Ever wonder how reality shows are made? Who builds the stories for unscripted Television? Reality star and actor Kevin Kreider from Bling Empire is here to spill the tea. On this episode of Curiosity’s 'Storyteller Studio' we delve into the world of storytelling, comparing scripted and unscripted narratives. Renowned for his dynamic roles in reality TV and film, Kevin gained fame through 'Bling Empire' on Netflix and shines in the film 'Asian Persuasion.' You can also find him on 'The Traitors,' the top unscripted series and game show on streaming platforms in the U.S! Discover how Kevin Kreider, born in Seoul and raised by a German/Irish American family, navigates his identity and is reshaping Asian masculinity in media through the stories he tells. Kevin is breaking stereotypes with his storytelling journey. From modeling to acting and advocacy, Kevin's story is one of vulnerability, passion, and transformation. If you are a fan of unscripted or want to learn about how it’s created you won’t want to miss this inspirational episode of 'Storyteller Studio' as Kevin shares his unique perspective and journey."
**Subscribe** to Curiosity’s Storyteller Studio on YouTube for more insightful episodes that explore the art of storytelling with the masters of the craft. We are on a quest to find out where the best stories come from and our quest would not be complete without you! Don’t miss out on the inspiration behind the world's most beloved stories. www.YouTube.com/curiositystorytellerstudio
And follow us on socials!
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Love this episode? Share it with a friend and leave us a comment or review! Let’s spread the word about the stories behind the stories!
This episode was powered in part by Little Black Tux Tuxedos for Women!
Cinematography: Phil Sakanashi
Produced by: Chas Allen & Adhrucia Apana
Post Production: PJ Donahue
Associate Producer: Amar Bedi
Music: Jimi Cravity
Make-up by: Gayane Hunanyan
**Subscribe** to Curiosity’s Storyteller Studio on YouTube for more insightful episodes that explore the art of storytelling with the masters of the craft. We are on a quest to find out where the best stories come from and our quest would not be complete without you! Don’t miss out on the inspiration behind the world's most beloved stories. www.YouTube.com/curiositystorytellerstudio
And follow us on socials!
www.instagram.com/curiositystorytellerstudio
www.facebook.com/curiositystorytellerstudio
www.TikTok.com/curiosity_storyteller
Love this episode? Share it with a friend and leave us a comment or review! Let’s spread the word about the stories behind the stories!
This episode was powered in part by Little Black Tux Tuxedos for Women!
Cinematography: Phil Sakanashi
Produced by: Chas Allen & Adhrucia Apana
Post Production: PJ Donahue
Associate Producer: Amar Bedi
Music: Jimi Cravity
Make-up by: Gayane Hunanyan
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I just wanted to make perfect.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi list is Siva and you're listening to on Bocas
Avenue Radio on Ihearted Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hello there, and thank you for tuning in to Women
in Showbiz Everywhere's inaugural podcast series, Brown and Brilliant Power
by Wise, a celebration of South Asian women and non
binary artists and storytellers highlighting their incredible contributions to the
global entertainment industry. Joined us for captivating conversations, exclusive film promotions,
(00:50):
and a blend of season filmmakers and promising artists shaping
tomorrow's entertainment. To learn more about our organization and the
empowering work we're doing, and women in visit us at
whysonline dot org. Join us on our mission to uplift
and amplify women's voices and entertainment by becoming a member,
making the donation, purchasing our merchandise, or all of the above.
(01:13):
Get involved in help hashtag open the door to talented
women in showbiz.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Kevin, you play and build characters that have been pegged
both by yourself and others, as characters that redefine stereotypes.
Do you feel a responsibility to consistently live outside the
box with the characters. You're developing, the characters, you're creating
(01:40):
the persona that you play, the persona that you are
because of that reputation. Do you feel a pressure to
do so? And how is that defining how you're building
out storylines or how you are building out the version
of you that gets to be on television.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Yeah, I do feel certain responsibility, especially when I speak
on a podcast, store, on stage, or building a character,
because the one thing that I realized growing up is
that these portrayals how Asians were portrayed a long time ago,
from outdated stereotypes and tropes of humans, were really harmful
(02:17):
to men growing up about their self esteem, their perspective
of what they could do in life. And so now
these days, I really find it it's very important for
me to not play or be a part of a
stereotypical TV show, movie media. So I find that even
(02:38):
today today, I still see a lot of it, and
I don't want to partake in a lot of it.
