There are so many opportunities in the multi-billion business in Hollywood but if you don’t fit the mold of a leading man, you are relegated to support roles, maybe speaking characters with one-liners. And if you’re an Asian, or an ambiguous “halfie,” the chances of you getting that big break is really slim, unless of course you’re the guy who starred in the mammoth hit, Crazy Rich Asians.
Then again, films like the one directed by Jon M. Chu come only once in two decades. Bottom line is, the struggle is real.
In an article published by CNN, it says that Asian actors also want to play the lead, the romantic character, the hero, just like everyone else, but they are always cast as “ninjas, monks, nerds, the third, fourth, fifth best friend who is a nerd, killers, doctors and for women, the sexy Asian woman who’s dating a white guy.”
This lack of better roles to play was what inspired Filipino Italian actor-director Angelo Reyes to venture into filmmaking.
“When I started in LA it was very difficult for me to get a specific part. I wasn’t quite Filipino enough or Italian enough. Their version of a Filipino is really Asian like Japanese or Chinese,” Angelo told Manila Standard in an exclusive interview.
“I couldn’t fit in. I was like that for a few years trying to figure out what’s going on…and then one day I said you know what Filipinos are not the typical Asian because of their Hispanic background, not by choice though. Then my career went up and I was getting nothing but Hispanic roles. I played the game for a few years after that,” he added.
Although acting is his first love, he wanted to create a movement—invested in film projects because he wanted to develop stories that star Filipino actors playing Filipino characters.
“It’s tough for me to voice that opinion because they don’t even know what Filipinos look like,” he shared. “You’d be amazed, even on TV shows now or on Netflix, Filipino actors, they don’t play Filipinos. They’d either get Chinese or Vietnamese characters. I wanted to break that barrier, that’s why I took that route of producing short films.”
Angelo has always been drawn to subjects that touch on the human condition. He wants to take on such topics as rape, murder, torture, discrimination, racial profiling—the harsh and dark realities that are too common but are rarely talked about.
He hopes to work with material that stir emotions and inspire awareness. In fact he is currently working on a project in Norfolk, Virginia that tackles social injustice.
Angelo is passionate about it as it will be a story about a young African-American who gets shot 13 times by a Filipino police officer suffering from PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder). Aside from producing it, Angelo will be writing the movie’s script and playing the part of the Filipino police officer.
“The great thing about starting as an actor, and then being part of the team behind the camera, you’d understand where the director is coming from. I’d like to call myself as an actor-director,” Angelo related.
He added that he has always wanted to create films that would carry a message—human-impact stories based on real events. But apart from films with social commentaries, he explained why he makes short films.
“The first step is, I write the whole concept, the script and then I present it to investors.”
But according to Angelo, most investors don’t know anything about films so he came up with the idea to develop short film screeners that could give investors enough idea on what they could do.
“If it doesn’t work with the investors then I’d put it in a film fest. So, it’s a win-win situation. If it wins in the festival, I’d get better opportunity to show it to investors since the film has now an audience,” he explained.
The Filipino-Italian actor-writer-director also wishes to make a name for himself in the international film festival circuit.
Angelo is credited for diluting and producing Groomed a film about human trafficking that was honored at the Westfield International Film Festival in September 2018.
Based on the life of sex trafficking victim-turned-advocate Tanya Gould, Groomed is about a young girl named Maria who gets entangled in the dark world of human trafficking.
Filipino roots
Before moving to Virginia Beach, USA, which he now calls home, Angelo lived in Naples, Italy where he grew up in the care of an Italian mother and a Filipino father from Angono, Rizal.
“I was raised till I was 10 in Italy, I was always around Filipino neighborhood especially when we moved to Virginia. We basically have everything there—Filipino food, grocery stores to Filipino films,” he noted.
Living in a biracial household has taught him to speak three different languages. The good-looking fellow is adept in Italian, Spanish, and English.
“I know a little of Filipino,” he said with a laugh, “I can’t speak it, but I can catch a few words here and there whenever I hear people around me speak in Filipino. I’m still learning it. But it wouldn’t be too hard because when I was growing up, I would hear my father speak the language.”
Angelo is in town scouting for opportunities. He said he wanted to try acting or whatever local show business would present him. He’s also working on a story set in Mindanao.
“I’ve been trying to get here for a while. I was waiting for the right time, I’m developing my portfolio back home,” he revealed.
Angelo knows that independent filmmaking is big in the country that’s why he also wanted to test the waters.
“The crime story I’m working on right now is an indie. I know indies are big in the Philippines he said. “I want to get started, I would want to produce it here-Hopefully, I can do that next year. I want to do films one after another.”