June 26, 2025 • 35 mins
Dana Slosar is a Thai model and winner of Asia's Next Top Model (ASNTM) Cycle 6. She has appeared on the covers of Harper's Bazaar Thailand and L'Officiel Thailand and has modeled in Milan. Slosar grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from Colgate with a degree in German.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
And my friend also got like scouted to be on
the show, and she was.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Like, Dane, let's us go. She's like, she was like,
let's just forget all of this. Lets go. And I
was like, yeah, okay, you're right, that's a good idea.
So I jumped into it as like I mean, it
turned out to be the most wonderful thing.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Like I was feeling kind of maybe like lost and
sad relationship ends, but jumping into something that I was
like passionate about turned out to be a great breakup
cure for me.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
You're listening to Ruckus Avenue Radio, available now on the
free iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
So welcome everyone, and welcome to Ruckus Avenue Radio and
my show Bollywood to Hollywood, and I'm your host, Kamal Khan.
I've got a very cool guest with us today. Her
name is Donna Slows. We'll actually approounced it wrong.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
It's dinabout that and I just did.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
It's called you Donna instead of Dna.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
But so, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm good, I'm good. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Absolutely and welcome to the show. And I'm excited to
have you and truly to talk about you know, kind
of your journey. I'm being here. I know you've been
in the US for a short amount of time, a
multi short amount of time, and you're obviously, you know,
being a very successful actress and model, but not just you.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Know, but more of a global part of it.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
So, you know, she last we talked, you know, you've
you've actually come over from Thailand, and tell us a
little bit more about that and your journey to come
to the US.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Ah. Well, when I first like originally came to the US,
it was on a modeling cont So I had a
three month contract that was in New York, which was great.
I had a good time in New York. When I
was in New York, a show that I had done
in Thailand came out and actually it was really fun.
(02:20):
I did like a little watch party with my friends
in New York, which is really fun.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
But you know, I was like, Okay, I'm in the
US now.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I want to continue my acting journey now that I'm here.
So I started acting classes in New York and yeah,
but originally it was it was for modeling.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Modeling brought me over to New York City.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Modeling brought you to New York City. So what about
modeling in it?
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Is it Bangkok?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, I was.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I did a little modeling in Hong Kong as well,
but Bangkok. I mean, like the the market in Bangkok
is just so big. I mean we've got like huge
population and there's so many fashion magazines and so many
Thai designers. There's just so much creativity in Thailand that
I mean, I was, I was fully.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Booked at my time in Bangkok, which was really really
fun Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Okay, So and now did you have an agent in
Bangkok or is it just through word of mouth?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Actually it's funny because I do have an agent in Bangkok,
but because I'm Taie and the way maybe the industry
works on your tie, Like we never signed like a
formal contract. We were just like you're my agent and
I'll work with you forever. But yeah, it's very Actually,
(03:40):
my mom always calls it like family style.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
Right, right.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
That's quite funny actually, because you know, there's I haven't
met many people who are actually been doing modeling in
Thailand and obviously come over here.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
It's probably a very unique thing.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
But it's great actually makes you unique, and like it
would be good to understand your background maybe for the
audio and you can tell us a little bit about
you know, what's your actual background, because it's not just.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Thai, right, No, but so I was I was born
and raised in Hong Kong, basically my but my mom
is Thai and my dad's originally from the US.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
He's from Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Grew up with a lot of I have a lot
of like Ohio State and Cleveland Cavaliers stuff for just
like a random person that grew up in Hong Kong.
My dad's a big like sports guys. Yeah, so born
and raised in Hong Kong. But because it like my
mom's side of the family, we would go to Thailand
a lot, you know, visit my grandmother in Thailand.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Got it, Okay, Yeah, sorry, it is a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Of anything else. I was like.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I was like, okay, okay. I was like, oh, is
that not as mysterious, very exciting.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
As it could He kind of just a little bit
the internet connection, so but it is a slight delay anyway,
I would connect that part out.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
So that's that's really intriguing background. And you obviously now do.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You speak any of the languages apart from from English.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So I went to a German international school in Hong Kong,
so I could speak German. I did my like Sprattiplome,
and I like studied abroad in Germany for a little bit.
My tie is more like conversational because I never went
to like Thai school. I would just like talk to
my friends or my mom. And unfortunately it's gotten a
(05:36):
lot worse since being in the US full time. I
need to I need to find like a taie show
or something that I can watch regularly to hear that language.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And then I studied Mandroid for a bit when I
was in school.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But I have heard from my like Beijing Shanghai friends
that when I speak it is like talking to a child.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
So do you speak German tool as well?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Okay? Cool?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Well so you're multi lingual, right, So you're really global
and you're bringing all of that over here because I'm
just thinking about it, like, I mean, there's not many
people that we necessarily have that kind of back. So
if the role comes up and it's kind of like
fits this particular profile, especially if there's anything tie with it,
I think you definitely fit the bill.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Actually, you know what's really funny is I had I
had an audition last year, and when I got this scene.
In the scene, the girl speaks English, German and Mandarin,
and I messaged my dad and I.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Was like, everything in my life is be gearing up
to this moment.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Isn't that funny? This is an audition that came up
very recently.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
It was it was last year.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
It was it was a self tape for an agency.
Like the movie was already in production, so it wasn't
for the role. Actually the movie just came out, so
I needed go watch that scene that I read for.
But they sent me that as kind of, you know,
let's see what you can do. When it was English,
German and management, and I was like, great.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
I mean it's like yeah, I mean probably it was
somebody who obviously was like looking for you to tape
for it. It was like this is the perfect profile for you,
so yeah, you should definitely uh definitely hit the belt.
And was it a fun scene though?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
No, it was very, very very traumatic.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But I'm like, actually, funny, I've done a lot of
like drama acting in my life, so that I was
saying to my acting teacher recently, I was like, drama
is like definitely more my comfort zone. I find like
comedy absolutely terrifying at this point. So I was like, drama, great, well.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
You know there's an acting and comedy here as where
all it's very different from some other places like I
grew up in Europe and it's it's different as well
in terms of the pacing and the shows here and
so for so it's all very different as part.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Of what probably you know, figuring out with going.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
To all the different classes here as well. So you know,
keeping that background, I'm just I'm just curious, like to
delve into it. But where are your parents from?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
So my my mom is from It's a little outside Bangkok.
I don't know if you know that movie Bridge over
the River Kwai, So that's the area my mom is from.