And I've kind of hit this boundary where I'm like,
I really want to keep acting, but I also want
to be true to myself. How much of that should
I align myself to and will keep me going further
in my career because it was really easy just to
(03:00):
be myself.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
So for me personally, one of the things I really
struggle with is that as a society, we need, or
we've decided we need these definitions right and even when
it comes to our work, naming you a director, producer,
and actor, reality star, all these different things. And I
personally find that although there is a lot of joy
(03:26):
in representing, you know, the characters that we play, we
build the people who we are day in day out,
sometimes that box and even building that box of representation
can become stifling.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Totally, totally, and I'm feeling it from the community recently.
I feel like we're becoming too journalistic, too much like documentarians,
too much like historians, like this is how it's supposed
to be, and I feel that we're kind of creativity
needs a little bit freedom, and I just feel like
we're being a little bit less creative these days because
(04:04):
we're so trying to get it right. Yeah, and gotta
tell you it's not always right. But the beauty is
we get to go outside of all these boundaries.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
So that's what I want to see more of sometimes
as storytellers. We have to be the people who take
everyone outside those boundaries. I like how you whispered that.
Welcome to Curiosity Entertainment's Storyteller Studio. My name is Adrusha
and I create and write movies, music, and television. Each week,
(04:37):
Join me and my team as we talk to the
world's greatest storytellers in pursuit of the answer to the
question where do the best stories come from? Now, let
me introduce you to today's guest. Today, we explore the
difference between unscripted and scripted storytelling with Kevin Krider, a
dynamic presence renowned for his diverse roles and reality TV film.
(05:01):
Kevin rose to fame with this candid portrayal in Netflix
smash hit show Bling Empire and as a lead in
the romantic comedy Asian Persuasion. Kevin also appears on the
game show The Traders, which is currently the number one
unscripted series across all streaming platforms in the United States.
So storytellers join me now as we welcome Kevin to
(05:23):
Storyteller Studio. This episode was brought to you in partnership
with Little Black Tucks. Little Black Tucks is my go
to when I need a timeless look, whether I'm speaking
on a film panel, walking a red carpet, or need
a bold, sophisticated look for a photoshoot. Little Black Tucks
has me covered. Little Black Tucks isn't just a clothing company.
(05:43):
They're a company with a story, a strong why, and
you know I love a good story. They're breaking boundaries
and creating clothing that empowers women with versatile, upscale options.
I love my Little Black Tucks and I know you
will too. Welcome to Storyteller Studio, Kevin.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Thank you first time here.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
We are so happy to have you, and I think
specifically because you represent not only fictional storytelling, but this
other medium of storytelling, which is unscripted and is indeed
a method of storytelling. We're going to delve a little
bit into that, but I want to start back with
bringing the audience kind of into how your world was
(06:24):
formed and how you saw the world specifically being adopted
by first of all, just being adopted, but then being
adopted by a German Irish family and having your Korean
roots influencing you in whatever way it did as a child.
How do you remember the first storytelling experiences you had
(06:50):
and the way your lens was different as an adoptee,
and was it also different or did you realize the
differences culturally that early on.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
Well, it's funny because I think the first thing that
came to my mind is that everybody always told me
what I should do, how I should feel about being adopted.
I felt like they were writing my story for me.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
It was very like, oh, well, shouldn't you know who
your parents are? I'd want to feel like I know
who my real parents are, And I'm like, man, I
know who my real parents are. Sure it'd be something
different if I want to go see them and find
my genetic ancestry all that stuff. Cool, But most adoptees
are very disappointed when they find who their real parents are. Anyway,
(07:36):
there's a disconnect. Then they're like, oh, you should go
to Korea, to your hometown, your everything. And I've done that,
and I feel like there's even more of a disconnect
because you are Korean and there's an expectation that you
have to speak Korean. I mean even today's roles, right,
you have to speak if you're Korean, you got to
speak Korean, and you got to speak English pretty well.
