The Fairy Princess has a lot to discuss – a LOT, but first…the United States is about to have a new President and Vice President and the first thing they are going to do is cancel the Keystone XL Pipeline – and this. is. EPIC!

Huge win for the Native Americans and the rest of us that live on stolen land, but would also like to have clean water to drink.

Don’t talk to TFP about jobs or anything else – you cannot un-pollute land and water – it’s not possible – so protection of our natural resources is literally the only thing that matters.

All the snaps to Joe and Kamala as they start off with the most diverse cabinet held by a President in the history of the United States.

Oooh TFP just wants to hug everyone!

(Unless you stormed the Capital Building on January 6th, and then she would like to jail your ass.)

The SAG/AFTRA Awards are coming up – the nominations will be announced February 4, 2021.

Here is what needs to happen – and TFP is not just talking to the AAPI SAG/AFTRA Nominating Committee Voters because…we do not have the numbers, and the nominating committee is, of course, secret.

TFP knows this because a few years ago she was ON the nominating committee for the television category. While she was absolutely chuffed to spend hours and hours staring at each and every qualified project she was sent and/or emailed a link to watch – and she watched every single one, yes she did – when her ‘picks’ were made, she realized that the majority of SAG/AFTRA does not vote with inclusion in mind.

They don’t.

The majority of voters would like very famous actors that they feel if not for a unkind twist of fate, they would be, to attend the award ceremony. Or they like the performances – anyway, it doesn’t matter, the majority of the voters do not have the time to watch every single entry and so they vote for the one that they know will have the most buzz, get the celebs to attend etc. etc. etc.

Here is what TFP would like the SAG/AFTRA Award Nomination Committee to do – she wants you to SEE us.

That’s it.

She wants you to see us, the AAPI Community and all our varied forms, shapes, sizes, multi-culti, breathtaking breadth – and vote to nominate:

YELLOW ROSE and MINARI and SOUND OF METAL

For YELLOW ROSE, TFP would like you to nominate:

Eva Maria Noblezada – LEAD ACTRESS

Bernadette Field – BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lea Salonga – BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

YELLOW ROSE – BEST ENSEMBLE

Here is the trailer:

YELLOW ROSE is a film about immigration, familial love, and country music – all principals which should echo with everyone – they are universal themes, and it deserves nominations.

The films TFP is asking you to support do not have to win -but they do have to be nominated. Nominations mean that people see them, and that shows support. Support from audiences across the spectrum of how we identify and what we have inherited from our families is vital to have funders back these projects. If the success of one can be ‘pointed to’ as an example, then more people will have a chance to succeed.

That is what TFP is asking for for these films – give them a chance to reach the wider audience.

The Golden Globe Awards, which is the Foreign Press Awards, chose to put MINARI in the Foreign Film category for the United States because a large part of the film is spoken in the Korean language, despite it being an American lead, an American Production Company, and filmed in the Heartland of America, telling an American story.

Why?

Racism.

They did not have any issues with LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL or THE GODFATHER or INGLORIOUS BASTARDS – they are only showing their innate European bias to the film that captures the American experience in an language that has no European roots.

They do it because they can. They will still be invited to cover all the junkets they did previously. They will not be ‘shut out’ of interviewing stars. They did it last year with THE FAREWELL, as a lot of it was in Mandarin. They also did it because well, misogyny – Lulu Wang is a female director – while they did nothing to Bong Ho – in fact, they nominated him for Best Director for PARASITE.

Hmmmmm…..

Which is why SAG/AFTRA and their Nominating Committee has to take a stand.

You must vote to include MINARI in the following categories:

Steven Yuen – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE

Han Yi-re – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A LEAD ROLE

Young Yuh-Jun – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alan S. Kim – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

and of course – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE

Show the Foreign Press Awards that SAG/AFTRA members will not stand for racism and exclusion. Being American has nothing to do with being able to speak another language.

Finally – do not sleep on nominating Riz Ahmed for his performance in SOUND OF METAL

Playing a musician that is losing his hearing, you can catch it on Amazon Prime right now – remember, when you see the variety of the performances, remember that they are people who are not being seen by the larger audience, and nominations are one way of changing that.

Riz Ahmed – OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A MALE ACTOR

TFP wants to congratulate DANIEL DAE KIM, who, after 31 years and numerous television shows, after being paid LESS to be on Hawaii 5.0 than the white guys, and who left to form his own production company and create, among other things, THE GOOD DOCTOR, on getting his FIRST LEAD on a television series. First time he is the focus of the show. First time he will be in every episode.

