Family in Pop Culture

On my mom's side of the family (Japanese side), my grandparents, mom, and uncle were all in the entertainment industry. My mom is born and raised in Manhattan, just down the street from Columbia University, and did a lot of child acting and singing when she was younger. My grandparents got into acting and modeling to earn more money to send their two kids to a private school in the city. 

My late grandparents would often be casted as the token old and innocent Asian couple, such as their roles in Crocodile Dundee. They always experienced racial inequality because there were not the same amount of roles for Asians, let alone minorities, in comparison to white actor roles. Most of the roles they auditioned for were for small, minor characters with little to no dialogue. To the directors or auditioning managers, it was a matter of filling the minor character or background people with the right type of people. I remember my grandparents doing a magazine ad for an insurance company. They posed in front a nice suburban house pretending to be watering the garden. It wasn't until I got older to realize they were strategically chosen for that shoot. The company wanted to give off the impression that the insurance company is a safe choice through their protection of an old, innocent Asian couple. 

The greatest role my grandfather played was the Prime Minister of Malaysia in Zoolander. He had quality time in the movie and his role required him to have a decent amount of dialogue. My grandfather was thrilled at the opportunity even though he is not Malaysian, he is Japanese, but that did not matter to the casting directors, as they were only looking for someone to “look the part” or “look Asian”. They had to endure this inequality and continue to take the minor roles because that was one of their main sources of income. 

My uncle is used to his agent calling him for specific auditions needing a middle aged, Asian male, such as the time he was a powerful Asian business man on an SNL skit, or one of the technology assistants in a Verizon Wireless commercial. My uncle even did a photo shoot for a company and had to pretend to be Alaskan, so he was dressed in fur coats and posed with a very large dog. 

From hearing their personal stories of acting and auditioning, it is easy for me to fully support the claims of issues in pop culture and the major racial inequalities in the entertainment industry.