(07:59):
I mean, are the days. It seems like for Asians especially,
that you could just learn like we have to naturally
be gifted at martial arts or.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
That's so stifling too though, Like we're really in this
space where we're all individuals, and I think what's so
unique is individuals come into a world perspective through their
own experiences, and you know, two people's experiences are the same,
So to ever say that they should be is you know,
(08:29):
as a creative, that directly stifles the entire experience of
being able to wonder what other worlds are.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You're listening to ruck Us Avenue Radio.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
For you when you were a kid, was there a
first moment where you remember really leaning or gravitating towards
story and falling in love with that and that process.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Yeah, so ironically, comic books have always been Yeah, my
first storytelling experience.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I love that comic What was your first comic? Do
you remember?
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Man? My first comic book must have been like it's
kind of cheesy, but it's like probably an archie comic book.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
No, I mean, where did you grow up?
Speaker 5 (09:21):
I grew up back in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Okay, how did you get end up with archie comics?
Speaker 5 (09:25):
Well? It was like Archie and Superman with you who,
like they had this weird crossover.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
And were your parents from Germany?
Speaker 5 (09:33):
No, so they're from Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
And they had Archie comics.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, it was like kind of weird. Like I those
are the first comic books I remember. They weren't superhero yet. No,
But what I remember about comic books is that I
loved how when it eventually got into superheroes, they were
fighting for things that they stood up for even though
other people hated them for being different. And that really
(09:58):
struck me, resonated in my core, and I wanted to
draw superheroes for a long time.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I love that, and I.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Thought my first passion was going to be a comic
book artist because I was going to tell these stories. Right.
Little did I know back then there's writers that do that.
But this is when I was really young. And then
I realized I wasn't very good at drawing, so I
was going to go into bodybuilding and start looking like
a superhero, which then led into more public speaking. And
(10:27):
I got to tell you, public speaking, doing a TED
talk or going on.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Your TED talk is so good.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Thank you, thank you. And that was if you.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Guys haven't got a chance. You have to go watch
Kevin's Ted Talk. You're a great speaker, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And really, what I think is important about my speaking
is that these are real life experiences. These are real,
meaningful conversations I want the rest of the world to
know about. And that's my first time I really felt
like a storyteller going on stage and sharing my own
life experiences resonate with other Asians.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Let's go back a little bit, so you find this
kind of love for comic books. And the reason I
was so excited that was Archie comic because Archie comics
a lot of times are people who grew up with
foreign backgrounds are big and Archie comics yeah, all over Asia,
all over Europe. Archie was just so big. Yes it
was big in the United States, but it's really big
amongst children of immigrants. For you, specifically, you fall in
(11:24):
love with like this comic book world. I understand totally
the heroes that you're seeing and they're these unlikely heroes
and why that would resonate. Do you have someone at
this point in your life when you're like, when do
you decide this is something I might want to do,
I might want to go into modeling. I might want
to go into acting, I might want to go into
writing stories. And do you have someone who's like this
(11:47):
is a great idea?
Speaker 6 (11:49):
Was it?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Like?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
No, Actually I do remember this. His name was Daniel
lou Well actually still is Daniel. He was one of
the first models back then signed by Ford. Oh wow,
And I remember being I think it was twenty four
to twenty five, sitting on the couch at my gym
that I was personal training at and my client who
knew so much about my background and how I felt
(12:13):
as an Asian guy growing up and just not seeing
much in TV at that time. I think it was
just Lucy Lou at that time taking over the TV
realm and he's like, look at this guy, it's possible.
He's like you always talked about wanting to be a
model or doing acting and stuff like this guy is
the first, So I think it's a good opportunity. Then
(12:34):
the financial market crashed and training was kind of going
to crap, so I was like, oh, let me, let
me make that move. And so he was really my
first inspiration seeing somebody like me go in do something
like that.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
And your parents and your friends were you sharing that
you were thinking about doing something like this.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
No, I wasn't very open back then speaking about things.
I think I went the typical jock route, which I
want to be a professional baseball player.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Before this moment when you see someone who looks like
yourself and then you decide this is something you can pursue.
Did you see yourself as characters that you read in
books that you watched on TV or was it a
othering process where you were like, oh, I could never
be those roles.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
So I really took a page out of Tyson Beckford.
Tyson Beckford was another model who I saw in acting movies,
and you know he's actually part of Asian, which is cool. Yeah,
And so I took a page out of his book.