After 31 years.

In the business.

Many are surprised by this. They think, “I have seen him on television for years and he always delivers.”

Yes, he always does.

He has an MFA from NYU and began working in 1991 in American Shaolin. He had the ‘most experience’ going in to H50, and where the lead of the show had only been known for doing the lead in television mini series...in Australia.

DDK has hundreds of episodes of experience, is an outrageously solid actor, also happens to be one of the most gorgeous men on the planet, and until THIS year, he had to play second fiddle.

Why, oh reader, do you think that is?

DDK will play one of the two lead roles in THE HOT ZONE, ANTHRAX. His character is Matthew Ryker, an FBI agent with a specialty in microbiological weapons. This is a limited series for NatGeo in their scientific thriller anthology series, and TFP could not be happier for him – this is tremendous.

The new series, DOOGIE KAMEĀLOHA has just announced that they have cast in the title role, 16 year old actress and former star of the Disney Channel show, ANDI MACK – Ms. Peyton Elizabeth Lee.

The new Doogie is set to premiere on Disney +. Remember that, it’s important.

This show is created by Kortney Kang, who is right out of the ABC Family – and frankly the Carnegie Mellon Family – who is mixed race and from Hawaii.

The show is about a medical genius who is also mixed race. Kameāloha means is “the beloved one‘. The character’s first name is “Lahela’ which is the Hawaiian form of the Hebrew name, Rachel.

TFP has seen some backlash.

All that has been announced is the casting of one actor. The show description is about a ‘mixed race girl’ growing up in Hawaii who is also a medical genius. The actress cast is mixed race, as is the creator, who again…grew up in Hawaii.

What TFP has seen being said around the trash barrel that is the world wide web said is that the casting means erasure of Pacific Islanders.

No one wants Pacific Islanders erased – not Disney who approved the concept, not Ms. Kang who write it, and certainly not anyone who will appear in the show. It is just not something that is in any way rational to assume. Stop repeating that – it is not true, and it just stirs the turd.

Has anyone read the pilot? TFP hasn’t – but based on the breakdown in DEADLINE, these are her thoughts.

First thing everyone seems to get upset about, is that if the actress playing the role is not Native Hawaiian what about the name of the character?

The character’s name is Lahela “Doogie” Kameāloha.

Lahela is the Hawaiian form of the Hebrew name, Rachel. It’s origin is not, in fact, Native Hawaiian. It came from intermixing cultures. Just like Bette Midler is from Hawaii. Born and raised. Though, by heritage – Jewish.

They could change the character’s name to Rachel and solve that lickety split. They could change the surname to Howser and it is still about a mixed race kid- just a mixed race kid living in Hawaii named Rachel Howser. You could have Neil Patrick Harris play her 2nd cousin or something and guest star.

Is that what any of us want? Think about it.

Here is a screenshot from the Deadline article announcing the casting:

Pilots are funny things – they are the ‘ideal’ of what the writer wants.

TFP thinks that Ms. Kang wanted to include Hawaiian culture in the show – and that, by the way, is still there. Still being shot in Hawaii, there are Pacific Islanders that are intended to be in the main storyline, according to Deadline. Her father is being described as a ‘local boy’ with Native Hawaiian heritage, though of course, no percentages are given, because people are not percentages.

They likely auditioned several actresses for this role – while TFP will not say ‘hundreds’, because she does not think that would be correct, she would still bet that it was more than a few.

TFP is taking a wait and see approach to this casting – because many people have played relatives to other actors and have not been ‘the right’ heritage, as written.

Casting is entirely different from writing a pilot. To shoot this pilot – and indeed even to pay Ms. Kang to write the pilot, involves huge amounts of money. Sometimes the Network or studio is willing to go with an unknown entity and sometimes it is not. Look at the facts – they needed a young mixed race actress who has starred in a television show or film before – the list of people who are appropriate are few. A known quantity.

In fact, there are a few – they include Miranda Cosgrove, who is now 27. Auli’i Cravalho (Moana), who is 20. Everyone else does not fall into the ‘held up a show as the lead character’. Keisha Castle Hughes from Whale Rider is 30, so stop pulling names from the sky.

There is Isabella Russo – she starred in Kang’s last pilot – TFP has known her since she was…2? Ms. Russo has been seen on Broadway as the star of SCHOOL OF ROCK since the age of 11. She is now 17.

