Born and raised in California's San Francisco Bay Area, Chinese-American actor/writer Feodor Chin moved to Los Angeles, Ca. to attend UCLA. Since then, he has acted in television shows such as "La La Land" (2009), "Golden Boy" (2009), which he also wrote and produced, the independent film, "Baby" (2008), "ATF: Asian Task Force" (2007), and "Nash Bridges" (1996).

You can view more of Feodor Chin's work at: www.ironoxideproductions.com

Actor Feodor Chin on Baby
(http://www.babythemovie.com/)

Dig In Magazine: So the movie Baby which was featured at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival in March of 2007 and was shown recently in film houses around Los Angeles and San Francisco. I understand that it was a film about inner-city Asian American gangs, and has been called an Asian version of Boyz in the Hood. What made you decide to do this film?

Feodor Chin: I auditioned for Baby in 2004 when the producers were creating a spec trailer in order to obtain financing for the feature film. I was cast in the role of "Benny," the "villain." (Although in a film about gangsters it seems a bit odd to give any one character that distinction.) We shot the trailer in about four days and frankly I never expected to hear from them again. But to my surprise, about a year later I got a call from Juwan (Juwan Chung, director) and he said, "Hey, we're shooting the whole thing, are you in?" Naturally, I said yes. If you can believe it, the original script was a actually quite a bit darker than what the completed film ended up being. But it was definitely a very good script and I knew it would be a great opportunity to for me to really sink my teeth into an especially meaty role.

DIM: Did you know much about Asian gangs before doing this film and what type of research did you do to prepare for the role of Bennie? How did you go about exploring the dark world of Asian gangs and gang violence?

FC: Before working on Baby, I probably knew as much about Asian gangs as the next guy, which is to say, not very much. I'm sure that I had come across a newspaper article or two but I certainly didn't have any direct experience in anything like that. In order to prepare, Juwan suggested some films to watch including: Year of the Dragon (perhaps the definitive 80's era Chinatown gangster film, starring John Lone and Mickey Rourke), China Doll, (a quasi-Romeo and Juliet story set in the same 80's New York Chinatown milieu), and Infernal Affairs (the classic Hong Kong thriller on which The Departed was based.) We also watched a very interesting documentary about young (I believe they were Cambodian) gang bangers in Fresno. Juwan also had me spend some time with a fellow who had been involved with a Chinatown gang in San Francisco in the 70's and 80's. We talked about his experiences and he shed some light on the otherwise "hidden" world of Asian gangs. It was very interesting and frankly, kinda scary. And for my own purposes, I rewatched "Scarface," of course, as I think there are a good deal of similarities between Tony Montana and Benny. I knew that it would be a fun role to play but it was also very important to me that the character of Benny not come off as a caricature. I wanted him to be grounded in a very real place and not be your typical, B-movie, mustache-twirling, cartoony bad guy. I wanted the audience to know where he was coming from and perhaps even empathize with him.

DIM: Who was the actor that played the role of Baby? How did you interact with the actor that played Baby on the set? He seemed to convey so much intensity on the screen and seemed to be a really emotional role for him, which delved into a deep subject matter of youthful dilemmas of family, (with his difficult relationship with his father) to young love and the temptation of falling into gangs and gang violence in terms of a young persons desire to belong and their feelings of acceptance and importance that gangs fulfill in the lives of many inner city youth.

FC: The role of "Baby" was played by a very sweet, terrifically talented, young actor from Canada by the name of David Huynh: http://www.david-huynh.com. We met during the spec trailer shoot. Without knowing him personally, I don't know that audiences are truly able to appreciate the acting job that David had to do because, as a young kid from Winnipeg, David could not be more different than the role he played. I'm pretty sure that the closest he's ever gotten to a gang fight was probably watching a brawl break out during a hockey game on TV. That being said, I think that's part of the reason why he works so well in the role. The character of Baby has this tougher than nails exterior but underneath there is still this sense of his lost innocence. I had a great time working with David. We've remained friends since the shoot and at nearly every film festival or screening we've attended together at least one person will comment that they're surprised to see that we're so friendly with each other. Which I suppose could be somewhat difficult to imagine if you've just spent the last 90 minutes watching us trying to kill each other.

DIM: Would you say that this movie, in the sense of its focus on Asian gangs is somewhat true to the real-life situation of gangs in our culture today or in the past? Where was the movie set?

FC: The movie takes place in the late 80's and early 90's in Southern California, presumably the Los Angeles area, though it's never expressly stated. While "Baby" is certainly a film about gangs and, more specifically, Asian American gangs, to me the film has always been about the notion that everyone always has options in life. Sometimes, as is the case with Baby, your options are quite limited, but you still have options. And Baby, like everyone else, discovers that if you don't make the right choices you invariably have to suffer the consequences of your actions.

DIM: Had you worked with Director: Juwan Chung and Producer: Jason Serrato before? What was it like working with them? How about the cast…had you known and worked with the other actors in the film in the past and if so, in what capacity? Is the Asian American community of actors and filmmakers a tight knit group?

