Last season, Fox had very few successful outcomes. While we had high hopes for their newest multi-camera comedy Dads, the excitement may be short-lived. The comedy stars Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi playing childhood friends (now in their thirties) whose lives are flipped upside down when their father’s decide to move in with them. The cast will also include one of our favorites, Brenda Song.
Unfortunately, the pilot preview fell short of our expectations. Aside from a few laughs, the preview began sounding problematic with Brenda Song forced into a schoolgirl outfit and performing a stereotypical “school girl laugh” in hopes to appease Chinese businessmen. We let out communal sigh of disappointment as this is followed by some racial comments played off as humor.
We can only hope that this was merely a poorly edited trailer instead of overly-used jokes about Asians. Check it out for yourself:
This summer, the search for America’s favorite dancer continues on the Fox television show So You Think You Can Dance. For the past few weeks, Fox has been airing the auditions that took place in various cities across the country. Last Wednesday, the 20 dancers (10 boys and 10 girls) who will compete on the show were finally revealed. Among this elite group are two Asian dancers–Cole Horibe and Dareian Kujawa.
Courtesy of So You Think You Can Dance
Best known for her stoner girlfriend role in Knocked Up and her work in Paper Heart, comedian-actress Charlyne Yi will join the cast of House as a doctor on what may be the show’s final season.
Charlyne Yi on the set of "Paper Heart"
It’ll be interesting to see what she does with what may be her first dramatic role, especially with her comedic background. Yi was recently seen in the comedy TV series Love Bites and is currently shooting This is Forty with Leslie Mann and Jason Segel.
Season 8 of House premieres on FOX this fall.
What do you think Yi will bring to the table?
The cat’s out of the bag– our Fall cover girl is none other than the gleeful Jenna Ushkowitz!
(Shown here getting all dolled up for the shoot.)
You see her break out in song-and-dance routines as Tina Cohen-Chang on Glee, and now you get the chance to see Jenna Ushkowitz strike a pose for the cover of Audrey’s Fall 2011 issue coming out in September. The Park Plaza Hotel was the perfect setting for the Hollywood glamour photo shoot with the 25-year-old Korean-American.
Check out the behind-the-scenes coverage and interview we got, with the help of Asian American entertainment network MYX TV. You’ll get the inside scoop on Ushkowitz’s make-out sessions with co-star Harry Shum, Jr. and her favorite Glee episodes.
We can’t wait to share the rest of our shots–and the magazine– with you! Audrey Magazine Fall 2011 issue hits stands early September. Purchase your copy here.
We all know Asian Americans have musical talent. Have you heard Joseph Vincent croon a tune or Clara C bang on her tambourine? It must have been ingrained into us since the days of yore when our parents forced piano lessons down our throats gently encouraged us to play piano.
Are you tired of seeing Asian American musical talent being limited to the bounds of YouTube.com? Are you an aspiring solo singer or member of a vocal group that has always dreamed of making it big-time? Well, wait no longer! Here, at Audrey Magazine, we’re absolutely teeming with excitement to present to you a once in a lifetime opportunity. THE X FACTOR, the highly anticipated show produced by Simon Cowell that is debuting on FOX this fall, will be holding auditions in major cities around the country. You or your vocal group could be the recipient of an extraordinary $5 million dollar recording contract with Syco/Song Music and on your way to global stardom hood.
“As you know this season, we have 15-year-olds trying out. Maybe that was to discover a superstar like Thia.” Those are the words from American Idol’s host, Ryan Seacrest, as he introduced Thia Megia in the Top 12 finalists round, and we couldn’t agree more. Thia, only 15 when she auditioned, is the youngest contestant to ever grace the American Idol stage and I can’t start to explain how talented she is. Just imagine, people are describing her as the younger version of Charice, and that says a lot.
Fox’s new high school musical dramedy has had the blogosphere buzzing all summer in anticipation. Glee star Jenna Ushkowitz prepares to join the in-crowd.
