Meet Tamlyn Tomita, the Leading Lady of AAPIs in Hollywood
Posted on | September 9, 2009 | 7 Comments
We’re very excited to announce our next guest on visualizAsian.com (yes, we’re taking September off!): Tamlyn Tomita, whose inspirational career as an actor spans movies, television and the stage, and whose leadership and activism spans the Japanese American and Asian American Pacific Islander communities.
Our conversation with Tamlyn Tomita will be on Tuesday, October 6 at 6 pm Pacific Time (7 pm MT, 8 pm CT and 9 pm ET) is archived online and can be downloaded for a limited time.
When we thought of starting visualizAsian.com, Tamlyn was the first person we thought of to interview, because of her prominence and passion, and because we’d met her on the set of “Only the Brave,” Lane Nishikawa’s powerful movie about the Japanese American soldiers of the 100th Battalion/442nd Regimental Combat Team. Last year, we saw her again at the Democratic National Convention, when she was one of the emcees at an APIA Vote Gala to get Asian American Pacific Islanders involved in the political process.
VISUALIZASIAN.COM’S FREE INTERVIEWS ARE CONDUCTED VIA TELECONFERENCE WITH A LIVE WEBCAST SO YOU CAN EITHER LISTEN ON THE PHONE (MAY INCLUDE LONG-DISTANCE CHARGES) OR ONLINE (ALWAYS FREE).
She’s been in dozens of movies, television shows and theatrical productions. She’s a true leader within the AAPI community, and an inspiration for all of us.
Here’s the rundown of her career from her resume:
“Tamlyn Tomita made her screen debut as Kumiko in “The Karate Kid, Part II” with Ralph Macchio and Pat “Noriyuki” Morita.
“She is perhaps known for her roles as Waverly in Wayne Wang’s “The Joy Luck Club” and as Kana, a Hawaii plantation worker in the early 1900’s in Kayo Hatta’s “Picture Bride” and starred opposite Dennis Quaid in Alan Parker’s “Come See the Paradise,” a film exploring the lives of a Japanese-American family and the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.
“Tamlyn will be appearing in “Tekken” and most recently appeared in “The Eye” opposite Jessica Alba and in “Two Sisters” opposite Yun Jin Kim and directed by Margaret Cho. Her list of film credits include Roland Emmerich’s “The Day After Tomorrow”; Greg Pak’s indie fave “Robot Stories”; Robert Rodriguez’s “Four Rooms” opposite Antonio Banderas; Richard La Gravenese’s “Living Out Loud” opposite Holly Hunter; Lane Nishikawa’s “Only the Brave” and the Brazilian-Japanese film “Gaijin 2 – Ama me Como Sou” directed by Tizuka Yamasaki.
“On television, Tamlyn has appeared in recurring roles on “JAG” and “24.” Other credits include: “Criminal Minds,” “The Mentalist,” “Monk,” “Heroes,” “Saving Grace,” “Women’s Murder Club,” “General Hospital,” “Eureka,” “Pandemic,” “Twenty Good Years,” “Supreme Courtships,” “Commander in Chief,” “Stargate: SG-1,” “Stargate: Atlantis,” “Jane Doe,” “Strong Medicine,” “Walking Shadow-Spenser For Hire,” “North Shore,” “Threat Matrix,” “The Agency,” “For the People,” “The Shield,” “Providence,” “Crossing Jordan,” “Will and Grace,” “Freaky Links,” “Nash Bridges,” “Seven Days,” “The Michael Richards Show,” “Chicago Hope,” “Sisters,” “Quantum Leap,” “Babylon 5,” “Living Single” and “Vanishing Son.”
“She was a cast member of the series “The Burning Zone” and “Santa Barbara” and also appeared in PBS’s “Storytime” and “Hiroshima Maiden,” and “To Heal a Nation” and “Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes.”
