AC Team's own Suzanne Joe Kai chats one-on-one with hilarious Suzanne Whang

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AC Team: Congratulations on your first speaking role on a sitcom on primetime television!

Suzanne Whang: It took 12 years of hard work, optimism, persistence, training and confidence to get my 2-line role on "Norm"! [Whang was featured on the TV sitcom "Norm" which aired February 23, 2001 at 8:30 pm on ABC.]

AC Team: How do you feel as an Asian American on mainstream prime time TV? What kind of character did you play?

Whang: I'm happy to be an Asian American on television. My role on "Norm" was very small -- but it was thrilling to be on my first sitcom. In 12 years, I had done everything BUT a sitcom. I also host a show called "House Hunters" on HGTV, every Thursday night at 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm. And on March 20th I am acting in an episode of "18 Wheels of Justice" on TNN at 11:00 pm. It re-airs on March 23rd at the same time.

AC Team: You mentioned that you are a "12 year" overnight success. Can you elaborate and let us know what you did during the past twelve years to get to this point? Education, training, meditation, persistence?...challenges? Parental support? Friends, people in the "right places?," mentors?

Whang: I have been a professional foot model, a hostess at The China Club in Saugus, Massachusetts, an actor in TV commercials, industrials, feature films and television shows, a television host on FX, FOX, Lifetime, NBC, ABC and HGTV.

I've done trade shows, I've done documentaries and voice-overs, I've worked in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles, I studied acting with Jeannie Lindheim in Boston, Maggie Flanigan at the William Esper Studio in NYC and Milton Katselas, Jeffrey Tambor & Richard Lawson at The Beverly Hills Playhouse in LA....

I performed with an improv comedy troupe in Boston called the Angry Tuxedos, and now I do stand-up comedy in LA.

I have been supporting myself financially for the past 12 years in this business -- for the first six months of my career, I waited tables and temped, but after that it's all been income from modeling, acting, and hosting.

I've had the complete support of my family and friends. Arnie Cox in Boston was the guardian angel that got me into this business, all my acting teachers have helped me tremendously, and Dick Clark was responsible for my highest exposure gig as his co-host on Bloopers.

AC Team: When did you know you wanted to become a stand-up comic and actress?

Whang: I knew I wanted to become an actor very late. I had always dreamt of it as a kid, but it wasn't until 1988 that it seemed like it could be a reality. The stand-up comedy is a brand new thing that started in my acting class as a lark.

AC Team: How does it feel to stand-up in front of an audience? Do you have good days and bad days? If you've had a "bad" day, what do you do to pick yourself up?

Whang: The adrenaline from making a room full of people laugh is addicting. If I have a bad day, I have family and friends and meditation and massage and good books and other healthy distractions to pick me back up.

AC Team: We are launching an actors database at AsianConnections and would love to know what is your favorite color, book, movie. What is your birthday, where were you born, languages you speak, ethnic background, role model(s)?

Whang:

AC Team: Any favorite recipes to share with us? What are your favorite foods?

Whang: I don't like cooking, so my recipes are rather boring. Favorite foods: well-done bacon, hot lean pastrami, white hostess powdered donuts, chilean sea bass broiled with asian vinaigrette, steamed white rice, water chestnuts, chicken w/cashew nuts, edamame, pulgogi (korean marinated flank steak), Fatburger!

AC Team: Are you into feng shui, or eastern arts such as martial arts, zen, meditation, etc.?

Whang: Yes, I had my townhouse feng shui-ed, and I do meditate. I'd like to study martial arts eventually. And I love tai chi.

AC Team: How do you feel about the stereotype that Asian people are generally not funny?

Whang: I didn't know that there was a stereotype that Asians aren't funny -- I'm glad I never heard that, because I might have believed it!

AC Team: Future goals?

Whang: Future goals - finishing writing my one-woman show and performing it, writing my first screenplay based on the character I created for my stand-up comedy and starring in it, continuing to do my stand-up and doing a sitcom from it, acting in a film with Meryl Streep, enlighten people with my work as an artist.

AC Team: Congratulations and best wishes on your career!

Whang: Thanks!

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Suzanne Whang has appeared as Dick Clark's co-host on "TV Censored Bloopers" for NBC and "New Attitudes" on Lifetime Television. She was a field reporter/fill-in co-host for "FOX After Breakfast", and a field reporter for "Breakfast Time," "Personal FX," and "The Pet Department" on the FX cable network. Suzanne is a graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in Psychology, and holds a Master's Degree in Cognitive Psychology from Brown University.

Visit Suzanne Whang's Official website: www.SuzanneWhang.com
Photos are reprinted with permission by Suzanne Whang