So we would always like I've been to the bridge
a few times.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And and my dad is from Cleveland, Ohio.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Right, Okay, So basically, like you know, you're half you know,
American white, and you've obviously got your tie roots as well.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
I think that's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
So do you find that when you're like looking at
you know, the opportunities here.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
Have you met anyone with that type of.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Mix here in the in the US or bumped into
anyone in casting and that.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Do I know? Maybe not too many.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I mean, I'm sure they're here. There's so many people here,
but maybe I haven't met them yet. I do have
I do have one friend here who's half like she's
from the Philippines. She's half Filipino half German. So I
feel like we have that half Asian thing going. But
for the most part, no, I hope to meet more.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
You're truly unique, okay, cool? So like so now, Kevin, come,
I know for myself, for example, I came from London
and basically had you know, people knew you. You kind
of had this community, if you like, and you basically
know where to go, especially if there's a roll out.
People with friends talk about it. Coming to the US
is a big thing where you know, oh my gosh. Okay, well, yes,
the roles, but I don't know the casting director r
(09:53):
I don't know, like you know, like you said, you're
this person's your agent and that's it. You know you're
in Bangkok, but it's very different now here as well.
We got to manager and an agent tell us a
little bit more about like your modeling, you know, experience
for the audience, so you know what was that like,
and how did you get into it?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So I did some modeling when I was in high
school part time.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
My my mom would not let me miss any school
to do any modeling job whatsoever, so it had to like,
you know, be after school. And then I went to
university and I get like modeling was on pause for
that whole time. And then after university, I I was
actually I was working at a I was interning at
(10:38):
a fashion PR company.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Like I was.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I was handling all the sample that was in the
like the room, like finding the stuff for the mag
I was like behind the scenes, like magazine editors would
want certain pieces and I would like pull those and
put the courier things together.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Fashion PR the stressful, stressful job.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And while I was doing that, I got scouted by
an agency and I would I would like be at
work in fashion PR stuff, and then at my lunch break,
I would go to these castings and I was sort
of running myself into the ground. And my mom was like, Okay,
you can. You can decide in a few years if
(11:19):
you want to go back to PR, but you can
only really model now. Like it's harder to get into
modeling the older you get. So on you give out
a go. So I jumped into it and everything was
going great, and then I joined Asia's.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Next Hop Model and and then it's just it's just
been going ever since. They haven't stopped.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
Georgia Jana Goa Whna died.
Speaker 7 (11:58):
You're listening to Ruckus Avenue Radio.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Okay, so you kind of okay, well, hold one second,
you just kind of quickly ages Tech Next Top Model.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Let's kind of highlight that, right, So you was.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Going well, but you actually got picked to be a
Next Top Model?
Speaker 5 (12:26):
How how was that? That must have been an amazing experience.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It was actually okay.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I got a message from someone, I think it
was like on Instagram or something, and they're like, hey,
they're scouting for the next.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Season of Age the Next Top Model. You interested?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And I didn't really want to do it. Actually, I
was kind of nervous. I remember thinking like, have I
had enough experience modeling or am I going to go
on this show and make a complete fool of myself?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So I didn't do anything about it. And then.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I actually went through a really bad breakup, Like I've
been dating someone for like four or five years. As
we broke up and my friend also got like scouted
to be on the show, and.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
She was like, Dan, let's just go. She's like, she
was like, let's just forget all of this, let's go.
And I was like, yeah, okay, you're right, that's a
good idea.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
So I jumped into it as like, I mean, it
turned out to be the most wonderful thing. Like I
was feeling kind of maybe like lost and sad relationship ends,
but jumping into something that I was like passionate about
turned out to be a great breakup cure for me.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
That's fantastic, isn't that good? Yeah, it's like, okay, well
this is really bad's happening. So you could either sit
there and just like be in the dumps, or you
could actually go and do something interesting and fun. And
maybe basically it was it was a really good opportunity
for you as well. Right that that manager, by the way,
was that some random person who was just like, I'm
(14:02):
your manager for life, the one who first scouted you
or was that like a.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
No, no, no no. That was like a scout for
the show.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So they had people like scouting on the Instagram for
girls to join the show.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Okay, cool, So now tell us about that experience though,
because I mean there's a lot of people will be curious,
like what was that like, and it's not just talking
about like you know, East Asia.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
We're you know, actually so funny. It's really funny.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, because when I talked to people about it, and
it's like, oh, you know, it's like America's next top model,
like I did Asia's next something model, and they were
like all of Asia, and I'm like, yeah, we got
girls from Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Everyone's coming.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
It was I mean, I had a great experience, and
obviously I would say that I won, so I'm a
little biased.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I think it was a great season, but it was.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
I'm winning as well, right, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It was.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
It was intense though, Like I the whole crew worked
so hard, all of all the girls. It was exhausting.
The crew was working. They had to start earlier than
us and later than us. It was a very like
grueling production. But you know, we'd wake up at like
five in the morning, get miked up, and then start
the day and we kind of would keep going until
(15:20):
ten pm. And I will say I slept great when
I was on the show because well, because we were
like doing so much every day, and we had our
so we didn't have our phones. We had no outside
contact for like six weeks. So just every day I
would wake up and there'd be some kind of challenge
and photo shoot, and then I would be exhausted and
(15:42):
go to bed.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So that's cool.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
I mean, I can't imagine now, right, and it didn't
having no phone for six weeks.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
That's just that's a bizarre to me. But what was
that experience like?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Is that something that you got used to then it
was like, oh, okay, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It was.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I actually think I mean, I know some girls really
hated being away from their phones and all of that stuff,
but I kind of enjoyed it, you know. It was
really interesting. Actually something that I noticed when we were
shooting because no one had their phones, we had to
describe things more, which you don't think about because phones
(16:22):
are always there, right, But every time someone was like, oh,
Like there was one girl and she was like, oh,
I've been dating this guy. I have a boyfriend, been
together for like three years, and we're like, what does
he look like? And she like goes to her bag
to grab her phone, but then obviously realized that she
doesn't have her phone, and we're like describe him, use
use use words and like we're all you just realize
(16:44):
like how much you rely on your phone for like
showing people like photos of your home or like who
you're in relationship with your friends. Like it was a
really it was really interesting for me to watch that happen.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
No, it's it's it's bizarre, isn't it to think about world?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
It's like that's all change.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
But yeah, I mean that sounds like a really good experience. Now,
tell us about like how did you win? I mean,
what did you have to do?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Will you know.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Look great?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah? I think.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I mean look at the end of the day, all
the girls that were invited there are beautiful and really
good at what they do. And I mean, I think
all of us have gone on to do like really exciting,
cool things. And at this moment where I realized that
I like I wanted to try harder and like put
myself out there, and I like really did after that episode,
(17:42):
I just like went for it and it just.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It all came together.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Like I think that I always think like resilience was
a big thing for me. Actually, like I really pushed
hard until the end.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Are you still friends with a lot of people over there?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah. Actually, the girl from the Philippines, her name's Jack,
we're really good friends. She comes to visit me in Thailand.