I was like, Okay, if I can do will modeling
might be able to jump me up to the next
platform such as acting. And so he was really my
(13:41):
role model into that with Daniel Lue, just knowing that
I actually look like him, you know, in the sense
I'm Asian, and he made it possible, and so I thought,
why don't we just go into this.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Check out ruckus Avenue Radio dot com for our full
schedule and listen to our past episodes. Available on all
major podcast platforms.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
You talk a lot about just the reality of realizing
how you were perceived by others, but I want to
talk about how that directly affected you as a storyteller
in these early days of modeling, in these early days
of deciding a path to get to Hollywood, were there
(14:36):
choices that you make or stories you were telling yourself
that directly affected your art?
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Yeah, totally. Like I've always been a believer in this pain,
this failure, this feeling that I was having back then
when I was pursuing acting and modeling, because there were
lots of failures, like just no work for a long time,
for sure, and so I knew there was a reason
for all of this, and that I wanted to come
out on top and be able to share my story
(15:05):
of overcoming these challenges, especially as an Asian guy, because
there just weren't that many back then. Now it seems
pretty like kind of cliche, but there's many now who
speak about these things like SIMU lose one of them,
And so I find that I always lean towards that
I was like, if I haven't seen anybody that I
could be called them as a role model, I'm sure
(15:27):
I'm one of many that don't have that, and so
I wanted to at least open the doors up for
other role models, for other children or other kids like me,
to say like, oh, I can do something like that.
I don't have to be a doctor or a lawyer
if I don't want to be, no shame in it.
If you just don't want to be, I don't have
to be a personal trainer or body build or if
I don't want to be which is a real, real
(15:49):
hard life. You know, I did that for many years.
Is a really hard life.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I love to learn where people's inspiration become storytellers comes from.
And I totally understand and resonate with this idea that
you know, you had a mixed identity growing up and
trying to understand the world through characters, and yeah, it's beautiful.
It was beautiful that you were able to pursue something
(16:13):
that allowed you that exploration within that you ended up
on a reality show, as we all know, what did
you think your first role was going to be in
the storytelling world.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
It's funny you say this, because I actually had no
idea my greatest character was going to just be myself. Yeah,
and I think that was super super cool, like I was,
because I couldn't see myself being a superhero at the time,
even though I've always wanted to be. I think every
kid wants to be at some point, sure, and then
you just see that it's probably not going to happen.
(16:50):
I mean I literally quit acting for a little while
for two years back in Philadelphia for many reasons. I mean,
like there was no success for a long period of time.
There's no acting or super creative storytelling when it comes
to TV and film in Philly, and I was thinking
about leaving it all until Yeah, this show caught wind
(17:11):
and brought me along, and by the grace of God,
I was able to get on this show because this
is when I knew nothing about storytelling, Like I had
no idea. There's a thing called development, which means that
it's not sold yet, it's no guarantee. You're still trying
to develop, right, and this show is in development.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Literally, I got interviewed by the producers and they're like,
come to LA if you want to be in the show.
And I moved to LA. Then I'm like, when are
we filming? And then they're like, well, we got to
sell it first. And I was like, oh my gosh, sure,
what is this? And then we got lucky. But I
had no idea that this would be such an impactful
show and it would reach so many.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
People as someone who creates for film and television, and
as someone who I grew up on the stage, and
then from stage writing for television and writing for short
form and then coming to Hollywood and writing for brands
in between. I remember the first time I was exposed
(18:13):
to reality. I actually was exposed to reality back in Ohio.
They tried to do like a local reality show and
I was on it in the show in Ohio and
I was That was when I was doing entertainment reporting
for Fox News locally, and then I ended up coming
out to Los Angeles and I had a whole group
of friends who just like lived in that world. And
I think one of the most intriguing things was learning
(18:36):
and many people still to this day, I think the
cats out of the bag, but they don't fully know
that there is story building and world building in unscripted.
So you get thrown into this, into this world that
that is called reality, where you are quote unquote playing yourself.
(18:57):
How surprised and how inspired creatively were you as you
realize that this was world building and then there was
story involved.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
I thought it was a great introduction to Hollywood storytelling
because it was something easy for me to get into.
Like they just said, hey, share what's going on in
your life? And I was like, let me tell you.
You're the first person that wants to hear me, you know.
And so I think for not having a voice for
so long growing up, because I would always share about
(19:32):
my life and just say, hey, there's a little bit
of discrimination when it comes to dating or landing a
film or TV role, and people just said, shut up,
you're making it worse. You know, all this stuff like that.
