Life in the Background

Background work isn't considered acting and seems to be unanimously shunned as something you should never put on your resume. Indeed!

However, I have found myself doing background work several times so far in Los Angeles. You may have seen my post earlier this summer about Japanese clubbing, in which I look nothing like an actual Japanese clubber.

Nurse Felicia... in the future Dr. Hom's scrubs (I mean my sister)

In the past couple of weeks, I have been everything from a guest at the wedding of Korean superstar Lee Minho, a nurse on "Body of Proof" and just your average gal passing in the background of "Cougartown." I must admit it was a bit cool to see Jeri Ryan and Courteney Cox as I had watched "Star Trek Voyager" and "Friends" in my youth (a time when I actually watched TV). I wasn't exactly starstruck as I have now grown used to seeing actors and actresses - but Lee Minho was a total surprise since he doesn't prance around Hollywood very much. He was of special meaning to me because he rose to fame while I was living in Seoul. I even included him on some of my English worksheets as all my students knew who he was and watched him on "꽃보다 남자." Crazy! I'd never seen any Korean stars when I lived in Korea - so unexpectedly, a couple years later, I end up seeing one in a random corner of central Los Angeles.

Agent Hom's backside might appear on "Chuck"

Background work does have some pros as I do get to see all these stars, but also get to learn more about the shooting and production process.

Now, an acquaintance of mine mumbled something to the effect of, "You don't want to be stuck in the background forever, do you?" Why, no, of course not. But until I end up actually booking the job and demonstrating that I am a better fit for various roles, it seems I will be consigned to hover in the background until I can bring the A-game. That, or make the A-game. This reminds me that I am nearing the deadline on my one-year goal statement and still have to self-produce!

Track Back to April

The following is a short we filmed for our Actors/Directors/Writers Workshop at Film Acting Bay Area. It was filmed back in April, but only has now come out with a rough cut. I was written into this at the last moment, hence I only have a small part. You can, however, briefly see my pink bunny pencil case on the desk next to my pink laptop in front of another actress. Pink power! I'm also wearing my trademark dirty pink backpack which I have dragged all around the world with me - from UCLA to Seoul to every country I visited in between in Asia and Europe and throughout China and back.

Adult Education from Doniphan Blair on Vimeo.

This may or may not be edited more as this is a rough edit.

Say Hello to September

It is the early morning of September 11, 2011 as I write this entry. I've been a bit sporadic with my updates as of late, but if you must know, here are a couple of photos taken for me by a photographer by the name of Daniel (for free!) in the last week of August:

I kind of like the messy hair. I also look very Asian and cute.

This is supposed to be my 'professional' shot. I was prepared to bring my suits, but I forgot them!

Anyway, I have a lot more shots - some featuring my pretty long silky hair and a few shots where I'm wearing glasses - like a librarian. By the way, I got a haircut in the first week of September - it's about mid length now, but it'll be long and silky again in no time. And I just changed my mind...I'll add the librarian shot...can't resist showing how much more intelligent I look with glasses my dad would have worn.

Why yes, that is my hand. What do you require?

Enough with the vapid face time, what else have I been doing? Well, I've had some various training, took a trip back home to San Francisco, am back for more various training and auditioning. I also got around to doing a wee bit more of blogging.

First, here is a brief entry on my experience with race/racism in America, posted at Rollinglobe for continuity's sake.

Finally, I started two new blogs, Acting in SF and Beginning LA Actors, dedicated to keeping both myself informed and any other beginning actor who happens to stumble across the blogs. Knowledge is power, and I fully intend to expand mine.

Oh yeah, and I tried putting together a demo reel by myself (with my purely new beginning editing skills). I do have a working version, but that begs the question - to have this demo reel or not? I definitely want more opportunities to showcase my acting chops because I know I can do better and am better than some of my various rivals. That being said, this is a continuous fight to improve and get better! I really want to get to the level where I can blow my competition out of the way instead of getting pwned! :)

Thanks to the Beer Inspector for HTML Help!

Ladies and gentlemen, after futilely searching for help on how to get rid of the jump breaks on my blog, I found help from an unlikely source - The Beer Inspector, also known as Ravish.
I scoured Google on "how to get rid of the Read More button on Blogger" and came across Ravish's posts on a forum. No one had responded to him after his multiple posts, but upon visiting his website, I saw that he had successfully removed the jump breaks.
I sent him a message and he very kindly walked me through the whole process! Not everyone would respond to random internet strangers asking for help, but he did (with a very thorough explanation!) and I am very grateful. So visit his site and marvel at one kind individual who likes to rate beer!

Some more of the beer I saw in Germany!