Answers. . . anyone?

I have two girls who love singing, acting and performing. My oldest is 10 and my little one, 7 years old. They were recently in a production of The King and I, which ran at the Bloomington Civic Theater, and just loved the experience. After the show’s run the girls excitingly asked me what and when their next project might be. Being a dedicated mother I began surfing the net for any opportunity I could find for Asian children. My search led me to what seemed to be a million pages. It was difficult to distinguish between the sites that were reputable and those that were questionable but I eventually found my way to trusted casting web pages such as backstage.com and actorsaccess.com.

Throughout this process I learned how complex the industry is, but more importantly I learned that there are very few opportunities for Asians, especially Asian children. I was greatly discouraged and wondered how it could be that a group as diverse as this and with so many amazing stories to tell could have so little representation in the entertainment industry. This endeavor has left me with many more questions than I started out with.

Can people not relate to Asian stories and images?

Is the Asian experience not associated with the American experience?

Are Asians not perceived as being as talented?

Is the Asian “look” not sellable?

When a call for audition states, “diversity is very important to us,” is that just window dressing?

We are so much more than Kung Fu and chop suey. America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC) has shown us that Asians can dance (and darn well). Ang Lee has proven that Asians can direct Oscar worthy movies that are not martial arts related. Comedians such as Bobby Lee and Aziz Ansari have demonstrated that Asians are hilarious, and the list goes on and on. This is why I am so dumbfounded to learn that commercials rarely look to cast Asians to sell goods, movies roles are seldom written for Asians, or stories about the Asian experience (outside of war films) are rarely developed for mainstream America’s viewing pleasure.

What do you do when you have smart, sweet, respectful and articulate children who want to do something but can’t because their image is not mainstream enough? How do you tell your Asian American children they are not “American” enough to play an American? So many more questions than answers. . .

by Kaohly Her