Sometimes I still need to go visit her and Manila.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
But yeah, the great group of girls.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Actually, And you know, the number one question I get
from people when I tell them about the show.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Is They're always like, so, we're the fights real?
Speaker 1 (18:18):
And I'm like, Okay, here's the thing. Like the fights
were real, nothing was like fake. But we're also you know,
like a bunch of people with strong personalities who are
locked up together for weeks in a competition. Like, I
have no bad feelings towards anyone.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I think it's really cool. We're all like bonded by
this this crazy experience.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think that I know, if
you are locked in a room together anyway, that's going
to happen.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Naturally, there's always going to be fights.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
And you probably just have to play it in a
certain way, right, yeahs TV at the end of the day.
But yeah, so that's awesome. That's a great experience for you.
And then now you know, let's like switch gears to
second to acting. I mean you're you were also, I mean,
this is this is a very interesting show.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
It was you played a Siamese twin. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I'm I'm married to one half of Siamese Twins.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
How's how what was that? I tell us? For those
I haven't seen the show? What's that about?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So it's based on the true story of the first
Siamese twins there they were tie hence the name like
Siamese from Siam, and so the names are In and June.
And it's a really interesting story. I actually remember like
my mom telling me about, like, you know, Thai Siamese
(19:47):
twins when I was a kid, just like it's sort
of this the story.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
That a lot of Thai people know.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
And yeah, so it's a it's a limited series on
Disney Plus hot Star and it's just their their life journey.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Very cool and if you want to actually watch it,
so you can just go on to Disney Plus find
the find the show.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
And I think you need you need a VPN to
access it in in Asia.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
In Asia, but yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
But well here you need a VPN to act. And
I think like any Asian Disney Plus that you can
onto anything you can hack into it'll probably be there.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, and so now did you did you book that
through your agent there and in Thailand or yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So what what I heard from? I think it was
the acting coach and me at the time, I remember
hearing this from someone I forget who, but apparently an
episode of Age's Next Up Model was on and the
director of the Disney Plus series saw it and he said, oh,
just seems nice. Should we invite her into auditions? And
(21:03):
then they contacted me. I went through the audition process
and then I got it.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So that was great.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
That's fantastic, that's amazing. So in terms of modeling over here,
what are your plans are you?
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Are you be you know, going to be continuing to
work through your connections. I mean, it's it's a great
opportunity for you do modeling out here as well.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Right yeah, I I think right now acting is more
my priority. I do love modeling, but I think that
maybe I want to if I'm doing anything modeling really
that I think I want to step into maybe like
a creative director role as well, you know, like it.
(21:52):
I've I've been able to work with so many like
creative and cool people and nowadays I have my Pinterest
boards like full of photoshoot ideas, and I have friends
that are photographers and stylists, and I think I would
like to commet modeling in a more like collaborative sense.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Now, I mean that that that kind of makes sense
as well. I mean you could probably get involved in
this all in the modeling industry and stuff and do
other things with it, right, yes, but yeah, I mean
there's definitely that's a cool transition. I mean, you've got
a great looks use acting is modeling, so why not, right,
thank you? And I think that's fantastic. Then, plus you
(22:32):
add languages and so it's a unique opportunity for you
in terms of the acting. What else did you what's
your ambition? Obviously you want to hone in on your acting.
Is there something specific that you're looking to do with
the acting that you you know, if it was a
goal you had that you can share.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Actually, I was just thinking about this this morning. I
was thinking I need to be more goal specific because
I feel like what may was not the best last years.
I came here and I was like, my goal is
to be an actor, which is like, I mean, it
is a goal, but it's so vague. I kind of
like hard to achieve when you don't like really get
(23:12):
into it. But you know, I was thinking I was
very lucky with like the the first project I ever
did was like a huge production, and even like the
second thing I did, I did this horror film in
New York, directed by Stuart Thorndyke, which was great. We
went to like try back, like I've been very lucky
with these like pretty like big opportunities.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
And now I feel like I just kind of want to.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I want to have more set time, Like I think
that work is a really good teacher, Like for me
with modeling, I remember at the beginning, I was so
nervous and it would always like take me a while
to like get into it on set. And now I
kind of like I know what I want to do,
but it's because I was I was working. So I
feel like with acting, I want to.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I just want to audition more, do more. I just
want more and more of everything. I want to be
on set and work on small things, big things. It's
like I don't know even.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Like thesis films, student films, short films are just I
think the industry is very it's it's an exciting time.
Speaker 8 (24:17):
Next day, give the next check. Check you're listening to
ruck Us Avenue Radio Avenue available now on the free
iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and you can.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
This is the right place to be for it, even
though there's always ups and downs, but it's a great
opportunity to continue to like you can write your own stuff.
If you thought about writing your own stuff or is
that not something you're interested in?
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well, you know what, I felt like such a massive
cliche like moving to La and then one day being like, oh,
maybe I should buy a screenwriting book.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I was like, I feel like the biggest LA cliche ever.
But I am interested in writing. I mean I've always
just like written for fun.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I was a big like English literature nerd when I
was in school. So I've written more like short stories
or like poetry, and I feel like I need to
become more familiar with like even if it's I've bought
some like screenplays recently just to kind of read like
how the language is there? Like I've never written something
(25:38):
like that in my life, So who knows.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
How would you go back to Thailand and sort of
do work over there or was just like your goal
to really try and make it here in la Us.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
You know, I will never discount Thailand, like, oh, I'm
not going back, because it is an exciting place and
there's so much happening there, you know, even like with
like White Lotus coming out, everyone's talking about working there,
and I feel like right now, I'm trying to find
(26:14):
a balance because I want to give la like a
good shot. I'm like committed to being here and this
is my plan and I really want to like push
for things here, opportunities here for myself. But Thailand is
exciting and I'm so appreciative of the opportunities I've had there,
(26:37):
and I know the casting people there and all the
creatives there, so it will be a balancing act.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
But I'm trying to not be too nomadic. So for
now I'm LA based, but you never know, Yeah, I
like that.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
It's sometimes you need to be in one place to
to kind of gather enough and to be you know,
get used to it. I think I always tell people
when they come to la it's not a case of
just no matter how popular are, there so many people
that who are Aussie or BRIT's or other places countries
that come in like well, I amn't. I'm a household
(27:11):
name and like you might be if you're in home
and away or whatever, but unfortunate nobody knows you here
and knows that show. You kind of have to start again,
which is kind of hard, but at the same time
it's it's also good because once they see some of
your work to be like, oh, see all the other
stuff that you've done back home.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah? I also think it's I mean, I like a challenge.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I did have a couple people say to me when
I told them I was moving to LA They were like,
oh my god, like, why would you want to start again?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That sounds terrible, And I was like, I really don't
view it in that way. It's just like a new chapter,
new challenges, and I welcome that.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
So what else do you do aside from you know,
the model actre when you're not doing modern actors? We're
curious about people to kind of say, Okay, I want
to know what does Dana do outside of a normal
kind of you know, I don't think you.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
Know made does it inspire you? Or what is it
that you tend to do?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Well?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
You know what's funny is my friends recently referred to
me as the like side quest queen because I have
all these like random hobbies. I guess like one day
I'll be like, I'm going to do this and they're like,
of course you are, of course that's what you're doing today.
