the trap of the asian-american actor

As a beginning actor in 1994, I fell into the Trap of the Asian American Actor. This is the forlorn resignation to the Unfair Truth that We Asians Didn't Get As Many Opportunities as White Actors.

Legions of Asian American Actors believe this. In response:

• They gather into tight all-Asian cliques
• They make efforts to support all Asian projects -- regardless of quality or personal interest
• They only perform in all-Asian projects
• They believing theirselves to be defining a Unique Asian American Voice through their All-Asian-American organizations

Some of them get tremendous satisfaction from all this. Many find what they need within these groups in terms of support, friendship, and a network of people who look "just like them".

In contrast, I uncomfortably found these Asian-American groups to be exclusionary, eclectic, and insular, primarily because only Asians were allowed to join.

Which -- ironically -- is the very definition of racism.

I was fortunate to meet casting director Terry Berland early in my career. I asked her, "how good are the opportunites for Asian actors these days?"

Replied Terry: "Why do you want to call yourself an Asian actor?"

Terry's words reminded of my life as a high school musician. I had earned spots in the NYC All-City Band and Orchestra, playing trumpet in Carnegie Hall and alongside the legendary NY Philharmonic Orchestra in Lincoln Center. I also rose to the top of the heap at the New York State Music Camp, eventually winning positions in all of the professional-level ensembles, before burning out and retiring the trumpet at the fine old age of 21.

And race had absolutely nothing to do with my successes or failures. In fact, I had never even thought about race while on stage.

I began treating my acting career just as I had my careers in college, grad school, and corporate America, where my race/ethnicity never once denied me an opportunity. In those environments, race is no excuse for holding you back from achieving whatever you want to accomplish. And despite what Asian American actors have said to me, the same holds true in Hollywood.

The result? I've starred in 31 commercials; played a dozen film and TV roles; produced my own musical; and can honestly report on my income taxes that I am a genuine "Working Actor."

Thanks to Terry Berland, I escaped the Trap of the Asian American Actor. For all those still locked within the jaws of an All-Asian Theater Company or Pan-Asian Production House, I beg you to overcome your self-hatred at being Oriental in America, and open yourself up to more than just a supporting role in someone else's racially-pure organization.

After all, succeeding as an actor is hard enough without deliberately limiting your opportunities by race.

Keisuke Hoashi is an New Yorker-American-Japanese-LA-based writer and actor with more than 50 commercial, theatre, film, and television credits.