Sienna Agudong? Yes, TFP agrees, she would have been a great choice as well. She is 16, she is from Hawaii and has been lead in the Nickelodeon series, STAR FALLS, her first lead role in was in a NETFLIX film, NO GOOD NICK, and she was the lead in Disney Channel film, UPSIDE DOWN MAGIC.

She is Hawaiian, Filipina, and European. In 2020, she was attached to star in a sci-fi feature film, LET US IN.

Was she approached?

TFP would say definitely. Could she do it? Seems like she has a lot on her plate for this upcoming year. Pilots may not be seen, they may not get the green light to go to series – most actors would keep their focus on feature films if they have an option.

Again, the list is short.

Peyton Lee is 16. She has been on a Disney show previously. She has been a series lead. She is a really solid actress. She is not a cute ‘kid star’, she is more like a Jodie Foster style of child actor. She is of mixed heritage and could reasonably be believed to portray a person of many heritages.

Disney would never have approved an newbie actor for a role of this size.

They just would not have.

They want a ‘proven’ entity and they want someone ‘known’ because that person brings with them a fan base. The ANDI MACK fan base is growing up, they were loyal for three seasons previously though – and they will follow Ms. Lee to her new show, to see more of her struggles as a teenager. As a really bright, precocious medical superstar teenager. Disney has invested a lot of money in Ms. Lee. Also in Ms. Kang.

So there can be changes, and as TFP sees it, here are the options:

• they can change the Dad from a ‘local boy’ – and make her extended family Pacific Islander
• They can ignore it
• They can run Ms. Lee’s DNA and see if she has any Pacific Islander because both the Chinese and Pacific Islanders were seafaring people because now, apparently that is what Actors have to do. (WTF)

TFP can personally attest to having Pacific Islander heritage (thanks to Ancestry.com) that she was previously unaware of – which is apparently, the way the Gatekeepers both keep her out and then miraculously include her when she fits the narrative.

However if you had asked her prior to the DNA test she would have replied that while she did not believe so, she has always felt ‘something’ when seeing people do the Haka that she could not explain. Now, she can explain it. She thought she was ‘just’ Chinese. She’s not. Mind blown.

TFP considers people of mixed race to be one family – no matter what the mix is, no matter who they love, or how they identify – if you are mixed race of Asian Pacific Islander descent – we are a family.

TFP may not even like you, but she loves you. (Hey, just the truth)

She reacts VERY strongly to being told what she is allowed to do. She reacts very strongly to people telling mixed race people what they are allowed to do, what space they may occupy, and what roles they are allowed to be seen in.

Especially by those who are not mixed.

“You are not enough X to represent X.“

Even if Ms. Lee herself is not of Pacific Islander descent, this hiring means the show goes forward and more Pacific Islanders will get hired – not just in the cast, in the crew, writing staff, in the office, in the catering, in the security – it benefits the film industry in Hawaii, which has been decimated by COVID-19.

The benefits of the show going forward outweighs any one role. Particularly because pilots are just ideas – they are like buying off the rack, and then having to take it to a tailor once you know who is going to be ‘wearing’ it.

The world is not perfect. Sometimes the people you would want are busy, sometimes the people you would want have conflicts, or no interest in doing what you would like them to do. Rarely is anything without compromise, and in entertainment, that should be stitched on every pillow in town, as a reminder.

Remember all the nonsense over Randall Park not being Taiwanese when they did FRESH OFF THE BOAT? Everyone went crazy “oh he’s not Chinese” – well, no – but he is funny as hell, and he’s going to change the future of television with his production company, so have several seats.

He was cast ‘within the realm of belief”.

All the wringing of hands because Henry Golding is mixed race and was in CRAZY RICH ASIANS repping Singapore? He did a great job – the world still revolves.

Show Business is not always going to get things absolutely right – there is still an element of ‘magic’ that has to be made – absolutes negate magic. Actors connect or they do not connect with a role – it is what it is.

Grace Park played Officer Kono Kalakaua on H50, and she is from Canada- no one seemed to talk about erasure then – or is that just something we yell about when the actor in question is a teenager?

Within the ‘realm of belief‘ is the way that casting has always worked.

Perhaps things will change in the future. Perhaps everything will be perfect. Perhaps we can all stop swiping at one another and let the show get up and shot before tearing it to pieces.

C.S. Lee is Korean American – TFP just watched him be a badass tavern owner from China on WARRIOR. Did it bother her? No.