But I so I've recently started circus school, okay, which
(28:34):
I and so I've always thought that like aerial like
aeral hoop and trapeze would be like an interesting skill
to learn. So currently, once or two times a week,
I'll go to this circus school and swing from the
trapeze and I'm learning all these tricks and that's.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
What I'm enjoying right now.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And then I was I did a couple like drifting
car drifting lessons, so I just hope I can do
my own stunts one day.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
It's I I always wanted to do my own stunts
and stuff.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
So that sounds really cool. Actually, that sounds like a
lot of fun to be able to do that drifting.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Wow, I didn't even think that you would you want
to do something like That's awesome, It's great.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, I feel like every new hobby I pick up, though,
my mom will message.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Me and be like, why are you doing this to me?
Like she's always so nervous.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I'm gonna like injure myself with the swinging from the
japez and the doing donuts and cars.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
But you know, so I'm pretty supportive. I mean, do
you feel like she's like, hey, you know what, go
for it. It's follow your dream and she like or
she's like, what are you doing? Come back home?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So I think Asian, you know, you.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Know that background, it's it's sometimes it's like very very
hard for them to understand what we're doing. Well, that's it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
She's she's very supportive, but I do know that. I mean,
she's my mom, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
She she wants to make sure that I can take
care of myself and things going well. And she knows
that this industry is, you know, maybe not as stable
as some other profession professions.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So she worries, but she is supportive. It It took
some time though.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Actually I remember before I went to join Age's Next
Something Model, my my dad said something to the effect
of like, okay, but after this, like you're going to
get a real job, right and then I and then
I have one, So I guess they were like, okay.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
You know, did a really good job. So well done.
Oh that's amazing, that's fantastic. I'll go one question for you.
It's kind of like to ask people and put you
on the spot where it's like if you were, you know,
had a choice with two people that you could have
(30:55):
dinner with, Okay, okay, dead or alive, and who would
they be?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Okay? Oh these questions are always so hard.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I'm just gonna go with like the first two names
that popped into my head. So, I'm such a big
fan of Eva Green, the actress. So I just she
has this show called she was on the show called
Penny Dreadful, and I love it so much, and I
just I think her.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
The intensity in her eyes and the way.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
She I just I'm such a big fan, So I
love to dinner with her.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
And then you know what, I'm gonna say, Kiki Palmer
because I think that she's I just think she has
such good energy.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
She's so talented and so smart, and I every time
I see her speak, I just feel like she's so
good with words. And I think the career she's had
it's been amazing. So I would love to pick her
brain on all those things.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Fantastic. Okay, yeah, there's no right wrong an So I'm
just like, well, it.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Was like there were so many names, but I was like,
it's like once you overthink it, it becomes a problem.
So I was like, these are the first two names
that are like in my head today.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
So I'm gonna say there so many interesting like answers
have had to do that and also how they interact
with each other, and like those two people together as well.
Want three of you on the table, you know, so
I'll be curious about that too.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Well.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah, so I think that we're all the three of us,
we're all actors. I think Kiki would be like a
fun person to have a glass of wine with, and
I think Evergreen's also like just super cool and French.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
So like, I think this is a good table.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Awesome Okay, cool, Yeah, I'm I'm really really excited to
talk to you about this and what's going to happen
next as well.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
If you had an.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
Ultimate goal what you want to be would be acting
that you want to be able to do and pursue,
Okay cool, and if it's obviously drama, right that you
want to be pursuing.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So you know, I would say that like, up until now,
drama has been maybe more of my like bread and butter.
So yeah, and I love it. Like I I'm not
great with watching horror films. I'm getting better, Like I
love Nosprashu, but historically not so good with them in
the past. But I love shooting that horror film in
(33:35):
New York two years ago. And I actually so yeah,
like I said, I have a problem watching scary movies.
But in this movie, I play one of the ghosts.
So I remember at the premiere, I was like, well,
there's nothing to be afraid of because it's me that's
going to jump out of the closet. So oh it
(33:55):
was great. It was it was so fun to uh
to play a ghost, said I remember, like if we
were looking a little tired on set, they were like, great,
because you're dead.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Yeah, you know it's it's great. And so we have
maybe horrors in the cards too.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
We're going to check it.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Yeah, like Dana actually like, yeah, I got into this
horror this is what she was doing.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Why not? But also you know, I mean I did.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I did do one class here and they were like, oh,
you could also be like quirky friend rom com and
I was like, I've never done that, but I'm not opposed.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You know, I think that it's a balance.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
I know people say that you should go with maybe
your like easy casting first, Like it's I feel people
always say it's not good to say you want to
do everything because it's just so vague.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
But I'm going to tell you here because of a
work meaning I want to do well.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Look, Dan, it was great to have you on the show,
and thank you for making the time. Really appreciate Headache
because you've got such a cool background as well, and
thank you looking forward to and may all those dreams
and those goals come true.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Thank you, this was so fun. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
You're welcome
Speaker 3 (35:31):
The world's most listened to South Asian radio and podcast network.
And my friend also got like scouted to be on
the show, and she was.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Like, Dane, let's us go. She's like, she was like,
let's just forget all of this. Lets go. And I
was like, yeah, okay, you're right, that's a good idea.
So I jumped into it as like I mean, it
turned out to be the most wonderful thing.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Like I was feeling kind of maybe like lost and
sad relationship ends, but jumping into something that I was
like passionate about turned out to be a great breakup
cure for me.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
You're listening to Ruckus Avenue Radio, available now on the
free iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (00:58):
So welcome everyone, and welcome to Ruckus Avenue Radio and
my show Bollywood to Hollywood, and I'm your host, Kamal Khan.
I've got a very cool guest with us today. Her
name is Donna Slows. We'll actually approounced it wrong.
Speaker 5 (01:12):
It's dinabout that and I just did.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
It's called you Donna instead of Dna.
