I booked my first national tour of a Broadway show right out of college. It was the tap show, '42nd Street.' I had only been tap dancing for three years when I booked that show.
It's a bummer interracial love is still such a big deal. To me, it's quite normal. I grew up seeing couples that were interracial. Who cares if it's a black guy and white girl, or an Asian guy and white girl, etc.? Odds are, every combo exists out there somewhere so why not put it on the screen? Shouldn't art imitate life?
I can play multiple instruments. I love a cappella. I love barbershop. I love magic.
I felt like I wasn't considered for minority or Caucasian male lead roles. There aren't really a lot of roles written for me, and I mean me and who I am in real life.
Filipino food is not common when compared to your local Chinese food options.
After a performance, I met the man who would later be my acting coach who helped me get into my acting conservatory. It was apparent to me that there were many others who were in support of me becoming an actor and making a name for myself. I am forever grateful to those teachers and mentors who instead of saying, 'Why you?' said, 'Why not you?'
Upon graduating from my acting program at The Pacific Conservatory of Performing Arts in Santa Maria, CA, I went to my first tap audition. It was for the 1st national equity tour of '42nd Street.'
I was singing R&B songs, listening to Boyz II Men, and I wanted to take dance classes, but I waited until my senior year of high school to take my very first dance class.
I grew up accepting that my nationality was not depicted on TV or film. To be honest, it was something I didn't acknowledge as a kid. But once I realized my love for acting and the possibility of pursuing a career in it, I quickly noticed the absence of Asians in general and thought, 'Well, I'm gonna try to change that.'
Where are the Asian leading men? Well, we're being kicked to the ground; we're not being supported. We're not considered sexy or masculine, this or that. When you start hearing something enough, you start to believe it. But our world is changing, and I think we're starting to see that that's not the end-all be-all.
Gene Kelly has meant so much to me through the years. I used to dance in my living room in socks and a tee-shirt, no idea what I was doing, but wanting to dance like Gene.
Between acting jobs, I'd go visit my hometown and college town to see family and friends. But I would also teach acting, dance, singing, and audition techniques in high schools and colleges. I take great pride in all the survival jobs I worked, because I learned so much from them.
I was raised in a dominantly Filipino family. I didn't know I was 'mixed' until I got older and started asking questions about my grandparents, the origins of our middle and last names. We were kind of textbook Pinoys. A lot of the Filipino stereotypes that were joked about by me and my friends rang very true with my family.
