In L.A., I was a talent manager for many years. I represented many African-American actors. After a while, I became disheartened over the shortage of roles for African Americans.
It's very hard as an Asian actress to get seen for anything which isn't specifically Asian in England.
I entered the acting world at a time when there was a higher demand for Middle Eastern actors in the post-9/11 world, and yeah, the roles weren't great.
What's hardest for me to swallow is when there is a love story, say, with a really high-profile male star and there's no reason I can't play the part. They say, 'Oh, we love Halle, we just don't want to go black with this part.'
Since 'Heroes' started, I've probably had about 15 or 16 film scripts sent to me with Indian characters, and out of those, maybe one was good.
No other group (traditional Christians) is so consistently maligned on prime-time television. These defamatory portrayals betray a deep-seated hostility.
After Halle Berry does her films and Queen Latifah does her films, it's left to all the black, Latino and Asian actresses to fight over a couple of roles. I opted for some TV. There's just not a ton of work in film.
It's funny you can pretty much substitute the same actors in that top tier, whether it's a Chris Evans or a Chris Pratt or a Chris Pine, for different movies and it becomes almost a joke. But it doesn't happen that way for people of color.
Korean-Americans, Asian-Americans are so unbelievably underrepresented in the U.S. entertainment and media industries and I don't think we are given a real shot.
There are many projects I couldn't get off the ground because they didn't have white heroes. It's a problem that everyone who's been working in Hollywood has been facing.
One of my personal plights in this business is about playing 'The Sassy Black Girl.'
When you're black in Hollywood, you know, your first role is going to be on a crime drama. That's - everybody knows that.
Being a Filipino actor in Hollywood, the most frustrating part of landing roles in Hollywood is definitely the limited roles available and the lack of diversity.
Personally, sometimes I'll lament the journey of an Asian-American actor, walking into audition rooms in 1999.
Plenty of black people that I know have been on 'SNL,' and they haven't been utilized to the best of their abilities.