Speaker 5 (01:18):
But so, how are you.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
I'm good, I'm good. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Absolutely and welcome to the show. And I'm excited to
have you and truly to talk about you know, kind
of your journey. I'm being here. I know you've been
in the US for a short amount of time, a
multi short amount of time, and you're obviously, you know,
being a very successful actress and model, but not just you.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Know, but more of a global part of it.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
So, you know, she last we talked, you know, you've
you've actually come over from Thailand, and tell us a
little bit more about that and your journey to come
to the US.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
Ah. Well, when I first like originally came to the US,
it was on a modeling cont So I had a
three month contract that was in New York, which was great.
I had a good time in New York. When I
was in New York, a show that I had done
in Thailand came out and actually it was really fun.
(02:20):
I did like a little watch party with my friends
in New York, which is really fun.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
But you know, I was like, Okay, I'm in the
US now.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
I want to continue my acting journey now that I'm here.
So I started acting classes in New York and yeah,
but originally it was it was for modeling.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Modeling brought me over to New York City.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
Modeling brought you to New York City. So what about
modeling in it?
Speaker 5 (02:45):
Is it Bangkok?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yes, I was.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I did a little modeling in Hong Kong as well,
but Bangkok. I mean, like the the market in Bangkok
is just so big. I mean we've got like huge
population and there's so many fashion magazines and so many
Thai designers. There's just so much creativity in Thailand that
I mean, I was, I was fully.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Booked at my time in Bangkok, which was really really
fun Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:13):
Okay, So and now did you have an agent in
Bangkok or is it just through word of mouth?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
Actually it's funny because I do have an agent in Bangkok,
but because I'm Taie and the way maybe the industry
works on your tie, Like we never signed like a
formal contract. We were just like you're my agent and
I'll work with you forever. But yeah, it's very Actually,
(03:40):
my mom always calls it like family style.
Speaker 5 (03:43):
Right, right.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
That's quite funny actually, because you know, there's I haven't
met many people who are actually been doing modeling in
Thailand and obviously come over here.
Speaker 5 (03:51):
It's probably a very unique thing.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
But it's great actually makes you unique, and like it
would be good to understand your background maybe for the
audio and you can tell us a little bit about
you know, what's your actual background, because it's not just.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Thai, right, No, but so I was I was born
and raised in Hong Kong, basically my but my mom
is Thai and my dad's originally from the US.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
He's from Cleveland.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Grew up with a lot of I have a lot
of like Ohio State and Cleveland Cavaliers stuff for just
like a random person that grew up in Hong Kong.
My dad's a big like sports guys. Yeah, so born
and raised in Hong Kong. But because it like my
mom's side of the family, we would go to Thailand
a lot, you know, visit my grandmother in Thailand.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
Got it, Okay, Yeah, sorry, it is a little bit.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Of anything else. I was like.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
I was like, okay, okay. I was like, oh, is
that not as mysterious, very exciting.
Speaker 4 (04:54):
As it could He kind of just a little bit
the internet connection, so but it is a slight delay anyway,
I would connect that part out.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay.
Speaker 5 (05:04):
So that's that's really intriguing background. And you obviously now do.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
You speak any of the languages apart from from English.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
So I went to a German international school in Hong Kong,
so I could speak German. I did my like Sprattiplome,
and I like studied abroad in Germany for a little bit.
My tie is more like conversational because I never went
to like Thai school. I would just like talk to
my friends or my mom. And unfortunately it's gotten a
(05:36):
lot worse since being in the US full time. I
need to I need to find like a taie show
or something that I can watch regularly to hear that language.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And then I studied Mandroid for a bit when I
was in school.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
But I have heard from my like Beijing Shanghai friends
that when I speak it is like talking to a child.
Speaker 5 (05:57):
So do you speak German tool as well?
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yes?
Speaker 5 (06:02):
Okay? Cool?
Speaker 4 (06:03):
Well so you're multi lingual, right, So you're really global
and you're bringing all of that over here because I'm
just thinking about it, like, I mean, there's not many
people that we necessarily have that kind of back. So
if the role comes up and it's kind of like
fits this particular profile, especially if there's anything tie with it,
I think you definitely fit the bill.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Actually, you know what's really funny is I had I
had an audition last year, and when I got this scene.
In the scene, the girl speaks English, German and Mandarin,
and I messaged my dad and I.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Was like, everything in my life is be gearing up
to this moment.
Speaker 5 (06:41):
Isn't that funny? This is an audition that came up
very recently.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
It was it was last year.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
It was it was a self tape for an agency.
Like the movie was already in production, so it wasn't
for the role. Actually the movie just came out, so
I needed go watch that scene that I read for.
But they sent me that as kind of, you know,
let's see what you can do. When it was English,
German and management, and I was like, great.
Speaker 5 (07:11):
That's awesome.
Speaker 4 (07:12):
I mean it's like yeah, I mean probably it was
somebody who obviously was like looking for you to tape
for it. It was like this is the perfect profile for you,
so yeah, you should definitely uh definitely hit the belt.
And was it a fun scene though?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
No, it was very, very very traumatic.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
But I'm like, actually, funny, I've done a lot of
like drama acting in my life, so that I was
saying to my acting teacher recently, I was like, drama
is like definitely more my comfort zone. I find like
comedy absolutely terrifying at this point. So I was like, drama, great, well.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
You know there's an acting and comedy here as where
all it's very different from some other places like I
grew up in Europe and it's it's different as well
in terms of the pacing and the shows here and
so for so it's all very different as part.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Of what probably you know, figuring out with going.
Speaker 4 (08:04):
To all the different classes here as well. So you know,
keeping that background, I'm just I'm just curious, like to
delve into it. But where are your parents from?
Speaker 1 (08:15):
So my my mom is from It's a little outside Bangkok.
I don't know if you know that movie Bridge over
the River Kwai, So that's the area my mom is from.
So we would always like I've been to the bridge
a few times.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
And and my dad is from Cleveland, Ohio.
Speaker 4 (08:35):
Right, Okay, So basically, like you know, you're half you know,
American white, and you've obviously got your tie roots as well.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
I think that's that's pretty cool.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
So do you find that when you're like looking at
you know, the opportunities here.
Speaker 5 (08:52):
Have you met anyone with that type of.
Speaker 4 (08:54):
Mix here in the in the US or bumped into
anyone in casting and that.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Do I know? Maybe not too many.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
I mean, I'm sure they're here. There's so many people here,
but maybe I haven't met them yet. I do have
I do have one friend here who's half like she's
from the Philippines. She's half Filipino half German. So I
feel like we have that half Asian thing going. But
for the most part, no, I hope to meet more.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
You're truly unique, okay, cool? So like so now, Kevin, come,
I know for myself, for example, I came from London
and basically had you know, people knew you. You kind
of had this community, if you like, and you basically
know where to go, especially if there's a roll out.
