![]() ![]() Only then, can you begin to pull it out from within and package it in a form of expression. Let her love you, break you, strengthen you. If my future children ever wanted to be actors, I would encourage them, but I’d urge them to go to university first, or travelling, or even work experience. I meet more and more actors now who studied very normal degrees at Oxford and Cambridge. You can’t ‘learn’ life experiences in a classroom, no matter how good your posture or breathing is. To be an actor, you need life experience. What do you think is the advantage and disadvantage of not attending drama school? Everything happens for a reason – we need to learn to trust as oppose to blame our choices. This has allowed me to have a much more varied and fulfilling career. Now I realise it wasn’t the energy I carried. ![]() Not because I wanted those roles, but the constant rejection. When I first started out, I could never get cast as the illegal immigrant, or the takeaway worker, or the prostitute – pretty much the only roles available for an Asian actress 10 years ago. Doctor ( Holby City), detective (Scott & Bailey), lawyer ( Crazy Rich Asians), and many more. There is a gravitas that comes with being a law graduate that is just part of my being, whether I like it or not.Īs such, I’ve only ever found myself playing professional roles. I blamed my stagnant career on the fact that I hadn't started early enough. You see a lots of actors starting so young, especially in America. I had moments during my career when I felt like I wasted three years of my life studying law. They are now they are my greatest supporters.ĭo you think studying law had an effect on your acting?Ībsolutely. Not for my successes, but because of what my determination and hard work had achieved. Over the next few years, when everything started to build, when I was flying out to make international films and being paid to do so, they became so proud. I was proud of my choices and so should he be. My dad would introduce me to his friends at dinner parties as, ‘My daughter, the law graduate, who works in the top City law firm.’ I’d make a point of elaborating that I worked as a secretary - because I was supporting myself in my dream. I worked in a law firm at the time, temping as a secretary even though my friends who had graduated with me were trainee lawyers carrying much more prestige. He’d tell me he would pay for everything if I wanted to continue with academics. My dad would not-so-subtly mention ‘Masters’ and ‘Harvard’ often. I did a lot of things as a child that had a pretty short shelf life, he was clearly hoping my acting aspirations were also just a phase. My dad never spoke about it after I told him. My mum seemed quite happy, but I think that’s because she was just relieved I had finally decided to do something with my life after I graduated law, as I’d moved home and taken some time out to ‘find myself’. How did your parents react when you told them that you wanted to be an actress? They are what makes me unique in this oversaturated ubiquitous market. Now, I am trying to find all those pieces, reclaim them and love them. When you’re an immigrant, there are many parts of yourself you deny just to fit in. It took a long time for me to realise who I was. But the lifestyle was the real struggle, and very painful at times. It would explain why I find the craft of acting relatively easy. You lost your identity when you left China and you had to quickly learn how to fit in." My therapist hit the nail on the head when she said, "You were drawn to acting because you’ve been pretending all your life. I must have blocked a lot of that time out of my childhood, but it caught up with me later in life. It was tough I grew up in Southampton which was extremely un-diverse back then. My family were very poor and didn’t know how to assimilate. I couldn’t speak English, I looked very different, I had a name no one could pronounce all the perks that come with being foreign. How hard was it for you to adapt to a different culture? You came to England from China when you were five in the 90s. ![]()
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