Lost's Ken Leung has recently enjoyed a spate of film and television roles but he began as a theater actor, at NYU, in the 1990s. Leung tells APA how he went from being a physical therapy student to an aspiring actor.
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APA: If we can rewind, can we start with how did you got into acting to begin with?
KL: I was majoring in pre-physical therapy [at NYU], for no good reason. [laugh] I think in high school, I saw a pamphlet during a career day. It said "Physical Therapy: the profession of the future," and I was like, oh, that will make my parents happy.... I was taking all these science classes and I wanted to play, so I took this acting class. Looking back, I think I did it to learn how to deal with people, as I think remains the reason. My "first date" was not a date, it was an acting date, on stage in an acting class and, I don't know, I think it gave me a safety to explore how to communicate with people. You know, it gives you things to say, it gives you situations to be in. Acting in general has allowed me to meet all these people, taken me all over the world to places that I would not have gone on my own. And so it's really just engaged me with the world in a way it might not have if I had not done this. So, looking back, maybe it was a subconscious thing. I sometimes wonder that I subconsciously wanted to teach myself how to be part of the world.
APA: Is it that you found something liberating about that experience? The ability to step out of yourself and define new identities?
KL: Definitely. I don't see it as much as stepping outside of myself, as much as actually the reverse, it engages you with yourself. Like I said, it puts you in situations that you have to deal with, with people, and you have to find the truth in that. If you were never in that situation, you may never learn what that situation is. So, that's why I did it. That's why I still do it.
APA: Coming out of college, were you already invested in trying to develop a career as an actor or were you trying to juggle that with other stuff?
KL: No, even when I was in college, I decided I wanted to do it. I had an acting teacher who devoted part of the class -- she was also a working actor -- to the practicality of being an actor. And she was like, "this is what you do. You buy Backstage. This is what a casting call looks like. This is what happens." She spoke about it in practical terms. And I did what she said. I picked up Backstage, I auditioned for everything I could possibly be right for, which usually amounted to a lot of classical plays, because they're usually very non-race specific. Minorities are encouraged. And so she even taught us to lie on our resume, write plays that you know and say you did them -- just to get you in the door. And so I did that, right away.
APA: This was in the early 1990s.
KL: Yeah, it was.
APA: I'm curious...at that time, which I'm guessing is the beginning of the Guiliani era, what was it like -- the opportunities for you, as an actor -- compared to what the scene is like now? Has it changed at all?
KL: I did a lot of Shakespeare and a lot of tiny blackbox theater. Usually they were showcases and they were for actors in need of a showcase and just in need of a play to do. The play could be on the sixth floor of some office building. I just went out for everything I possibly could. I don't do that anymore, so as far as that niche, I don't really know what the state of affairs is right now. But I remember doing a lot of classical plays and a lot of non-traditional theater.
APA: How and why did you decide to make the transition to do film and television work?
KL: I'm trying to remember. I think Law & Order was one of my first television things. When you're an actor, it's a natural progression. You can't do plays for free all your life. So when there's a part for an Asian character in a television show, you go out for it and build on that. It's not so premeditated, is what I'm trying to say. It's not like, "now I'm going to do TV. Now I'm going to do film." You try out for everything that you can. You don't have the luxury, when you're starting out, and certainly as a minority actor, you go for what's available and then you hope to just learn as you go and build on that as they come.
APA: I live in Los Angeles, and I know a few working actors out here. For them, one of the reasons you come to Los Angeles is to try to break into film and television. Was that something you've ever thought about doing in order to get more work?
KL: No, I've never. I mean, it's not a quantity thing. It's not like -- oh, I just want to always work. I always let things come to me, I guess. And I've had this belief that if you stay true to why you're doing it, then things will come to you, and I haven't really been interested in pursuing lots and lots of work. I don't really know what that does, other than keep you really busy. I just want to act. And through that, learn what I can about dealing with people and the world. So I don't need to do that as fast as humanly possible, and I don't need to accumulate as many credits as humanly possible. I feel like that's a different goal. If I can act in a sixth floor blackbox in a play that speaks to me that I love, with people who are a good and we connect and can collaborate on something, then that's it. That's what it's about. It's just at some point it gets murky, because you have to make a living, and so you try to kind of balance that. You don't create a plan to deal with murkiness, you just kind of take it as it comes and, like I said, learn from it.
Lost -- I remember last year, starting off, I kind of felt like I've been acting for 10-15 years, and coming on Lost, it almost feels like I'm starting all over again, because I don't really know what my bearings are. I'm so far from home. I'm in this place that couldn't be any more different than New York City, on a show where no one's telling me anything. And while I'm confused and trying to find my way, everyone is congratulating me and saying what a big deal it is, so you just try to keep your head, you know? And you have to keep reminding yourself that sometimes, this is what I'm doing this for. You've got to go back to step one. What am I playing? What can I use?
Actually, parenthetically, that's why I try to avoid interviews and stuff, because I'm still trying to figure it out. I don't have any articulable reasons for stuff or answers to how I'm dealing with it. It's like you wake up every day telling the truth, and you have to start all over again. You're kind of like: what do I do next? You have to start all over again the next day. So I'm trying to stick to that.
APA: I'm wondering, it sounds like most of the actors on the show are on the same boat. How does the process affect the camaraderie or perhaps lack thereof, when everyone -- not to use this pun -- is a little bit "lost" in terms of where they're supposed to be and supposed to be going. Is it more isolating, does it create better bonds, or neither?
KL: You mean, does the not knowing get in the way of making friends?
APA: No, I'm curious, if everyone is in the same boat, if that affects the chemistry of the people that you're working with, either positively or negatively.
KL: Well, from what I can see, a lot of the actors have been on the show for years, so they kind of know the deal, and they, I assume, are at peace with it and have found a way of dealing with it. I guess I've always seen my character as "not a people person." He's not a social being, he's on this island for a very specific reason. I mean he talks to fucking ghosts. And he's not happy about that. I can't imagine that that's an ability that makes him joyful. And so I think that Miles is kind of isolated from the other characters, because he kind of has a foot in another world. So, the chemistry -- I guess it isolates him from everybody else.
APA: Because you're an outsider.
KL: It also fits into my real personality. One of the hardest things I find about doing TV and film is that there's so much down time. That's also another reason I love plays, because if you're rehearsing a play, it's all about the play, and it's closer to what I'm interested in. When you have a lot of down time, it becomes about the social game, and if you're acting in order to learn how to deal with people in the first place, the social game can be sort of a hard thing to navigate. So you know, I guess I've had a hard time. Everyone's been really sweet to me. I guess they've accepted that I'm not a very social animal, but no one's given me a hard time about it.
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