People with friends talk about it. Coming to the US
is a big thing where you know, oh my gosh. Okay, well, yes,
the roles, but I don't know the casting director r
(09:53):
I don't know, like you know, like you said, you're
this person's your agent and that's it. You know you're
in Bangkok, but it's very different now here as well.
We got to manager and an agent tell us a
little bit more about like your modeling, you know, experience
for the audience, so you know what was that like,
and how did you get into it?
Speaker 2 (10:13):
So I did some modeling when I was in high
school part time.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
My my mom would not let me miss any school
to do any modeling job whatsoever, so it had to like,
you know, be after school. And then I went to
university and I get like modeling was on pause for
that whole time. And then after university, I I was
actually I was working at a I was interning at
(10:38):
a fashion PR company.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Like I was.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
I was handling all the sample that was in the
like the room, like finding the stuff for the mag
I was like behind the scenes, like magazine editors would
want certain pieces and I would like pull those and
put the courier things together.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Fashion PR the stressful, stressful job.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
And while I was doing that, I got scouted by
an agency and I would I would like be at
work in fashion PR stuff, and then at my lunch break,
I would go to these castings and I was sort
of running myself into the ground. And my mom was like, Okay,
you can. You can decide in a few years if
(11:19):
you want to go back to PR, but you can
only really model now. Like it's harder to get into
modeling the older you get. So on you give out
a go. So I jumped into it and everything was
going great, and then I joined Asia's.
Speaker 2 (11:36):
Next Hop Model and and then it's just it's just
been going ever since. They haven't stopped.
Speaker 6 (11:45):
Georgia Jana Goa Whna died.
Speaker 7 (11:58):
You're listening to Ruckus Avenue Radio.
Speaker 4 (12:12):
Okay, so you kind of okay, well, hold one second,
you just kind of quickly ages Tech Next Top Model.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
Let's kind of highlight that, right, So you was.
Speaker 4 (12:22):
Going well, but you actually got picked to be a
Next Top Model?
Speaker 5 (12:26):
How how was that? That must have been an amazing experience.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
It was actually okay.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
So I got a message from someone, I think it
was like on Instagram or something, and they're like, hey,
they're scouting for the next.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Season of Age the Next Top Model. You interested?
Speaker 1 (12:39):
And I didn't really want to do it. Actually, I
was kind of nervous. I remember thinking like, have I
had enough experience modeling or am I going to go
on this show and make a complete fool of myself?
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So I didn't do anything about it. And then.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
I actually went through a really bad breakup, Like I've
been dating someone for like four or five years. As
we broke up and my friend also got like scouted
to be on the show, and.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
She was like, Dan, let's just go. She's like, she
was like, let's just forget all of this, let's go.
And I was like, yeah, okay, you're right, that's a
good idea.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
So I jumped into it as like, I mean, it
turned out to be the most wonderful thing. Like I
was feeling kind of maybe like lost and sad relationship ends,
but jumping into something that I was like passionate about
turned out to be a great breakup cure for me.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
That's fantastic, isn't that good? Yeah, it's like, okay, well
this is really bad's happening. So you could either sit
there and just like be in the dumps, or you
could actually go and do something interesting and fun. And
maybe basically it was it was a really good opportunity
for you as well. Right that that manager, by the way,
was that some random person who was just like, I'm
(14:02):
your manager for life, the one who first scouted you
or was that like a.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
No, no, no no. That was like a scout for
the show.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
So they had people like scouting on the Instagram for
girls to join the show.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Okay, cool, So now tell us about that experience though,
because I mean there's a lot of people will be curious,
like what was that like, and it's not just talking
about like you know, East Asia.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
We're you know, actually so funny. It's really funny.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, because when I talked to people about it, and
it's like, oh, you know, it's like America's next top model,
like I did Asia's next something model, and they were
like all of Asia, and I'm like, yeah, we got
girls from Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Everyone's coming.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
It was I mean, I had a great experience, and
obviously I would say that I won, so I'm a
little biased.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
I think it was a great season, but it was.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
I'm winning as well, right, Yeah, it was.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
It was.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
It was intense though, Like I the whole crew worked
so hard, all of all the girls. It was exhausting.
The crew was working. They had to start earlier than
us and later than us. It was a very like
grueling production. But you know, we'd wake up at like
five in the morning, get miked up, and then start
the day and we kind of would keep going until
(15:20):
ten pm. And I will say I slept great when
I was on the show because well, because we were
like doing so much every day, and we had our
so we didn't have our phones. We had no outside
contact for like six weeks. So just every day I
would wake up and there'd be some kind of challenge
and photo shoot, and then I would be exhausted and
(15:42):
go to bed.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
So that's cool.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
I mean, I can't imagine now, right, and it didn't
having no phone for six weeks.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
That's just that's a bizarre to me. But what was
that experience like?
Speaker 4 (15:52):
Is that something that you got used to then it
was like, oh, okay, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
It was.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
I actually think I mean, I know some girls really
hated being away from their phones and all of that stuff,
but I kind of enjoyed it, you know. It was
really interesting. Actually something that I noticed when we were
shooting because no one had their phones, we had to
describe things more, which you don't think about because phones
(16:22):
are always there, right, But every time someone was like, oh,
Like there was one girl and she was like, oh,
I've been dating this guy. I have a boyfriend, been
together for like three years, and we're like, what does
he look like? And she like goes to her bag
to grab her phone, but then obviously realized that she
doesn't have her phone, and we're like describe him, use
use use words and like we're all you just realize
(16:44):
like how much you rely on your phone for like
showing people like photos of your home or like who
you're in relationship with your friends. Like it was a
really it was really interesting for me to watch that happen.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
No, it's it's it's bizarre, isn't it to think about world?
Speaker 5 (17:00):
It's like that's all change.
Speaker 4 (17:02):
But yeah, I mean that sounds like a really good experience. Now,
tell us about like how did you win? I mean,
what did you have to do?
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Will you know.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Look great?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah? I think.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I mean look at the end of the day, all
the girls that were invited there are beautiful and really
good at what they do. And I mean, I think
all of us have gone on to do like really exciting,
cool things. And at this moment where I realized that
I like I wanted to try harder and like put
myself out there, and I like really did after that episode,
(17:42):
I just like went for it and it just.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
It all came together.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Like I think that I always think like resilience was
a big thing for me. Actually, like I really pushed
hard until the end.
Speaker 5 (17:55):
Are you still friends with a lot of people over there?
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah. Actually, the girl from the Philippines, her name's Jack,
we're really good friends. She comes to visit me in Thailand.
