Lending a Grieving Voice to a Story

Last month, I auditioned for ADR roles for the film About, based on fifteen true life stories, produced by Rareform Pictures, and starring Academy Award winner Mo'Nique.

The wonderful director, V.W. Scheich, was in the house and offered to help me take some pictures for my social media outlets.

Ready for some ADR!

I just got word this week that one of my improvised lines may make the final cut! I'm glad because I did pour some heart into my wild lines. I was leaving a message for a friend, expressing my grief over the death of her brother in the film. I blended bits of real messages that I received when my dad died years ago. I know it's always awkward expressing your sympathy - especially when there really aren't any good words to say. But I always hated "Stay strong" - so that definitely won't be coming from me!

Without wanting to divulge too much, I thought the scene was very poignantly written and I'm looking forward to being a voice in it. I love films which focus on real human experiences. Losing a family member and missing the last call that he made to you is absolutely heartbreaking. I held onto my dad's last voicemail as long as I could - making another recording of it when I couldn't save it any longer on my phone.

Needless to say, I'm glad I could lend my voice to About. Films that tell true stories are powerful - and great filmmaking is all about storytelling. 

Acting as a Lead and My New Favorite Undies

Hello my happy readers! 2014 is coming to a close and I'm happy to report that I've been making some small gains - actually booking lead roles in projects! It has been a while since I've been a lead, so it's cool that I've had two projects in a row in which I'm a lead! Wow!

Credit to Luo and Jerry for making this!

First off, we have "Born a Chinese Girl," a short film by USC MFA candidate Qianzhu Luo. It's about a girl who grew up only knowing how to study and not knowing how to really identify herself outside of her studies. I had a blast shooting it! It will be screening on December 14! And there's me as the poster girl, wearing a real Chinese high school track suit!

Then, I recently wrapped another shoot this month called "Thirty Years Later" by Jocelyn Jia. I play a young adoptive mother who makes a sacrifice to have her child. Updates to come as it is currently in post production!

While not a lead, you will also see me in an upcoming episode of season 2 of "Introverts" by Rachel Tucker, shot this month as well. I've also already booked a small role in another project shooting the first week of December, too! Yay for acting projects!

And since I realize I haven't been up to speed with updates since...January...I'll also add that I shot a print campaign for AT&T a couple months ago. So, if anyone ever ends up seeing a random image of me lounging about on an AT&T ad, let me know.

Finally, let me add my MAD BUM selfie as one more thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and holiday season. Did I mention I got it for free from Jockey because I posted about the Mad Bum undies on twitter?? Sent it right to my place! THANK YOU, JOCKEY. Man, Twitter has paid off. This is my new favorite underwear. I love my San Francisco Giants and I was really thankful for them going all the way yet again! They helped me get through a tough October!

I bought some plants, too!

Filming "Medium"

This past birthday weekend of mine, I worked on the short film "Medium." All of it was shot on 35 mm film. A promotional video for the project is embedded here below, with actual story info located here on its fundraising page:

I played the supporting role of Blondie. And for your picture hungry eyes, here are a couple of photos of me in make-up on set:

I also delivered all of my lines in Cantonese - which was a trip since my Mandarin is definitely much better. So, it was my first Canto film! Woohoo! It was a fun project to work on. 
The director, Sean, also graciously sent me a few stills from the film, currently in post-production:

One big happy HK family?

Oh la la!