Fala Chen Auditions for Roles in Hollywood Like a Newcomer

Graduating from New York’s The Julliard School with a Master of Fine Arts in Drama in May, Fala Chen (陳法拉) has been busily auditioning for roles. She signed with United Talent Agency, which also manages Oscar-winning actress, Frances McDormand.

Appearing at a function in Hong Kong today, Fala provided an update on how her auditions in the United States have been going. Asked which roles she has been auditioning for, Fala said she is a newcomer to Hollywood and will start with smaller, but worthwhile roles.

The casting calls did not result in any good news yet, making Fala feel discouraged at times. “Auditioning is like playing a video game, where you have to pass many levels. Sometimes you may have entered contract negotiations, but the film company may pick someone else in the last minute. But it’s a learning opportunity. After each audition, I’ll think about how I can do even better. After auditioning for one role and there is no callback, then I’ll just try another one.”

Although Fala has signed with an American talent agency, she will continue to work in Hong Kong. Meeting with a local director this morning, Fala will be working on an upcoming project in Hong Kong soon.

With the need to travel frequently for work, Fala’s cat in her New York home is currently being taken care of by her boyfriend, Emmanuel Straschnov. Fala said, “He’ll feed it, but the cat will be unhappy if I’m not home for a long time. If I really return to Hong Kong for filming, I’ll bring my cat too.” When it was pointed out that Fala is more worried about her cat than her boyfriend, she laughed, “Of course! A person knows how to take care of himself. But a cat needs someone to care for it.”

Source: HK01, On.cc

This article is written by Jayne for JayneStars.com.

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Responses

  1. I remember @llwy12 saying that Fala will try for Hollywood roles and I echoed that sentiment. Good for her for reaching out for roles outside of TVB. Great not to let all that time spent studying, not to mention the study fees go to waste. Fala shouldn’t give up, hang in there, the roles will eventually come. Sometimes it takes a bit of time to break into the international market, but persistence usually pay off. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Fala.

  2. I’m one of those people who was critical of Fala’s acting back when she was at TVB and felt she was getting unfairly promoted when her acting sucked. I’m still not a fan, but I admire the fact that Fala took all the criticism she received back then and turned it into a positive by working hard to earn her MFA in Drama and proving to the world that she is truly serious about pursuing an acting career.

    I also wish Fala the best of luck and hope she lands the roles she’s looking for. As a means of support, I’m willing to watch whatever Hollywood production she ends up in (provided it’s not the Fan Bing Bing 5-second-blink-and-you’ll-miss-her flower vase or Jing Tian token Asian type role). It sounds like she is pursuing meaningful roles in smaller, lesser name productions, which is the smart way to go in my opinion – it will likely take longer for her to find a suitable role, but hopefully she persists and doesn’t cave into the pressure of accepting shoddy roles just to get her name in Hollywood circles. I’m definitely rooting for her to succeed!

    1. @llwy12 I too want to see Fala succeed. Her acting is not the grestest but who knows, maybe pursuing roles in Hollywood will make her turn up her acting a few notches. I too will watch if she gets a role lasting five minutes or longer. Sometimes it id not about how fantastic of an actor/actress one is, it is about taking constructive criticism anf advice and channelling it into hard work and the desire to improve. That is what Fala has done. The likes of a Grace Chan can learn a thing or two from Fala.

    2. @llwy12 I also thought she was very mediocre and undeserving of all the leading roles she was handed. Granted, I did prefer her over most of her female peers who were also gaining popularity during that time (Kate Tsui, Selena Li, Linda Chung to name a few).

      That said, I’m all about Asians gaining more visibility in Hollywood, and am curious to see how much she has improved since her training. I, too, wish to see her breakthrough, as there is an obvious shortage of talented Asian representatives (especially women) in the western film industry.

      Hopefully, she doesn’t end up with some cheesy kung-fu role or really, any role that devolves into Asian stereotypes. Fingers crossed!

    3. @llwy12
      In the past Fala led series, I have watched recently she has does not get into character. When watching her playing a housewife for example, it would be just watching the real Fala herself and not acting. I’m glad and really admire she has noticed this and spent a few years studying. I’m sure she will sure huge improvement…

  3. I didn’t think much of Fala when she first started out. But she wasn’t that great of an actress then either. After a while, though, something changed and she grew on me. She never awed me in the way that, say, Ada Choi did. Or Sheren Tang. However, this girl has charisma & screen presence. There’s enough strength in her acting that made her stand out. Plus she’s very easy on the eyes. In her late 30s, though, I wonder if she’s not starting a little too late. I mean her Asian genes will help her along the way, but it’s a cut throat world in Hollywood. G’luck to her.

  4. I never thought much her as an actress, but I would be disappointed if she went back to TVB after what she had accomplished.

    1. @anon Yup, I would be too! TVB doesn’t value acting no matter what they try to say otherwise. We don’t need to look far – just look at how they treat those artists who graduated from HK’s own Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) with actual degrees and professional training in drama and acting…the only one they treated well was Anthony Wong but that’s because he’s Anthony Wong (plus he’s not managed by them and also didn’t “come from” TVB back in the day so that makes a huge difference as well). With its international status, Julliard is way above TVB’s “pay grade” so to speak – if Fala were to return, she would essentially be throwing her MFA degree in the trash. I would definitely lose all respect for Fala if she chose to return to TVB with her degree rather than actually put what she learned to good use through opportunities elsewhere.

    2. @anon @llwy12 AGREE! Also glad she didn’t focus in HK films either. Go big or go home!

      Fala, to me, was a female version of Ron Ng back then. They were pretty to look at but weren’t very convincing in their roles. Ron had a shorter end of the stick since he was typecast. Fala had more variety roles but she was one note. Hopefully she did learn a lot and is now a better and more convincing actress. Good luck to her!

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