David Chiu

Today as I was leaving my audition I got this flashback of gym class in middle school. Team captains had been picked for dodgeball and now the rest of us were being evaluated on our athletic prowess, aggressiveness, and ability to not get hit by the ball. The inner voice in my head would be screaming “Pick me! Pick me!”, but I would just stand there pretending to be unaffected by the fact that once again, I would be the last one to be drafted onto a team - and I couldn’t even say I was drafted because I was the last kid left so I just ended up on some team by default.

That’s precisely how I felt today after my “modeling” audition for an Asian print ad and my audition for a lead role in a student film. The good news, is that while I was waiting to audition for the student film I received a message from my agency saying that I have been put “on hold” for the print ad. What does that mean exactly? I’m not really sure. It does indicate that I am one of their top choices for the job, but it also means that it’s still not a sure thing. In my paranoid actor’s mind I’m thinking they’re waiting for the possibility of a better “option” - another male model who fits the ad better. Maybe my ethnic background is not clear enough for the ad? They are targeting the ad for specific asian markets - Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese. Most people are not sure what my ethnic background is when they meet me. I get “Hawaiian” a lot, sometimes “Thai”, sometimes “Chinese” but never Filipino. My last name does hint to my Chinese background. My Pinoy side mostly goes unnoticed. Then again, maybe I don’t look old enough to be a young dad? Who knows. I just have my fingers crossed. It would be nice to book a modeling job this year.

As for the student film audition, well, I guess it went ok. I tried to prepare for it as much as possible by breaking down the script and really thinking about the character. I also tried to really dress the part. But the whole thing went by so quick. I was also asked to sing. So I sang a song - but tried to do it “in character”. I’m not sure how well that went. I think I should have just belted one out to impress them like I usually would.

Oh well. Nothing I can do but sit here and wait for somebody to pick me.

This is definitely why I need to make my own movie so I can be the team captain.