Actor George Q. Nguyen recently talked with Examiner.com about his love of movies, his acting career, and his latest short film "Victor Yang" which screened at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival earlier this month.
What inspired you to become an actor?
Does 1st grade count? I performed in plays at Redding Elementary school and we actually performed a show at Macy's and when I was a kid. I also used to love going to the movies. My parents used to take me to see the Disney films and even some James Bond films as a kid. Also Christmas Carol was the first professional play I ever saw as a kid and was blown away by the performances. I knew that acting was going to have to be part of my life no matter what.
Where did you get your training?
Actually, I was very lucky, during my college years studying cell and molecular biology, I got a part time job at the American Conservatory Theater. I ended up taking their evening studio classes and also attending their Summer Training Congress which at the time was a 9 week intensive program from 8 to 5 everyday. It provided me with a strong foundation and I also took some classes with some great teachers including Mary Coleman and Jeffrey Bihr.
How did you get involved with the Victor Yang short film project?
Well a wonderful friend and actress Pearl Wong recommended me to the director Christopher Hollstein to the project. Pearl who plays my wife in the film also played my wife in a play earlier that year. I met Christopher to talk about the film and I really enjoyed his script and found it to be a challenging character to portray.
Tell us about your character in the short film?
Victor Yang takes places on his 40th birthday and as he wakes up in his usual daily morning routine, decides to take a day out for himself and calls in sick from work and to go hang out with one of his old co workers who recently got laid off. He goes about his business as usual, wakes up, kisses his wife, has a cup of coffee and has breakfast with his wife and son. He's disappointed with his son and doesn't really know how to communicate with him and starts an argument with him at the breakfast table because he's embracing the Spanish language over his Chinese. He then has an argument with his wife and leaves to go have drinks with his friend. During the course of the day he leaves his friend to go visit a young girl he's been "seeing". They spend the afternoon together and in the end he goes home as if it were another day, unsuspecting that his wife is catching on to him. It's basically a tale of betrayal, but like in real life these things happen everyday without the spouse knowing of the infidelity.
What did you learn or take away from the experience of playing Victor Yang?
Well it was a very collaborative experience with the director and the other actors. We had rehearsed most of the scenes before we shot the film which is always nice. We shot the film in 3 or 4 days and it was a very enjoyable experience. Everyone worked well together we had a great cast and crew who made the experience enjoyable.
What's your next project?
I'm just continually working on my craft and going out there to audition for theater and film.
Any advice for aspiring actors?
My advice is to do what you love! You only live once! Life is short, go out there see the world, see theater, watch the pros and have fun! As a good friend of mine once said, "Risk and Respect". Take the risk and respect others and the craft.
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