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Diverse Voices: Despite Progress, Asians Still See Prejudice on Job

May 3, 2009  •  Post A Comment

Being an Asian American in television isn’t the rarity it used to be. There are increasing numbers of Asian actors, writers, directors and executives in the industry today, but those in the mix say there is still a long way to go before opportunity equates acceptance on the job.
Most say they’ve experienced some form of prejudice at work—comments about their race in the writers room, remarks about their cultural background on set, things no one would say for attribution.
One writer said, “There’s a lot of discussion in the writers’ room about personal relationships, and people are exposing things that become fuel for stories. Race is often a part of those discussions, and if you’re a minority in the room, it’s hard to effect change because you don’t want to stop the train by being PC.”
Minority writers walk a fine line in TV: Once you’ve broken into the fraternity of staff writers, you want to stand out as an asset to the show, not as a pain in the ass to others who might not share your point of view. Yet those who bring a different perspective to television are the most needed.
“The assumption is always that the character is white,” says Albert Kim, a story editor on TNT’s “Leverage.” “I wrote an episode about a Marine sergeant that’s set in the wake of [Hurricane] Katrina, and the script didn’t specify the race. In the end, we cast the role as an African American, which was gratifying.”
Color-blind casting requires consistent commitment to diversity in storytelling and hiring practices. Shows come and go, so showrunners are always shifting. Since executive producers come out of the writing ranks, few have management experience, which leaves the door open for insensitive comments about racial minorities, women and gays in the writers’ room and on sets.
Writers are becoming more aware of the need for diverse characters, though, and actors say roles are becoming meatier as a result.
Reggie Lee, who most recently starred as Secret Service Agent Bill Kim on Fox’s “Prison Break” as well as in the film “Tropic Thunder,” says roles for Asian American males are becoming more nuanced than in the past, so that many of the typical “bad guy” characters also have a redemptive quality.
“There’s credit due to the industry for opening its eyes,” Lee says. “Roles seem more plentiful now, but it bothers me that executives feel a minority can’t carry a show. Networks just see us in supporting roles. What it’s going to take to create change is someone taking a chance and deliberately pushing the envelope. At some point, you have to say, ‘I’m here for more than my job. I’m going to rebel against minority stereotypes.’”
Brenda Song, who plays hotel heiress London Tipton on the Disney Channel’s “The Suite Life of Zack & Cody,” says the challenge for every actor is to break out of whatever stereotype he or she is facing.
“For me, it’s breaking out of my crazy London character,” says Song, who convinced her parents to follow their 6-year-old daughter’s dream of getting into show business. “From where I started 15 years ago, to seeing Sandra Oh and Lucy Liu along with actors of all ethnicities on a single show now, is really great. You just can’t let where you come from hold you back.”
Song moved with her mother and younger brother to Los Angeles when she was 6 so that she could begin acting in commercials. Her father, a schoolteacher in Sacramento, joined them two years later.
“People need to look at stories from different angles,” Song says. “Everybody knows the stereotypical characters. There’s the geeky one or the popular one. It’s a hard lesson to learn at 8 that they’re looking for blond hair and blue eyes. But you also have to learn that sometimes you don’t get a part because you’re too short or too small, not because you’re not blond with blue eyes.”
As more Asian Americans break into the writers’ room, onto sets and into executive suites, different perspectives will result. As Lee notes, “I think we’re growing and moving forward. But the healthiest kind of growth is rarely quick.”
Dinah Eng is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer.

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