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Lynn Chen, best known for her role in 'Saving Face,' talks about life in flux and 'White on Rice.'
By Lynda Lin, Assistant Editor
Published March 20, 2009
Hollywood in 2009 is still a golden oasis surrounded by deferred dreams and broken promises. Lynn Chen knows the intersection well.
Five years ago, she was among the new faces of young Asian Pacific American actors who represented hope of a new kind of town — one that dared to make “Saving Face,” a romantic comedy about an APA lesbian couple (Chen playing one-half of that couple), and distribute it in theaters.
Now, Chen, 32, is taking a self-imposed break from show business. No agent. No manager. She is the master of her own destiny now appearing in mostly independent, Asian Pacific American film projects like "White on Rice" (which at press time is in contention for an Audience Award at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival).
"In Hollywood, it's a money game," she says over the phone. "You can philosophize all you want about success in this business, but the reality is in the money. I've been fortunate for many, many years that acting could be my fulltime job."
Then suddenly, it just wasn't cutting it anymore.
There were so many moments of heartbreak: coming close to landing roles, getting roles in pilots that never see the light of television screens - it's a complete crapshoot. In one breath, Chen likens the experience of being a struggling actor in Hollywood to sleeping on the floor.
"It's like when you're young and you stay out all night and then don't even think twice about sleeping on the floor or crashing at someone else's pad." Then you grow up and you need ... more.
In another breath, she likens it to going back to an abusive boyfriend. Don't worry, in real life Chen is happily married to her Wesleyan University sweetheart, Abe Forman-Greenwald.
Onscreen, Chen often plays an intangible love interest like her character Ramona in "White on Rice." Flowing raven hair and steady gazes send her onscreen admirer Jimmy (Hiroshi Watanabe of "Letters from Iwo Jima") in a tailspin for her affection. But in the first moment the two meet onscreen, Chen's expression says it all - the 40-something man/boy who relies on the kindness of others to live has no chance.
She captures the same steeliness in "Lake View Terrace" when she faces off against a rampaging Samuel L. Jackson. Her appeal is almost sublime, and somehow balanced by a girl-next-door sensibility. Just when she's in danger of losing her relatability in "White on Rice," Chen sports a Super Mario Brothers-style mustache in a scene at a Halloween party.
"Lynn is amazing," said filmmaker Dave Boyle "Every scene you see with Lynn is the first take. She doesn't have to be directed."
When she read the "White on Rice" script, Chen was sure she was Ramona. A hardworking graduate student who had a thing for an old flame? It was so her. She auditioned and didn't hear back. Then Chen heard they were auditioning other girls for the role.
She thought, "Okay, maybe I'm not so Ramona-esque."
Boyle disagrees. "She was someone we were thinking about from the start. She had a different interpretation with the part." While other actresses auditioning for the same role flirted with Jimmy, Chen "didn't give him any reason for hope."
But these days, the film projects are few and far between. Chen supplements her independence with a few odd jobs, including teaching "Man of La Mancha" to young students at a Los Angeles theater company.
"It's purely a struggling artist thing."
Chen has roles in upcoming independent films like "Why Am I Doing This?" and "The People I've Slept With." But for the most part, she's waiting for the projects to come to her.
"I'm still being called in [for auditions]. When it happens, it happens."
Over the summer, she huddled in front of the television to watch Olympic athletes try to capture glory, and felt most like the ones at the end of the competitions - the ones who, through no fault of their own, are breathing hard, grimacing in pain and can't take one more step "because they're tired of it all."
"Saving Face" opened a lot of doors, she admits. It was her first major leading role and her first film. It won her many unlikely fans that chanced on her MySpace page featuring some songs from Chen's band, YPOK2. On the track "You're Gone," described as indie electro sound, she sings, "Just a break. Just a little chance to escape."
The truth is the band - made up of Chen, her husband and their friend Nate Smith - is a joke.
"We did it for fun after college."
They initially put it on the Web for their families to see, especially Chen, who has music in her blood. Her mom is an opera singer and longtime performer at the Metropolitan Opera House, where a young Chen also sang with the children's choirs.
"It's something that is very personal to me," says Chen about her singing and music. When she's not working, she plays the piano and writes.
"I'm trying to figure out plan B. I would love to get some writing done. I'm trying to enjoy my life."
Chen recently attended a college alumni event where she met film students who were wide-eyed over the idea of Hollywood. It took her back to her "sleeping on the floor" days, so she decided not to go into a diatribe about how the town sucks.
"I wouldn't tell anyone not to go into [show business]. By all means it can be a fun ride."
But what people don't often talk about is how bumpy the ride really is. "Enjoy the high times, but there are down times and that's normal.
"Dreams can come true here, but if they don't that's okay too."
www.lynnchen.com
SNAPSHOT
Dave Boyle, 27
Director of ‘White on Rice’
His first film, ‘Big Dreams Little Tokyo’ won critical success. Think you know Boyle? Here are three little known facts that may surprise you.
He speaks Japanese.
The Tucson, Arizona native who is of Swiss descent, majored in Japanese at Brigham Young University. He also flexed his language skills while on a Latter Day Saints mission to Australia, where he lived in a Japantown.
He had an inner Charles Schultz.
Growing up, Boyle wanted to become a newspaper comic strip artist.
His first job on a major film was as a security guard.
“I don’t know what I would’ve done if someone tried to steal something. Maybe run away.”
For screening dates: www.whiteonricethemovie.com
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