Jean Yoon Interview: Part 2

Jean’s interview was just too interesting to chop up into one post, so as promised we are bringing you Part 2 where Jean gives us more of her insight about the Asian-American film industry and she tells about her upcoming projects.

1. Like many Asian-American actors/actresses you have played the stereotypical Asian roles…like in your case being a doctor repeatedly! Have you noticed the opportunities for Asian actors changing in Hollywood and have other film role opportunities been opening up for you?

I work in Toronto and have been especially happy to witness the successes of immensely talented artists such as Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Grace Lynn Kung, Hiro Kanagawa, Steph Song, Byron Mann, Mayko Nguyen and others in our Canadian film and television industry. And all of us here in Canada, cheer on the Hollywood achievements of our Canadian homies Sandra Oh, Patrick Gallagher, and Grace Park. That said, I do believe that the rise of Asian Canadian talent in our film and television industry has been relatively slow given that the talent we have and the fact that East Asians collectively comprise the largest visible minority group in Canada.

There are still very few Asian Canadian writers in our television industry and rising AC filmmakers are entering the mainstream industry with difficulty. There is, however, a surprisingly large number of accomplished Asian Canadian documentary filmmakers, and oddly enough, doc filmmakers such as Minsook Lee are somehow making a sideways entrance into dramatic film and television. We’re making progress, I think, but slowly. Or perhaps it seems slow to me because I have been waiting and working for change for so terribly long. For Asian Canadian actors to truly blossom, we need quality writers to generate deep, surprising, inspiring and original stories. We need smart, savvy and talented directors. We need brave, committed and innovative producers with integrity. We are getting there. But it’s a long journey.

As for the roles I have played – I don’t think I have played a lot of “stereotypical roles.” I, like many minority actors, have played a wide range of “functional roles,” characters who appear for a scene or two, forward the plot, deliver information to the hero, and then are gone, having contributed, by virtue of their ethnicity, to a more “realistic” portrayal of the city and time in which the story is set. I think it’s a little unreasonable to say that a character’s actual job (doctor, lawyer, forensic scientist) automatically makes a given role a stereotype or not. A “cliché,” perhaps, but a “stereotype?” Is Sandra Oh’s work as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy stereotypical? I think not.

An important point to consider is the ratio of plot function to character detail. In other words, I would say that Dr. Lynn Chen in Odyssey 5, a bitchy, impatient, competent forensic scientist was written with enough detail to rise above the ghetto of straight out functional roles. Whereas, the doctor I play in Time Traveler’s Wife is a blink-and-you’re-gone role. The role was written for a white male. The choice to cast an Asian female was an effort on the casting director’s part towards inclusivity. Was it a challenging role? No. Did I grow through the process? No. But I was very glad for the work, for the paycheck, and would you turn down a couple of days work with Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana on the basis that the “Asian Doctor” is a stereotype?

The fact is, Asians do figure prominently in the medicine, so yes, the Asian doctor has become a type, as has the Asian female reporter. And many a fine career has been and will be built on the foundations of these two types. As an actor, your job is to go in there, do you best, create the most interesting and authentic character possible, and build role by role a reputation to say no to types and take on more challenging and complex roles. That day is one all actors dream of and work towards. It is different for every actor. I have a white friend who has a string of credits as an unstable vaguely criminal perpetrator. Why? He has an asymmetrical face. As his career matures, he has been able to break out of that type, as well as explore more detailed and complex characters within the type. Working with and against type is just one of the many challenges actors deal with over their careers.

That said, I have to say I have been very fortunate in that I’ve had a few challenging and juicy roles along the way. I played Liang Marlow in the Franco-Canadian mini-series L’Or. Liang is a culturally and linguistic fluent Chinese-Canadian. Extremely well-off, she is the wife of a white mining engineer who falls in love with a French Canadian woman who works in his field. In this ten part series, I was able to explore the intimate territory of marital breakdown and the public humiliation of divorce, and I got to do it in both English and Mandarin.