That is Andrew Koji on the right side of the photo – Japanese/White English descent from the U.K. btw. Andrew plays one of the main characters in WARRIOR, who is supposed to be from China. Now showing on HBO Max. He is awesome. Is TFP bothered? Nope.

(TFP has been watching a lot of WARRIOR.)

Did Dustin Ngyuen playing an insane Tong leader also on WARRIOR bother her? NO.

Does she know that he is Vietnamese American…um..yeah. So what?

Realm of possibility. Excellent Actor. Amazing combat skills. Breathtaking performance.

(TFP told you, she has been watching A LOT of WARRIOR)

Does Cliff Curtis playing Samoan with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson – they were brothers – did that upset TFP? The Rock is mixed Samoan, Mr. Curtis is not.

Did TFP freak out that Mr. Curtis is not Samoan?

No.

Does she know that Maori and Samoan are two different groups: YES she DOES.

She also knows it is pronounced SAH- mo- ahnnnn and there are two different groups – American Samoa and Samoa but that both are Pacific Islanders and they are both considered Samoan. She also knows that the Maori and the Samoans all fall under the Pacific Islander grouping.

(Are you kidding, she has cousins who are of Fijian descent!)

Likewise with Manu Bennett, Temuera Morrison, Taika Wattitti – Taika played HITLER (very on the nose nowadays, huh?) and did she jump up and down and say he could NOT play German because he was not German?

Hell no. Because movies are not documentaries. Television shows are not documentaries.

Show business is money and casting and complicated and we should all welcome one another UNDER the umbrella, ella, ella that is API. We know what it is like to not be seen. We also know, as people go ‘up”, they take us all with them. We do not succeed when we tear one another down, a point that seems to be understood except when it comes to mixed race projects.

TFP mentioning that this is a ‘mixed race issue’ was met with sharp chastising – WHY would TFP say that?

Well, because it is.

Then j’accuse TFP for pointing out the bias when, in fact, she is of mixed Asian Pacific Islander descent.

Isn’t that interesting?

The Mixed race population is currently at 13% of the total US Population, and growing. You can go on platforms like Tik Tok and see how the non-acceptance of multi-racial people is doing real and consistent emotional harm to individuals who straddle those spaces where the gatekeepers dwell.

The pilot is the pilot and can be amended and rewritten.

“We” are the only group that does this to one another.

TFP says if Ms. Lee won the part, then that is who won the part, and everything else can be figured out later. She is the only actor who has been announced. The overwhelming lesson here is that the people will always find something to bemoan when it comes to mixed race stories and portrayals.

Always.

Because, honestly, they do not like that we exist – and that is the hardest lesson to have to learn over and over and over and every time…EVERY TIME..it is exhausting.

TFP out.

The Fairy Princess wishes you all a good riddance to 2020…

Look at Stacey Abrams and Kamala Harris starting to put that ish out…they can make any outfit look good.

TFP is sure they have Ted Liu and Mazie Hirono, Joe Biden, Mayor Pete, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren ready to add some non racist equality foam- laced with health care and a relief package for all on standby. (Cuz you douse chemical fires w foam, & can you think of anything more toxic than the GOP right now, cuz TFP can’t!)

This past year has been fairly hideous, the USA under the mismanagement of the Toupee’d Orange has had 341,199 deaths since this pandemic started – and if you have lost a loved one, or a few, if you have lost a beloved friend, or a co-worker, or you work in health care, or you are food insecure, or about to get kicked out of your dwelling – TFP sees you, she is heartsick for you, and she wants you to hang in there. We have a new President coming (and honestly, does she think Joe is going to be a one termer…no, she doesn’t – he seems fired UP) and there are two vaccines to help the country survive.

If you take it.

Listen, there are objections out there- given the speed of the approval, but when you realize HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE DYING, you understand why they were working around the clock – however – if you have ordered food or drink prepared by someone else, if you have danced in a college fraternity and fallen into the ooze that is on the floor and gotten up to laugh about it, if you have partied in a club, or attended a house party where they served large amounts of alcohol out of a trash can lined with a plastic bag filled with Hawaiian punch and Everclear…do not worry about this vaccine being lethal.

You did not care then what you were putting in your body, so please, spare us the narrative that you are highly aware of every single thing that goes into your toothpaste, deodorant, household cleaning supplies, daily meds, the fruits and veges you consume…

You survived all that. You can get through this with medical science.