ISSUE: Fall 2009
DEPT: Girl Talk
STORY: Janice Jann
A dash of High School Musical, a pinch of Election, a slice of saucy adolescent drama topped with pop medleys both nostalgic and trendy, and you almost have the irresistible concoction of Fox’s most anticipated series of the fall, Glee. I say “almost” because Nip Tuck creator Ryan Murphy’s new musical dramedy creation is unlike anything else seen on television recently.
Glee centers around an ambitious young teacher, Will Schuester (played by Matthew Morrison), hoping to lead the high school glee club’s ragtag team of misfits to the national show choir competition. Facing the oppressive caste system that is high school hierarchy, with its stereotypes, teen angst and over-the-top drama, Will realizes that it’s going to be a rough ride to nationals.
What Will does have going for him, though, is a hodgepodge of diamond-in-the-rough outcasts who can carry one heck of a tune. And while the show doesn’t officially start until September 9, the glee club has already set off a fan frenzy with their rendition of Journey’s 1981 hit “Don’t Stop Believin’,” featured in the pilot, which aired in a sneak peek preview last May. The cover immediately shot to the number one downloaded song on iTunes and the Youtube versions have had more than half a million hits each. The show already has garnered three Teen Choice nominations and critical praise all around.
One glee club member is Jenna Ushkowitz. She plays Tina Cohen-Chang, a shy punk-goth chick who can belt out a rendition of I Kissed a Girl that would fluster Katy Perry herself. The Seoul, Korea-born Ushkowitz, adopted from Korea at the age of 3 months by a Polish-Italian father and Irish-English mother, is no stranger to the stage. Ushkowitz’s parents started taking their daughter to auditions and casting calls when she was 3.
“When I started, people would always tell my parents, ‘Jenna is a funny little girl,’” says Ushkowitz. “I would just go up to people in restaurants and say hi. I was very outgoing.”
Ushkowitz is similarly bright and chipper during our early morning phone interview. And why shouldn’t she be? With a primetime spot after juggernaut American Idol, all indicators point to Glee becoming one successful incoming freshman.
“It has been the most amazing experience and the most exhausting,” says Ushkowitz. “I don’t think anybody has ever done anything like this before, so a lot of hard work and experimenting and creating as we go along, but it’s been so rewarding.”
No stranger to hard work, Ushkowitz’s résumé is peppered with appearances on Sesame Street and As the World Turns, as well as roles in Broadway’s The King and I and Spring Awakening. Despite having appeared in The King and I at the age of 9, Ushkowitz didn’t discover her love for song and dance until high school. “I went to a Catholic performing arts school, so along with taking regular and religion classes, there was also theatre, dancing and choir,” she says. “I loved high school.”
Stop the record. That’s something you would never hear Ushkowitz’s alter ego, Tina, utter.
“Tina’s a little quieter, a little less involved,” Ushkowitz admits. “I did everything I could possibly do. I was in student council and high school musical. But I was also a total theatre geek. People would make fun of us.”
While Ushkowitz says it’s refreshing to play a character so unlike herself in real life, staying in character may not be the hardest part about her new job. “In theatre, you have six weeks and then you do your show,” she says. “In TV it’s different every time. They’re two different beasts, but I would say TV is a lot harder, a lot more time consuming because you’re rehearsing for a new show every week as well as shooting a TV show. So you’re rehearsing all the time.”
With never-ending rehearsals, rigorous shooting schedules, not to mention all the promotional appearances, Ushkowitz has hardly had any time to think about the skyrocketing stardom looming in the horizon. When asked about her impending fame, Ushkowitz laughs. “That’s a good way to put it,” she says. “Everyone says to us, ‘It’s going to be a hit, it’s going to be a hit,’ and all you can do is work hard and just cross your fingers. I don’t think any of us is thinking, ‘Oh, we’re going to be famous.’”
For now, Ushkowitz is content with being a “gleek,” the term Fox is using to promote the show. She toured the country with her castmates this summer as a part of “The Gleek Tour,” stopping by malls from New York to Denver to Los Angeles. “I would definitely consider myself a gleek,” says Ushkowitz. And it looks like, come fall, so will everyone else.