FC: I had not worked with Juwan or Jason prior to shooting the trailer for Baby. But I certainly got to know them very well over the course of the film shoot. I had a great time working with Juwan. He is the kind of director that I believe most actors would like to work with, in that he 1) has a clear vision of what he wants and 2) he is always open to input and collaboration from other artists. He is willing to let you "play" and push the envelope. And, in keeping with his personality, he was a very steady, calming force on set. Jason, Juwan's partner in crime, is a terrific producer. The mark of a good producer is that when disasters occur during production (and they always will) you won't know anything about them until long after shooting has wrapped. Jason was able to put out many fires during the production which the cast and crew were kept blissfully unaware of so that they could focus on their own tasks at hand. Jason's resourcefulness, attention to detail, and sheer tenacity make him one of the best producers I've ever had the pleasure of working with.
The community of Asian American actors in LA is actually a fairly small, generally tight-knit group. Spend enough time working down here and you will get to know most of the Asian actors in town. I hadn't met Ron (Ron Yuan, "Tommy") or Kenny (Kenneth Choi, "Mike") before the shoot but the two of them had been friends for many years before and have worked together on a number of films before and after "Baby." And certainly of the numerous other Asian American actors I do know, it can be said that if they weren't in the film, I'm fairly certain that they auditioned for it.

“Golden Boy”

DIM: What is Golden Boy about? Is it a comedy? Is it a TV show or movie? You seem to be growing and evolving in terms of the types of projects you are working on. You are acting in it and you produced and directed it, right? What is your new project “Golden Boy” about and what festivals is the TV show being featured at? I know it is on the festival circuit right now.

FC: Golden Boy is a spec pilot presentation for a half-hour, single camera comedic television program: http://www.ironoxideproductions.com. It's a television show in the vein of Ricky Gervais' Extras, with a little bit of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Entourage thrown in the mix. Golden Boy tells the story of Scott Wong, an up-and-coming, young screenwriter and his struggles to maintain some semblance of artistic integrity in the "anything for a buck" world of Hollywood.
I wrote the pilot episode and was the executive producer of the project. It was directed by William Lu, a very talented filmmaker whom I worked with on a short film of his called ATF: Asian Task Force. (which you can watch here: http://www.staytunedtv.net/showvideo.php?sid=7, visit http://www.myspace.com/asiantaskforce or see the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVEjUlHPIdo) And fortunately, Jason Serrato was available to come on board as a producer and serve as production manager.
So far, Golden Boy has screened at the DisOrient Film Festival in Eugene, Oregon and the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. We're waiting to hear from a few more festivals and hopefully we'll be screening it again soon.

DIM: Who are you hoping “Golden Boy” will get picked up by? What production companies are you marketing it to?

FC:I had always envisioned it to be a "premium" cable type show but I think that the premise is flexible enough that it could be adjusted to fit just about any network.

DIM: Is Golden Boy your first project and experience with directing and producing?

FC: Golden Boy was definitely my first time working on the other side of the camera in a production capacity. It was a great experience and I learned quite a bit. (Mostly, what not to do!) But I think the most important lesson I learned about producing is that you want to surround yourself with the very best people you can get (cast, crew) and then just sit back, relax, and let them do their jobs.

Acting

DIM: Where did you begin your acting career? I know that you are a San Francisco native, did you study film in the Bay Area? Did you go to film school or have any formal training? What got you into acting and did you always know that you wanted to act? Did you always have an interest in acting and film?

FC: I started acting in high school, taking drama classes at Lowell High and performing in the school productions every year. At UCLA, although my major was Communication Studies, I spent most of my time hanging around the Theater Dept. at MacGowan Hall, taking classes and acting in plays and student films. During my summers back home in San Francisco, I also trained at the American Conservatory Theater. After graduation, I returned home to San Francisco where I spent the next few years building up my resume and eventually, getting all my union cards (SAG, AFTRA, AEA). At that point I felt like I was ready to head back to LA and I've been there ever since.

DIM: What other movies or TV shows have you acted in or produced?

FC: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1216120/

DIM: What acting job was most important to you as a director/producer? What made you decide to move beyond acting into the realm of directing and producing? Would you say that a great deal of your knowledge and experience of producing and directing was generated from working with other directors and producers as an actor? What is the most challenging part of working behind the scenes and wearing the hat of a director/producer while acting in your film projects?

FC: It's safe to say that the majority of actors don't get to work as much as they'd like. You could probably even say that the majority of actors don't get to work much at all. So with this in mind, it's only logical that a good number of actors end up writing and/or producing not only for the sake of creating more acting opportunities but also to explore other creative outlets.
Certainly, for me on Golden Boy, initially I did find it tricky wearing the multiple hats of writer, producer, and actor. Usually, when you're working on a film, as an actor, you just show up, do your thing, and that's a wrap. Fortunately, I had a great core team that was really on top of everything. Will Lu, my director, Jason Serrato and Candice Hill, my producers, and our fantastic director of photography, Noah Dille. And the crew we had assembled was simply the best. So I really should've been able to focus on just acting. And I was eventually able to relax a bit, but definitely for those first few days I was still worrying about whether we were going to make our day or not or if there'd be enough lunch for everybody, stuff like that. But as I mentioned earlier, as a producer if you are able to get the very best people you can and just let them do their thing, your job is essentially done!

DIM: Who would you like to work with in the future?

FC: I'd love to get into Judd Apatow's good graces. Ricky Gervais, of course. Larry David, Woody Allen, Mike Judge, pretty much any and all of my comic heroes. And I'd love to do an episode of "Mad Men." Of course, I'd probably have to be Don Draper's manservant or something, but I'm cool with that.

DIM: Who do you look up to in the film business?

FC: Woody Allen has always been a real idol of mine. He is perhaps one of the last true "auteurs" working in the film industry today. Even his worst films are still unmistakably his. Naturally I don't care to dwell on his misfires and I feel that anybody who can make films as brilliant as Annie Hall, Manhattan, or Bullets Over Broadway, can be forgiven for the occassional Curse of the Jade Scorpion or Hollywood Ending. The man's a genius, plain and simple.