Sometimes I still need to go visit her and Manila.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
But yeah, the great group of girls.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Actually, And you know, the number one question I get
from people when I tell them about the show.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Is They're always like, so, we're the fights real?
Speaker 1 (18:18):
And I'm like, Okay, here's the thing. Like the fights
were real, nothing was like fake. But we're also you know,
like a bunch of people with strong personalities who are
locked up together for weeks in a competition. Like, I
have no bad feelings towards anyone.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
I think it's really cool. We're all like bonded by
this this crazy experience.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I think that I know, if
you are locked in a room together anyway, that's going
to happen.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Naturally, there's always going to be fights.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
And you probably just have to play it in a
certain way, right, yeahs TV at the end of the day.
But yeah, so that's awesome. That's a great experience for you.
And then now you know, let's like switch gears to
second to acting. I mean you're you were also, I mean,
this is this is a very interesting show.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
It was you played a Siamese twin. Is that right?
Speaker 1 (19:14):
I'm I'm married to one half of Siamese Twins.
Speaker 5 (19:21):
How's how what was that? I tell us? For those
I haven't seen the show? What's that about?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
So it's based on the true story of the first
Siamese twins there they were tie hence the name like
Siamese from Siam, and so the names are In and June.
And it's a really interesting story. I actually remember like
my mom telling me about, like, you know, Thai Siamese
(19:47):
twins when I was a kid, just like it's sort
of this the story.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
That a lot of Thai people know.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
And yeah, so it's a it's a limited series on
Disney Plus hot Star and it's just their their life journey.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
Very cool and if you want to actually watch it,
so you can just go on to Disney Plus find
the find the show.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
And I think you need you need a VPN to
access it in in Asia.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
In Asia, but yeah, okay.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
But well here you need a VPN to act. And
I think like any Asian Disney Plus that you can
onto anything you can hack into it'll probably be there.
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, and so now did you did you book that
through your agent there and in Thailand or yeah?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
So what what I heard from? I think it was
the acting coach and me at the time, I remember
hearing this from someone I forget who, but apparently an
episode of Age's Next Up Model was on and the
director of the Disney Plus series saw it and he said, oh,
just seems nice. Should we invite her into auditions? And
(21:03):
then they contacted me. I went through the audition process
and then I got it.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
So that was great.
Speaker 5 (21:13):
That's fantastic, that's amazing. So in terms of modeling over here,
what are your plans are you?
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Are you be you know, going to be continuing to
work through your connections. I mean, it's it's a great
opportunity for you do modeling out here as well.
Speaker 1 (21:28):
Right yeah, I I think right now acting is more
my priority. I do love modeling, but I think that
maybe I want to if I'm doing anything modeling really
that I think I want to step into maybe like
a creative director role as well, you know, like it.
(21:52):
I've I've been able to work with so many like
creative and cool people and nowadays I have my Pinterest
boards like full of photoshoot ideas, and I have friends
that are photographers and stylists, and I think I would
like to commet modeling in a more like collaborative sense.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
Now, I mean that that that kind of makes sense
as well. I mean you could probably get involved in
this all in the modeling industry and stuff and do
other things with it, right, yes, but yeah, I mean
there's definitely that's a cool transition. I mean, you've got
a great looks use acting is modeling, so why not, right,
thank you? And I think that's fantastic. Then, plus you
(22:32):
add languages and so it's a unique opportunity for you
in terms of the acting. What else did you what's
your ambition? Obviously you want to hone in on your acting.
Is there something specific that you're looking to do with
the acting that you you know, if it was a
goal you had that you can share.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Oh gosh.
Speaker 1 (22:52):
Actually, I was just thinking about this this morning. I
was thinking I need to be more goal specific because
I feel like what may was not the best last years.
I came here and I was like, my goal is
to be an actor, which is like, I mean, it
is a goal, but it's so vague. I kind of
like hard to achieve when you don't like really get
(23:12):
into it. But you know, I was thinking I was
very lucky with like the the first project I ever
did was like a huge production, and even like the
second thing I did, I did this horror film in
New York, directed by Stuart Thorndyke, which was great. We
went to like try back, like I've been very lucky
with these like pretty like big opportunities.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
And now I feel like I just kind of want to.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
I want to have more set time, Like I think
that work is a really good teacher, Like for me
with modeling, I remember at the beginning, I was so
nervous and it would always like take me a while
to like get into it on set. And now I
kind of like I know what I want to do,
but it's because I was I was working. So I
feel like with acting, I want to.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
I just want to audition more, do more. I just
want more and more of everything. I want to be
on set and work on small things, big things. It's
like I don't know even.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Like thesis films, student films, short films are just I
think the industry is very it's it's an exciting time.
Speaker 8 (24:17):
Next day, give the next check. Check you're listening to
ruck Us Avenue Radio Avenue available now on the free
iHeart Radio app.
Speaker 5 (24:46):
Yeah, absolutely, and you can.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
This is the right place to be for it, even
though there's always ups and downs, but it's a great
opportunity to continue to like you can write your own stuff.
If you thought about writing your own stuff or is
that not something you're interested in?
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Well, you know what, I felt like such a massive
cliche like moving to La and then one day being like, oh,
maybe I should buy a screenwriting book.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
I was like, I feel like the biggest LA cliche ever.
But I am interested in writing. I mean I've always
just like written for fun.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
I was a big like English literature nerd when I
was in school. So I've written more like short stories
or like poetry, and I feel like I need to
become more familiar with like even if it's I've bought
some like screenplays recently just to kind of read like
how the language is there? Like I've never written something
(25:38):
like that in my life, So who knows.
Speaker 4 (25:41):
How would you go back to Thailand and sort of
do work over there or was just like your goal
to really try and make it here in la Us.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
You know, I will never discount Thailand, like, oh, I'm
not going back, because it is an exciting place and
there's so much happening there, you know, even like with
like White Lotus coming out, everyone's talking about working there,
and I feel like right now, I'm trying to find
(26:14):
a balance because I want to give la like a
good shot. I'm like committed to being here and this
is my plan and I really want to like push
for things here, opportunities here for myself. But Thailand is
exciting and I'm so appreciative of the opportunities I've had there,
(26:37):
and I know the casting people there and all the
creatives there, so it will be a balancing act.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
But I'm trying to not be too nomadic. So for
now I'm LA based, but you never know, Yeah, I
like that.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
You know.