Take the shot.

First, some good news – TFP‘s very good pal, J. Bernard Calloway has a show that has been picked up by BET+ – The Ms. Pat Show, so make sure you tune into that! They are just going down to Atlanta to go film, and TFP wishes them the magic number of 5 seasons and beyond.

Now we get to ‘the stuff’ aka, ‘why the heck did TFP start writing again, TODAY” – and there are a few reasons, bear with her – this is a new year, and we have new stuff to talk about, which mirrors the old stuff, but there you go….

Some old business, remember the kerfuffle with the Rob Guest Endowment in Australia? Where a musical theater competition came to the semi-finalist round and then all the contestants competing realized that there were no BIPOC people in the 31 member group?

Well, that prompted, among others – TFP‘s buddy, international Musical Theater superstar, Hayden Tee, who is of Maori heritage, to raise up the challenge to the MT community in OZ, and start a mentor program to change the dynamic over there. Nothing happens overnight – but TFP has been on a few Zooms, and is mentoring a few people, so…let’s keep positive thoughts.

SAG/AFTRA and AEA came to an agreement, which, oddly enough, looks very similar to the agreement that TFP wrote out a few blogs ago and told them to take to their attorneys. Anyway, it is settled, there is no Hollywood without Broadway, and there are no TONY Awards for film stars without Broadway.

PAAL, the Parent Artist Advocacy League started by Rachel Spencer Hewitt, is giving out emergency grants for Artists with Families. During this time, parents in the Arts are facing the financial and emotional toll of no work, but with little people who depend on them for everything – it’s a scary place. If you can give, or you need to apply, please go to www.PAALtheatre.com.

Now, we need to talk about how people talk about diversity. Everyone is kvelling over BRIDGERTON, and rightly so – beautiful cast, well acted, nice to see variation there in casting – but it is not a home run. TFP should be using cricket terminology, shouldn’t she? Ah well, the production company is American, and she loathes cricket…so…

The show is beautiful, and TFP has watched it. She had high hopes for it, frankly, because in one of the first scenes when the virgins, sorry debutantes are being presented, there is an East Asian Lady in Waiting furiously fanning the Queen. She was hopeful that this character would speak. Alas she does not, she holds a small dog. That is the extent of it.

TFP continued watching, she saw a South Asian male actor chat with one of the Bridgertons, and an East Asian playing the violin, and finally, a South Asian female spoke under 5 lines as the ‘beard’ of one of the series only LGBTQ characters.

TFP looked harder than Simon at a garden path at Vauxhall Gardens…she did not find any.

The triumph is, in fact, a binary one. People seem to think that this show ‘solves’ everything. Or they tell ‘us’ to wait our turn, or ‘eventually it will change’ – well, TFP has been writing this blog since 2012, and Asians are still waiting for true acceptance and inclusion.

East, Southeast, South, Middle – we are waiting.

Which is odd, because as TFP has pointed out in past work – the first Chinese male arrived in England in 1684 and was a friend of King James II, and in fact, King James II had his portrait painted and hung in his bedroom to mark the friendship. Presenting to the court and beyond, “Michael” Shen Fu Tsung. Read more about him here.

BRIDGERTON takes place beginning 1813, which leaves 200 years of actual intermingling with people ‘outside’ the binary to provide basis for a narrative to fictionally interact with, and yet there is nothing.

All this is proof that Chinese have been intermingling on a Royal Court level, while not consistently of course, but still it was there – since the 1680’s – which would play into the re-imagining of British society that BRIDGERTON is supposed to represent.

Likewise the British first went to India and established the British East India company in the year 1600 – and in doing so, began an entire mixed race population of what they called at the time, Anglo Indian, which brought us people like…Ben Kingsley, Merle Oberon, and Joanna Lumley to name a few.

While yes, BRIDGERTON is embracing inclusion, it is also including only certain people – and it is in fact, very specifically excluding quite a lot of people that would have been in England at the time.

All TFP is saying – and of course she will watch the second season – is that…she noticed.

Now, let’s turn our attention to WARRIOR – a truly fascinating show that, honestly, has been handed both a tremendous opportunity, and yet, the keys to it’s demise.

Originally based on the journey of Chinese Americans to this country – via an idea by Bruce Lee – yes, THAT Bruce Lee – it was filmed on location in South Africa. Two seasons. Produced by Cinemax, so TFP did not get to see a lot of the episodes, however NOW it has moved to HBO Plus!

