Louis Ozawa Changchien and I met almost 8 years ago on one of Louis’s first jobs out of grad school – a Nokia commercial. Having maintained a close friendship since, we do an occasional “catch up.”  I thought I’d share this “catch up” with the Audrey Magazine readers.  Who wouldn’t want to enjoy an intimate “hang” with one of the hottest Asian actors of our time!? Read on for Di Quon’s conversation with the actor!

Tonight, Louis and I met for a drink at B Flat, a little hidden NYC bar in TriBeCa.  Louis ordered a beer and I ordered my favorite vodka cocktail called the “Groovy.”  We are both semi-regulars here.

Louis has a lot going on these days – a serious girlfriend, co-habitation, a new puppy “Atticus” (named after Attiicus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird), a huge feature film coming out soon and a lead in an off-Broadway play that starts next week.

“He’s already 52 pounds!  He doubled in weight in only 6 months,” the proud puppy daddy said and he showed me video on his I phone of the dog swimming in a pool.  The pit bull mix that he and his girlfriend rescued apparently had webbed feet.

… and who is this girlfriend?

“She’s my best friend.  She doesn’t put up with my shit, keeps me grounded and makes me laugh. Life is so much better if you just laugh a little bit more. She’s known me before I did anything and has been a really strong support for me.  I don’t know if I would have been able to achieve all that I have without her.”

I added, “She is also one hell of a camera person.”

We shared a laugh.

“Seriously, any audition I ever booked she helped me with,” Louis admitted.

In New York, most of the auditions are done on “tape” for a casting director and producer in Los Angeles.  A good audition tape is vital to having a film/TV career while living in New York.I am now back to living full-time in New York and happier then ever.  Louis, being a native New Yorker understands.

“I am happiest where my life is – New York.  I feel more alive here, more in love, more artistically challenged.  There is simply more work for me here.  The kind of stories I want to tell, plays, …. people get me here.  I have been lucky enough to book film and TV projects out of New York. I don’t regret going [to L.A to try it].  I’m very grateful for the opportunity and for the apartment that you hooked me up with. I spent a lot of time in L.A. working out.  Which is good and fun.  I was in great shape.  Outside of that, it was really hard.”

Louis has maintained a close friendship with some of the people he worked with.  Like our friendship, Louis is close with many other actors, such as Adrien Brody.

“Friendships end up taking a really long time.  And in film you have a false sense that you know the person really well because you spend such a large amount of time with them in such a compacted amount of time.  Like spending every day with someone for 3 months.  Adrien and I didn’t really spend much time together in the beginning.  But half way through the movie he really took me under his wing.  We discovered that we were both from New York, we are about the same age, I get where he is coming from, he gets where I am coming from.  We are both slimmer dudes that were trying to get more buff for the roles.  We would go to the gym and push each other.  At the time that wasn’t in my wheel house, now I’m like Action Man.  But until then, I was a struggling theater actor in New York who barely ever stepped into a gym.  Adrien has been a great support and we see each other once every few months.  Which is unusual in the acting world.”

 

Check out part two of Di Quon’s conversation with Louis!

 

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Warrior Class will open at Second Stage Theatre in NYC on July 23rd.
www.2st.com

The Bourne Legacy hits movie theaters everywhere August 10.
http://www.thebournelegacy.net

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Tags: asian american, bourne legac, conversation, di quon, film, los angeles, louis ozawa changchien, New York City, stage, warrior class

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