Speaker 4 (26:51):
It's sometimes you need to be in one place to
to kind of gather enough and to be you know,
get used to it. I think I always tell people
when they come to la it's not a case of
just no matter how popular are, there so many people
that who are Aussie or BRIT's or other places countries
that come in like well, I amn't. I'm a household
(27:11):
name and like you might be if you're in home
and away or whatever, but unfortunate nobody knows you here
and knows that show. You kind of have to start again,
which is kind of hard, but at the same time
it's it's also good because once they see some of
your work to be like, oh, see all the other
stuff that you've done back home.
Speaker 5 (27:28):
Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah? I also think it's I mean, I like a challenge.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I did have a couple people say to me when
I told them I was moving to LA They were like,
oh my god, like, why would you want to start again?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
That sounds terrible, And I was like, I really don't
view it in that way. It's just like a new chapter,
new challenges, and I welcome that.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 4 (27:55):
So what else do you do aside from you know,
the model actre when you're not doing modern actors? We're
curious about people to kind of say, Okay, I want
to know what does Dana do outside of a normal
kind of you know, I don't think you.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
Know made does it inspire you? Or what is it
that you tend to do?
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Well?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
You know what's funny is my friends recently referred to
me as the like side quest queen because I have
all these like random hobbies. I guess like one day
I'll be like, I'm going to do this and they're like,
of course you are, of course that's what you're doing today.
But I so I've recently started circus school, okay, which
(28:34):
I and so I've always thought that like aerial like
aeral hoop and trapeze would be like an interesting skill
to learn. So currently, once or two times a week,
I'll go to this circus school and swing from the
trapeze and I'm learning all these tricks and that's.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
What I'm enjoying right now.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
And then I was I did a couple like drifting
car drifting lessons, so I just hope I can do
my own stunts one day.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
You know.
Speaker 4 (29:05):
It's I I always wanted to do my own stunts
and stuff.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
So that sounds really cool. Actually, that sounds like a
lot of fun to be able to do that drifting.
Speaker 4 (29:14):
Wow, I didn't even think that you would you want
to do something like That's awesome, It's great.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
Yeah, I feel like every new hobby I pick up, though,
my mom will message.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Me and be like, why are you doing this to me?
Like she's always so nervous.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
I'm gonna like injure myself with the swinging from the
japez and the doing donuts and cars.
Speaker 4 (29:31):
But you know, so I'm pretty supportive. I mean, do
you feel like she's like, hey, you know what, go
for it. It's follow your dream and she like or
she's like, what are you doing? Come back home?
Speaker 2 (29:46):
So I think Asian, you know, you.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
Know that background, it's it's sometimes it's like very very
hard for them to understand what we're doing. Well, that's it.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
She's she's very supportive, but I do know that. I mean,
she's my mom, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
She she wants to make sure that I can take
care of myself and things going well. And she knows
that this industry is, you know, maybe not as stable
as some other profession professions.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
So she worries, but she is supportive. It It took
some time though.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Actually I remember before I went to join Age's Next
Something Model, my my dad said something to the effect
of like, okay, but after this, like you're going to
get a real job, right and then I and then
I have one, So I guess they were like, okay.
Speaker 4 (30:35):
You know, did a really good job. So well done.
Oh that's amazing, that's fantastic. I'll go one question for you.
It's kind of like to ask people and put you
on the spot where it's like if you were, you know,
had a choice with two people that you could have
(30:55):
dinner with, Okay, okay, dead or alive, and who would
they be?
Speaker 2 (31:06):
Okay? Oh these questions are always so hard.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
I'm just gonna go with like the first two names
that popped into my head. So, I'm such a big
fan of Eva Green, the actress. So I just she
has this show called she was on the show called
Penny Dreadful, and I love it so much, and I
just I think her.
Speaker 2 (31:28):
The intensity in her eyes and the way.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
She I just I'm such a big fan, So I
love to dinner with her.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
And then you know what, I'm gonna say, Kiki Palmer
because I think that she's I just think she has
such good energy.
Speaker 1 (31:50):
She's so talented and so smart, and I every time
I see her speak, I just feel like she's so
good with words. And I think the career she's had
it's been amazing. So I would love to pick her
brain on all those things.
Speaker 4 (32:09):
Fantastic. Okay, yeah, there's no right wrong an So I'm
just like, well, it.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Was like there were so many names, but I was like,
it's like once you overthink it, it becomes a problem.
So I was like, these are the first two names
that are like in my head today.
Speaker 4 (32:20):
So I'm gonna say there so many interesting like answers
have had to do that and also how they interact
with each other, and like those two people together as well.
Want three of you on the table, you know, so
I'll be curious about that too.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
Well.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Yeah, so I think that we're all the three of us,
we're all actors. I think Kiki would be like a
fun person to have a glass of wine with, and
I think Evergreen's also like just super cool and French.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
So like, I think this is a good table.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Awesome Okay, cool, Yeah, I'm I'm really really excited to
talk to you about this and what's going to happen
next as well.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
If you had an.
Speaker 4 (33:01):
Ultimate goal what you want to be would be acting
that you want to be able to do and pursue,
Okay cool, and if it's obviously drama, right that you
want to be pursuing.
Speaker 1 (33:13):
So you know, I would say that like, up until now,
drama has been maybe more of my like bread and butter.
So yeah, and I love it. Like I I'm not
great with watching horror films. I'm getting better, Like I
love Nosprashu, but historically not so good with them in
the past. But I love shooting that horror film in
(33:35):
New York two years ago. And I actually so yeah,
like I said, I have a problem watching scary movies.
But in this movie, I play one of the ghosts.
So I remember at the premiere, I was like, well,
there's nothing to be afraid of because it's me that's
going to jump out of the closet. So oh it
(33:55):
was great. It was it was so fun to uh
to play a ghost, said I remember, like if we
were looking a little tired on set, they were like, great,
because you're dead.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
That's cool.
Speaker 4 (34:08):
Yeah, you know it's it's great. And so we have
maybe horrors in the cards too.
Speaker 5 (34:13):
We're going to check it.
Speaker 4 (34:14):
Yeah, like Dana actually like, yeah, I got into this
horror this is what she was doing.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Why not? But also you know, I mean I did.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
I did do one class here and they were like, oh,
you could also be like quirky friend rom com and
I was like, I've never done that, but I'm not opposed.
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You know, I think that it's a balance.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
I know people say that you should go with maybe
your like easy casting first, Like it's I feel people
always say it's not good to say you want to
do everything because it's just so vague.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
But I'm going to tell you here because of a
work meaning I want to do well.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Look, Dan, it was great to have you on the show,
and thank you for making the time. Really appreciate Headache
because you've got such a cool background as well, and
thank you looking forward to and may all those dreams
and those goals come true.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Thank you, this was so fun. Thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (35:11):
You're welcome
Speaker 3 (35:31):
The world's most listened to South Asian radio and podcast network.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Betrayal Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com