Glee airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT, starting September 9.
As if waiting for the new episode of Glee wasn’t painful enough for us Gleek fans, Sephora by OPI decides to add another thing for us to look forward to by launching the Sephora by OPI goes Gleek Chic collection tomorrow, February 3.
We all know Sephora offers the hottest new beauty products, and what’s hotter now than this show that has earned 19 Emmy nominations and four Emmy Awards with more than 18 million song downloads? This limited edition features bold colors inspired by the show’s essential elements such as its diverse cast, addictive music numbers and comedic references.
Embody the characters and show your inner “Miss Bossy Pants” (a rich raspberry) or even “Diva-in-Training” (a poppy pink). Or you can choose to “Gleek Out” (a lime, glittery green) while saying “Hell to the No” (a bold purple). You can even tell your friends that you’ve been “Slushied” (an opaque blue) or that you “Express Yourself to Yourself” (a shimmering coral). Of course you can even go for a “Mash-Up” (a pearlescent green-gray) or the “Celibacy Club” (a glimmering, diamond top coat). But don’t forget to join in on “Sue Vs Shue” (a navy blue); and lastly, “Who Let the Dorks Out” (a peacock green)?
As an ultimate Glee fan, you should get your hands on this collection that is exclusively sold at all major Sephora locations including those inside JCPenney’s. You can own these 10 new nail color shades (some which only come in a six-piece mini-set collection) and three print nail design appliqués (easy-to-apply, precut strips in different Glee-inspired designs) starting tomorrow, February 3, a few days before the launch of the special episode of Glee that will air following Super Bowl XLV this Sunday on Fox.
Also, look for a preview of the Sephora by OPI Glee polish on some of the characters in the upcoming Valentine’s Day episode on February 8. Also, stop by the Sephora at Westfield Century City in Los Angeles on February 12 from 2 pm – 4 pm for the in-store launch event that will host Naya Rivera (Santana). One lucky winner will get an on-site make-over!
Be vibrant, creative and bold and bring Glee into your beauty routine!
Glee’s second episode of the season is on tonight! And this being the Britney episode, we know it’s going to be a good one.
However, it was last week’s episode that was an unforgettable one to our writer, Camelia.
Here are her thoughts.
As an admitted gleek I had been waiting all summer for last week’s season two premiere of the Fox hit show Glee. As a Filipina American I was eagerly anticipating seeing 18-year-old singing sensation Charice belt her heart out for the world to hear. Charice’s appearance on Glee is a huge deal for the Filipino/Filipino American communities, but it is also a huge deal for the Asian/Asian American communities as a whole because she is continuing to put Asians/Asian Americans on the map in big ways.
The fact that Charice landed a role on an über popular primetime television show is a big deal to me, personally, because I grew up rarely seeing any Asian Americans on TV. However, when I did see an Asian American they were usually the bad guys beating people up with their karate moves; the nerdy guy or girl in the background; or the outcast foreigner with a thick accent and only speak broken English. What’s even more exciting to me is that on Glee Charice, a girl born and raised in the Philippines is playing the role of a Filipina girl born and raised in the Philippines who “totally” speaks English, as she told Rachel Berry.
As soon as Charice’s character Sunshine Corazon began singing her breathtaking version of “Listen” from Dreamgirls, tweets about Charice exploded on Twitter and people immediately updated their Facebook statuses to praise the young vocal prodigy. YouTube star AJ Rafael tweeted to the singer, “Charice, I love you. You make us singers proud. And most importantly you make us Filipinos proud.” Hundreds of Filipinos instantaneously retweeted Rafael’s message in support of their fellow Filipino.
The fact that individuals like Charice, Harry Shum, Jr., Jason Wu, AJ Rafael and Manny Pacquiao can become household names here in the U.S. shows the positive shift going on in our society right now. More and more people are recognizing the talents of Asian Americans and are no longer limiting them to just being intelligent and hard working. We’re slowly moving away from further perpetuating stereotypes about Asians such as being the “model minority” and it is FREAKING AWESOME. It’s awesome that young Asian Americans growing up right now can look up to musicians, dancers, fashion designers and athletes who may have similar backgrounds to theirs and look like them.
