.  This is my first really serious dramatic role.<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: So what was it like being represented by Wilhelmina?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> I was with Wilhelmina for 5 years.  That was the peak of my modeling career.  Then I decided to focus mainly on acting.  I still do modeling jobs of course, but my interest and focus is on acting more than anything else.  I always tell people.  Wilhelmina is one of the top modeling agencies.  They took me on.  I was one of the shortest people there. I&#8217;m only 5 feet, 6 inches.  Always believe in yourself. If you have faith you can do it. <\/p>\n<p>\nBeing Asian is rare as well, especially by the mainstream modeling agencies. Yeah I got lucky and I had a great booker. I think it helps to have a little bit of an unusual look.  My hair is down to my waist.  Now you are not just seeing the Christie Brinkley&#8217;s, blonde hair and blue eyes, but you&#8217;re seeing a range of people.  Like that model Alek Wek from Sudan.  You&#8217;re seeing a lot of Multi ethnic models now, which is wonderful because it&#8217;s a wider interpretation of what is beautiful. <\/p>\n<p>\nEven 10 years ago you never saw that many.  Now you see a lot more. I like variety.  I think Benetton had one of the first campaigns. <\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Whose career would you like to have?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Actually it&#8217;s a guy, not a girl. I think that Johnny Depp is the most chameleonic character.  He loses himself in the character.  You don&#8217;t see him, you see the character.  Same with Edward Norton.  I really appreciate their acting.<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Who would you like to work with?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Well I already played Mel Gibson&#8217;s girlfriend, so I think I&#8217;ll end it with that.  Mel was the executive producer of a show last year called Complete Savages.  He played a character called Officer Steve Cox.  I would come on as his girlfriend Misty throughout the show.  My character was like Kenny in South Park, so I would die at the end of every episode.  I died in the hot tub.  I died because I ate too much turkey.  All these crazy, crazy things.  It was one of my absolute favorite parts I&#8217;ve had. And of course I got to play Mel Gibson&#8217;s girlfriend.  It was just he and I, so I kind of feel like I&#8217;ve done that.  <\/p>\n<p>\nI really like Steve Colbert from The Colbert Report. I really find him fascinating and sharp.<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Were you surprised after you heard about that racial incident with Mel Gibson?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Yes I really was.  A lot of people asked me that after that happened.  He was nothing but professional and respectable to me and everyone else on the set.  I was really surprised.<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Besides your mom, which Asian American women do you admire?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Connie Chung, because I remember her being one of the first recognizable Asian faces that I would see on a daily basis.  She wasn&#8217;t one of the contemporary faces.  We saw her in the deep South and in the West.  I remember seeing her face thinking she looked like me.  So if you&#8217;re growing up in Texas where there are hardly any Asians or models, it was great.  I remember my grandparents and I would watch television.  It was such a big deal if someone was Asian.  My grandfather would scream, &#8220;Look!&#8221;  Connie Chung was someone they would see every single day. <\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: Is the industry more accepting of Asian women in main roles or do you feel it is still stereotypical?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> I still think it&#8217;s stereotypical in some regards. I always ask, &#8220;Why does this character have to have an Asian accent?&#8221;  I get that a lot.  It should be based on my acting not on ethnicity.  For example, the Mel Gibson role, that was not for an Asian.  Why are we on television with accents and stereotypes?  I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s funny.<\/p>\n<p><h3>ASIANCE: What would you say to Asian girls wishing to get into acting or modeling?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Candace:<\/b> Hang in there. Believe in yourself.  Remember you are an actor.  I have personally heard Asian slurs.  You have to have a thick skin.  There is always going to be someone taller, skinner and prettier than you.  So don&#8217;t give up. When an elevator door closes after an audition, just don&#8217;t think about it.  Make friends with your competition because it&#8217;s easier that way.<\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You definitely won&#8217;t blink and miss Candace Kita in her latest role as the sexy Hooters girl in &#8220;I Now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":57294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2113,1008],"tags":[2121,2117],"class_list":["post-2863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-career","category-sex-in-the-city","tag-career","tag-sex-in-the-city"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-225x300.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","colormag-highlighted-post":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-300x272.jpg","colormag-featured-post-medium":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-300x205.jpg","colormag-featured-post-small":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-130x90.jpg","colormag-featured-image":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","colormag-default-news":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-150x150.jpg","colormag-featured-image-large":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","colormag-elementor-block-extra-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-small-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-285x400.jpg","colormag-elementor-grid-medium-large-thumbnail":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-300x198.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"njaiyo","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/255e26fc52858afad234c2c1d44c946e16c565fd0ef5615b0c1caa793897759d?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"15","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"You definitely won&#8217;t blink and miss Candace Kita in her latest role as the sexy Hooters girl in &#8220;I Now","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Career","Sex In The City"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":546,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":8,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1.jpg",300,400,false],"medium":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-225x300.jpg",225,300,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/200709_CandaceKitapic1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"njaiyo","author_link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?author=6"},"magazine_blocks_comment":15,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/255e26fc52858afad234c2c1d44c946e16c565fd0ef5615b0c1caa793897759d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-2113\">Career<\/a> <a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-1008\">Sex In The 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