Whats the hardest thing about being an Asian actor in London?
Um, I think the hardest thing is the fact that they are very few Asian roles in theatre and in film in the West. Because the writers are usually writing from their own experience and they’re usually Caucasian writers so they don’t write Asian characters and when they do write Asian characters, they’re normally very superficial, very one-dimensional. So as a result what we get in the Western media is a representation of Asian stereotypes. Which is I think a great problem because we’ve entered the new millennium and Asia is still being portrayed as stereotypical characters, you know um, cooks, chefs, triad members, gangsters, whatever. But do you think that is changing now because you have more and more Asians claming bigger parts rather than just the oriental bits like Chow Yun Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Joan Chen. Yeah, it’s changing slowly but you see, people like Jackie Chan, he’s still seen as a clown. Yes, he’s doing well in Hollywood but he’s only limited to those type of roles which the