She is gonna watch the heck outta that show now!

Which is wonderful = however…the show has the scripts and the arc to extend for a third season and beyond, but because Cinemax was dumping all of it’s producing efforts, a third season was never filmed. They need to be filmed.

Not because TFP says so – but because America was inviting it in to it’s living rooms – and that needs to continue to happen. It is a part of laying down the foundation for conversations on race in America, and the Asian diaspora. The longer WARRIOR is on, actors on the show have a real shot at maintaining their careers – which to some, goes into the “Why do I need to care about Actors?”

Well because, when you start asking questions like “Why is Emma Stone playing a mixed Asian and Hawaiian gal?” and demanding that Matt Damon no longer be allowed on The Great Wall – you need tangible people to sub in there as alternatives. You need people that Hollywood recognizes as having done ‘the work”, and who are ‘ready’ for the next big step.

Not just the actors – the writers, the producers – do you know who is one of the executive producers? Justin Lin – who directed BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. Who diversified the FAST AND THE FURIOUS franchise. He is changing the conversation every day, and he cannot do it alone. He has to grab a sandwich or something.

Which is where YOU come in, oh reader – oh martial arts loving, history of America, possibly Asian reader – here is what needs to happen – you need to blow out those numbers on HBO Plus. You have to watch WARRIOR, seasons 1 and 2 (which, by the way, are not hard to do, the characters are complicated and the storyline is gripping) and then…you need to go to Twitter, to Instagram, to Snapchat and discuss HOW MUCH YOU LIKE THE SHOW AND HOW MUCH YOU WANT A THIRD, FOURTH, FIFTH SEASON.

Listen, it worked for a bunch of white shows, numbers have no color. Invite all your people. All kinds of people.

If you are a martial arts fan, if you are period drama fan, if you are an action/sex fan, if you are just bored with there only being one narrative in the history of America – you can expand your thinking, expand the circle of this show. Every time you watch something different, it is noted. Every time you tweet or own your social media space with hashtags and opinions, it is noted.

This show, should be noted. San Francisco at this time period was a whirl of politics, racism, sexism, bartering – honestly is America different now?

No.

Give it a watch – and tell HBO you want a third season – because #RepresentationMatters and so do all of you.

Finally – there has been a bit of a late coming uproar over Actor, Rizwan Manji – not because he has not been representing 24/7 for the past 15 years at least on American Television – but because he has used an accent on occasion. He dared to talk about it, and it set off a firestorm.

Did you get this upset when Meryl Streep did it? No? Then sit down.

Mr. Manji is a first generation Canadian whose parents were immigrants. His accent work is one of the tools of his trade – and the accent is never one of the jokes. The jokes in regards to Mr. Manji’s work, arise from cultural misunderstandings – not because they were said with the accent.

The accent may clue you in that something may go awry – but to pooh pooh Asian actors because of accent work – especially in regards to shows that hail from Canada – you would also have to throw out KIM’S CONVENIENCE. If you are are playing someone who hails originally from another country, or is playing a scene in another country – they would have an accent.

Or have you never met an Australian? An Irishperson? Why are the only acceptable accents that people do not fuss over, why are they only European?

• 

• 

In COBRA KAI – Tamlyn Tomita and Yugi Okumoto used Japanese accents, specifically Okinawan. Because the show in that episode takes place in Okinawa. It was shot in Atlanta, folks.

Likewise another actor in the scenes in Japan, Miki Yamashita uses an accent.

TFP knows all three of those actors – they have American accents on the daily. Being familiar with the setting of a scene and trying to be as authentic as they can, they chose to use an accent. They were – all three – just great.

Mr. Manji – who TFP also knows personally – does not have an accent other than your run of the mill Canadian when he blows around LA, but he is the child of immigrants, he is familiar with it, and he is allowed to use it – he cannot say about btw, which is the only reason TFP knew he was from Canada when they met.

TFP can do an Aussie “Fair Dinkum” or a “Sydney-side” accent, a “Irish from Kerry’ accent, a Chinese “From NY Chinatown” accent, and frankly a “Mother in Law from Busan” Korean accent – because those are things she hears within her family.

Accent work is not shameful. It is not a let down. Why do y’all only get crazy when it is a minority doing an accent but you don’t yell about Streep doing them?

Cuz it is YOU that have the issue. Not the actors, who are using the tools of their trade to make you believe that you are in another world entirely – and doing a great job.

So stop.

TFP out.