Normally, you cast a pilot, and you have to make compromises about being political about who you cast.
From my experience, I would say no: actors of East Asian descent don't get the opportunities white actors do. I know that's inherently a problem in a country that produces a lot of period drama, but I have to fight so hard to get parts that don't have something to do with China.
Parts for Asians are hard enough to get, and if Tee, which sounds kind of generically Asian, helps me get roles, so be it.
My first agent told me to change my name or I'd only play Jewish parts or Indians. Of course I refused to change it. Shortly thereafter she came up to me and told me I had to keep it, because her numerologist said it was very, very good.
It's nice to be thought of as attractive and all of that. On the other hand, it curtails you somewhat, too. They won't let me read for 'West Wing,' just to play, you know, a normal person. Or 'ER,' to play a doctor - the things I'm actually good at. I mean, I'm pretty good on foreign policy - they won't even let me come read for that.
The sad truth for American actors is that they really have no control whatsoever over the material that they get, or can do, particularly actresses. And if you're over 40 and you're an actress, forget it.
I don't think people realize what it's like for people of color to audition for film and TV.
Yeah, there's a tendency to get pigeonholed in Hollywood.
There are instances where, in my mid to late 20s, I very often found myself going for roles that they didn't want to cast me in, because I'd done good work, but in a producer's eyes, I wasn't high enough status. So I lost out.
A lot of times black actors get stuck in a box. They're up against a lot of limitations for the kind of films that they get approached about. It's easy to get stuck in a box and just be approached about nothing but urban films.
I can't get the serious roles. People don't see me that way.
The lamest excuse that I get incessantly is, 'Oh, we're not going ethnic with that role,' so I can't go in for it, or I can't get the part, which is really stupid, because, in today's world, people look different.
Hollywood is a very strong machine that needs, and in... especially with female actors, fresh flesh. It's that cruel. But that's the way it is.
I'm sure people in the business have said: She's too old for that part. I don't hear about it because your agent protects you from those negative things.
I was playing 40-year-old women when I was 20. I didn't get considered for ingenue roles.
In general, the auditions I go up for are very sparse, I guess because of my ethnicity. And the characters are very similar: shy, innocent and naive; the connotations that come from the way that I look.
In the industry, once people see you in a certain mold, you start getting offered only those kind of roles.
People in the industry thought it was laughable that I should be going up for things that didn't clearly state what race the part was intended for.
I won't name names, but sometimes a TV set can be a shame-and-fear obstacle course for an actress.
I don't get jobs in films by auditioning. I'm not blonde. You can't place me in movies the way you can with certain actors. It's very difficult for my agents.
The problem with the film industry is that once one starts out as a villain, subsequent offers are those of similar roles.
As an actress, you're already disregarded for a lot of the parts by the people who are setting up those shows. You don't need your agent to be doing the same.
There are roles I want that my agency might not want me to do because of the subject matter or whatever. Or there are roles that people won't bring to me because they don't think I'll do it. And that is a big strain because an actor wants to act.