“Tamlyn has also appeared in several stage productions including the world premiere of Chay Yew’s “A Distant Shore” (Kirk Douglas Theatre); “Question 27, Question 28” (East West Players/ Japanese American National Museum); “The Square” (Mark Taper Forum’s Taper, Too); “Summer Moon” (A Contemporary Theatre and South Coast Repertory); Philip Kan Gotanda’s “Day Standing on its Head” (Manhattan Theatre Club); “Nagasaki Dust” (Philadelphia Theatre Company); “Don Juan: A Meditation” (Mark Taper Forum’s Taper, Too) and “Winter Crane” (Fountain Theatre) for which she received a Drama-Logue Award.
“Keeping herself busy in an industry that has been slow to receive actors of an ethnic demographic, Tamlyn is selective in the roles she chooses, steering away from images that perpetuate stereotypes. She is always searching for ways to create or balance images and stories about Asian Americans and to educate others in and outside the film and television industry on issues she is concerned about.
“Having worked on a variety of Asian American projects such as “My Life…Disoriented”; “Day of Independence,” “Hundred Percent,” “Life Tastes Good,” “Four Fingers of the Dragon,” “Soundman,” “Requiem” and “Notes on a Scale,” Tamlyn proudly supports Asian American filmmakers and artists in the pursuit of giving the world a gallery of portraits from a golden perspective.
“A resident of Los Angeles, she is always ready to lend her support to community events and organizations, and keeps her life simple, focusing on love, work and family.”
visualizAsian.com is a big fan of Tamlyn’s life and career, and we’re looking forward to our conversation on October 5!
Note: Tamlyn is available for speaking engaements. You can book her through her agent, Nancy Moon Broadstreet, nmb@geddes.net
Here are a couple of videos with Tamlyn:
On Indie Food Channel’s “Directors Dish” show, talking about “Only the Brave” with filmmaker Lane Nichikawa and actress Gina Hiraizumi:
Here’s a video we shot last year during the DNC, after an APIA Caucus meeting:
VISUALIZASIAN.COM’S FREE INTERVIEWS ARE CONDUCTED VIA TELECONFERENCE WITH A LIVE WEBCAST SO YOU CAN EITHER LISTEN ON THE PHONE (MAY INCLUDE LONG-DISTANCE CHARGES) OR ONLINE (ALWAYS FREE).
Tags: actor > filipina > hollywood > japanese american > movies > okinawa > tamlyn tomita > tv
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October 3rd, 2009 @ 6:02 pm
Really looking forward to this interview, Gil! Tamlyn Tomita is fantastic, would love to work with her someday.
October 4th, 2009 @ 8:31 am
Thanks! It’s morning for you in Hong Kong, right? 9 am? We’ll “see” you then!
October 6th, 2009 @ 7:14 pm
Great interview! Gil and Erin, you guys are truly awesome for getting her on your show, great questions and intro from you guys, great answers from Tamlyn. She’s an inspirational speaker and has done a great job of getting that balance between “selling” and “telling” the Asian American story as an actress!
Will also (hopefully) be able to listen in live to the Angry Asian Man call, might be filming by then (feature film starring Jason Tobin from Better Luck Tomorrow and Eugenia Yuan from Memoirs of a Geisha and Charlotte Sometimes), but will definitely tune in for the recording if I can’t make it live!
Jen
October 6th, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
Thanks,Jen! It was a blast, the most fun yet… Thanks for asking the great questions. I’ll pass along the “Lumina” info to Tamlyn.
October 6th, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
Tonight was my first time listening to a visualizAsian interview, and what a great conversation with Tamlyn Tomita! She seemed so energetic, funny, and open. She gave some advice on being passionate about what you do and the help will come, loved that. Keep up the great work! Looking forward to future interviews!
October 6th, 2009 @ 8:38 pm
Thanks, Akemi! Glad you were able to “tune in”! I had to reference your video of Tamlyn at the Tanabata Festival… she really is open, isn’t she? It was a wonderful interview for us, a lot of fun….
July 12th, 2010 @ 7:43 pm
i always watch the tv program Criminal Minds it is quite interesting”`.