Similarly, in Dragon Boys, a three-hour mini-series, I played Belinda Lok, the wife of a Chinese Canadian gangster. When I first read the breakdown I thought no, this looks like Yellow Peril crap. But when I read the script, I found a story that crept into the dark corners and tensions of the Vancouver Chinese Canadian community. With an amazing company of artists including Eric Tsang (Tsang Chi Wai), the Robert de Niro of Hong Kong cinema, Tzi Ma, Byron Mann, Steph Song, Simon Wong, Darryl Quon and director Jerry Ciccoritti, we created three hours of tense, dramatic and ground-breaking work, a complex story of heart-break, ambition and families tearing apart. I’m really proud of Dragon Boys. And I’m proud of my work in it.

2. Tell us about your other recent film “Cancel Christmas” and what other projects you have upcoming.

Cancel Christmas is a Hallmark Christmas movie starring Judd Hirsch. I play the corporate bitch who wants to cancel Christmas since Santa Claus has failed to foster a spirit of generosity and good will towards all men. Santa has thirty days to reform three boys on the naughty list or Christmas is cancelled. Santa, of course, succeeds, and I return resentfully with his new contract. He signs it, then gives me the pony that I wished for but never received when I was seven years old. My cynicism and bitterness melt like an icy sidewalk in Chinook and Christmas is happy for everyone. The real bonus is my son loves the film.

Most of the work I have lined up for this year is theatre. I just finished working on a show called Tout Comme Elle, part of the high profile Luminato Festival here in Toronto by a company called Necessary Angel. The play, originally produced in Quebec, is the work of poet Louise Dupres and Siminovitch Award winning director Brigitte Haentjens. It’s a moving and visually stunning combination of movement, song, poetry, an exploration of the pain and tenderness of the mother/daughter separation. This production features fifty women. FIFTY! Some of the most gifted fifty actresses in Canadian acting community are involved, with enough awards and nominations in the company to fill the huge hall where we’re rehearsing. It was a marvelous and at times overwhelming adventure that reinvigorated my faith in theatre.

Through July and August, I have been performing in Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi, a young Korean Canadian artist. Ins is a wildly talented actor and Kim’s Convenience is his first play. The cast features Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Esther Jun, Ins Choi, Andre Stills and myself. Audience and critical response has been overwhelming. The show is the story of a convenience store owner, his wife, his thirty-year old daughter and his lost son, in a rapidly changing neighborhood in Toronto. Performing in Kim’s Convenience has been immensely satisfying. The script is excellent, witty and heartbreaking at once, and we have a damn fine cast. Paul is hilarious and heartbreaking in the title role.

Right now, I’m doing the film/TV thing: a turn on the last season of the Canadian comedy series Little Mosque on the Prairie, a turn on a new pilot called Wish List. A commercial here. A commercial there. Bread and butter stuff.

Then in October, I begin rehearsals at Factory Theatre in a remount of Tomson Highway’s hit comedy The Rez Sister. We open in November and run until just before Christmas. The Rez Sisters features a mixed race cast with four First Nation actors, a black actress, a South Asian actress, a white actress and myself. It’s a bit of an experiment. Tomson has declared publicly that he would like to see his works performed by the best actors possible, whether they are First Nations or not. He has openly challenged the notion of authenticity of ethnicity in casting, to the dismay of many First Nations’ actors.

It’s problematic. I feel incredibly honored to be part of this show. At the same time, as a playwright and a theatre artist, I’m not convinced that this approach should be generalized in any way. My own play, The Yoko Ono Project would not make sense if performed by non-Asian actresses. My other major play Hongbu & Nolbu premiered with an all Asian cast, although only one of the company was actually Korean – Ins Choi, actually. In Kim’s Convenience, all the Korean characters are played by Korean Canadian actors and though we are varying degrees of Korean, we have all remarked on how quick and easy the rehearsal process was. There was no need for break out discussions on cultural context. We all just knew.

After The Rez Sisters, we’ll be remounting Kim’s Convenience. I cannot divulge the details at this point, but critical and audience response was so strong, it is now a certainty that the show will be back in the new year. It’s all very exciting. Growing up, the only Koreans in our suburban Toronto neighborhood, I never imagined that someday I would find myself in the company of such illustrious kimchi-eating thespians. Never. No way. Pinch me. I’m still not sure it’s true.