Actors discuss Hollywood roles

As part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, actors Dustin Nguyen and Rochelle Ashana addressed about 150 students Friday about their experiences in Hollywood. Nguyen, who has starred in 21 Jump Street and can now be seen in Seaquest, DSV, and Ashana, whose movies include American Ninja Fighter and Kickboxer, spoke to students about a wide range of issues ranging from stereotyping and typecasting to sexual harassment. "There's always going to be typecasting," said Nguyen, who has also played roles in the movies Heaven and Earth and Rapid Fire. "It comes from a lack of understanding?[but] it has gotten better." Ashana said Asian American actresses are also getting more fully-developed parts. "We still have stereotypes to deal with, but we're slowly but surely climbing the ladder out of the mold of [playing] submissive women," she said. The actors disagreed on how to go about changing the depiction of Asian Americans in film. Ashana said actors should "do whatever it takes" in order to get a part, even if that means being typecasted. "[The actor must then] look at the script and try to portray the character as a person," she said. But Nguyen said he would not take a stereotypical role. "I'd rather not do them," Nguyen said. "I would get offended?[It would be] hard for me to do a good job." Students attending the discussion were also curious about the prevalence of Asian Americans behind the scenes. "[The situation is] worse than in front of the camera," said Nguyen. "I can count on one hand the number of people behind the scenes." Organizers said they chose these speakers to illustrate the variety of Asian Americans' careers. "[We wanted to] highlight the diversity in experience among Asian Americans," said Featured Speakers Coordinator Matthew Lee, a College junior. As part of the program, Ashana also asked the students for help in her campaign to help children in the Philippines. "There are 50,000 children of American servicemen living in the Philippines," she said. "[They are] not being allowed into the United States." Ashana said writing letters to congressmen may help to solve this problem. When asked about his future, Nguyen said he saw himself continuing his acting career and added that he hopes to produce or direct a film. Ashana said she wants to produce or direct in the future. And she said she hopes to work with orphanages in Asia to help children who are living on the streets. Following the dialogue, the group watched a screening of The Wedding Banquet, directed by Ang Lee.