What I’ve Learned : A Call for Asian Artists to Recast Image

I chose the theater as my profession. In those days Asian American actors went out for characters designated as Chinese or Japanese or Chinese or Japanese American. In 1965 I and six others founded the East-West Players Asian American Theater Co. All of us--actors of different Asian ethnicities--were so fed up (with the lack of opportunities) that we decided to do something.

One thing I learned very early on was to collaborate: Whether you’re dealing with directors, writers, producers or designers, there’s got to be give and take. Even as artistic director I had to do a lot of mundane tasks such as mopping up the theater before the show. That, too, was a learning experience.

I think more than anything else we gave a place for Asian American writers. We felt that if a group were to project more positive images through productions, we could begin to break the stereotypical images. At East-West we would work on something purely from what we believed in. But to make ends meet, we would go outside and do television or whatever.

We formed another group called Brotherhood of Artists that included artists from all races. The group protested David Carradine being cast as Kwai Chang Caine in the television series “Kung Fu.” I remember a television executive saying that if they put an Oriental on the tube viewers would turn the television off in five minutes.

I can’t say there have been significant changes but ever so slightly I see an attempt being made. A number of actors who’ve gone through East-West Players, such as John Lone and Pat Morita, have gained stature in the industry, making positive contributions through their work.

But David Carradine is still doing “Kung Fu.” And during the past few years I’ve been offered parts, basically a lot of villains.

Asian American actors have no connections with big investors or groups concerned with establishing a new image for Asian Americans. In a sense (the greater Asian American community) is still divided by being Japanese or Chinese or Korean or Vietnamese. We have to go beyond that.