Glee airs on FOX Tuesdays at 9PM.
Last year's Battle of the Pitches winner James Huang receiving critiques from the judges.
Do you have the best idea for a movie but don’t know what (or who) you have to do to get it made? Enter Battle of the Pitches. In its second year, the competition brings API talents straight to the boardroom where they are judged by high-level Hollywood execs and power players based on their one to two minute pitches for a screenplay idea. Sponsored by FOX Diversity and produced by MAPID (Mavericks of API Descent) and ID Film Fest 2010, Battle of the Pitches aims to promote up-and-coming artists and get them accustomed to the high stakes, pressurized nature of an actual pitch session with a producer or agent. Last year’s winner, James Huang, 33, demolished the competition with his script for the romantic comedy, All Your Fault. Here, he shares with Audrey what the experience was like.
Tell us a little bit about yourself, James.
My name is James Huang. I am primarily an actor and I have also written, produced and directed for film and television over the last 12 years between New York and Los Angeles. My script entitled, “ALL YOUR FAULT” is a romantic comedy that won last year’s Battle of the Pitches at the first ever ‘BREAKING THE BOW’ festival. My script was also a finalist at two other festivals this year, including the Beverly Hills Film Festival and the IndieProducer screenwriting competition.
Can you share with us a little about your experience for last year’s competition?
I don’t remember much of any of it since it was all up and over within a single night for me. My lovely friend, Kelvin Han Yee called me randomly that afternoon and informed me about the Battle of the Pitches a few hours before the event was to take place in Santa Monica. He asked if I had any projects in the works, as I often do, and he encouraged me to pitch my script to the live festival competition. I didn’t feel prepared to do anything of the sort, and so I graciously declined participating. But then Kelvin insulted my masculinity, artistic integrity, and genitalia (in that order) — to which I accepted his challenge and showed up to the Breaking the Bow festival. I didn’t know what any of it was, but I think I saw it advertised on Kelvin’s never ending Facebook tweets earlier that week. I also had to make it clear to Kelvin that all my parts were in perfectly fine working order, size, and of the male gender.
How did you pitch your screenplay?
In terms of pitching it, I just threw it out there in sixty seconds in a similar way that I would in trying to tell a really interesting story or even a joke at a bar — It’s dark, noisy, people’s attention spans are limited and they’ve heard it all before. You have sixty seconds to make an impression or go home alone again — ready, set, GO.
How did you prepare for the pitch?
I guess my preparation was just in the writing process itself. I didn’t prepare anything specific for the actual pitch competition since I didn’t have any time to. I had just recently finished the second draft of my script with my writing partner, Anna Musso. Not only did we have to discuss the material at length in the writing process, but we had been sharing it with a few people to check out and give me feedback and notes. When any writer does this, they naturally talk to others about the story and characters to friends, actors, and other writers. So I was already beginning to get familiar with talking about the key points of my script. I guess being concise and quick about it was all that the pitch competition really required. I also knew that I had to convey the tone of my piece with my presentation, so I had a bit of bitter attitude about it on stage — like a chip on my shoulder, which is what the central character of the story has. The character is on the brink of a melt down from having just been dumped, so I think at one point, I yelled angrily as I was explaining the story on stage. They got a laugh out of that, so I guess it was worked. I also like yelling on stage, no matter what I’m talking about.
What opportunities did winning the competition give you?
Being able to say that my screenplay won a festival contest and that the script was then read and considered by FOX 2000 and FOX Searchlight is always a nice thing to accompany a script when you’re looking for indie producers and investors. But the truth is, I’m still searching to get this film made. Hey, do you know anyone interested in giving me about a quarter million to make a film? I won this pitch competition and got to meet with FOX Searchlight and FOX 2000. They loved it. Absolutely loved it. And I love Kelvin Han Yee.
To enter, send your info to battle@mapid.us. Entry fee is $15