It was always shutting me off. And then finally when
people are like, well share your story, tell me, tell
me what it's about. What would you like to do,
(19:52):
you know, because that's what executive producers do. They say,
what's going on in your life? And then you tell
them everything for like three hours, and then they go
another room and start saying like, well, should we document
these things that already happened or should we document what's
going to happen? And I felt so much freedom that
because I just wanted my story to be out there
to be heard. So that was a very good start
(20:15):
into Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
So as you saw that they were threading together storylines,
so that affect the way that you were building out
what you wanted to share, is you got deeper and
deeper into the production process.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, and so that's why I realized, like, wow, these
people are just kind of taking my own thing anyway
and not giving me a EP credit or story by
credit on any of this stuff. And it's my story, right,
A lot of it is real. What's not real is
obviously like just being planted in the middle of this crazy,
rich Asian life. But it's like that was me living
(20:47):
my true self out there.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
That conversation really opened when Empire opened. This conversation about
representation and media that we touched upon, we touched upon
a little bit. And so now you as someone who
has other aspirations. You're acting, you're writing, you have things
that you're building. You became made in many ways, part
(21:12):
of the poster children.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
What it's like to be made.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
For Asian representation? No, no, no, So I would love
to know like how you felt going into then creating
your own stories, your own worlds and the next characters
because you you as a cast basically were carrying the storyline.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Yeah, I mean I thought I felt very more like
I could do this because as I told more stories
to the producers and we actually it airr, I was like, oh,
I'm actually not bad at this, yeah, and then I'll actually,
I mean really good. Yeah. Thanks. I also have a
lot of friends who are storytellers to in Hollywood and
(21:53):
writers and creatives, and we would talk and you know,
obviously i'd see some of them like put up movies
or TV show that definitely sprinkled a lot of my
own life sharing there. So I realized where.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You were literally affecting the way people were telling other
stories about Asian representation through your characters.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
So I wanted to do that for myself, and I
felt like, Okay, this is the time to do it now.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Can we talk a little bit about these worlds converging now?
So you come out here and you have this experience,
and you also get a chance to reflect back on
your upbringing and growing up with different roots. Of course,
all this is part of this process as you're going
through the story. So now when you're looking when you
(22:38):
want to develop what you want to.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Put into the world, the world's most listened to South
Asian radio and podcast network.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Where do you feel you were drawing inspiration for characters.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
I think it all drawing inspirations and even like teenage years, right,
I feel like a lot of stuff has drawn from there,
and just finding myself my identity. I mean, I guess
even today I was just journaling a little bit and writing,
and I'm like, man, the transition of my life in
the last seven years has been unbelievable. I mean, I
(23:19):
recently just came back from Hong Kong and Singapore and
it's my second time, and the first time I went,
I was nothing. I was just a model, and I'm like, man,
the life is so different, Like even the people, the
way they treat me is different, the way they even
date is different.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Now it's very big in Yeah, well it.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Was big everywhere in Asia, especially, so when I go
back there, I realized, Wow, media has played a good
impact on these countries. You know, when I went to Singapore,
there was no crazy rich Asians, and now they're proud
of it and they're proud to be Singaporean, whereas like
twelve years ago, a lot of Singaporeans actually weren't proud
to be Singaporean and now they are and say like, wow,
(24:01):
my job is really fulfilling when it comes to that.
So I see this crossroad of like I'm drawing my
inspiration from the pain that I used to have.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
I still do.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
Probably chip on the shoulders for things, you know, Like
I think that's why I really got into more developing,
more production and going out there trying to raise money
and learning all these things from having a beverage company
at the time, and like, all these different things have
led me from learning and telling my own story.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
And I think you were really I mean, I think
that you got specifically got to be a redefining character
in this unscripted space because I think it was the
first time that we had kind of a paradox character
where you were the grounded individual in a larger cast
and you were bringing a reflection which we see in
film and television in scripted often where you'll create a
(24:53):
mirror character that serves as a mirror to the world.
And producers chose to bring you in as a mirror
character that was a mirror to this rich tapestry that
bling was set up, and you get to be the
dose of reality or the relatable individual and I'm sure
that you're going to continue to see and do you
have seen a bunch of characters you spoke of this
(25:14):
show up shown up on film and television that have
been representative of you. When you see those characters, what's
that feel like? Ah?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
It feels it's bittersweet, right because obviously I think it's great.
There's always this saying if I could help one person,
that's all worth it. But I think I'm in a
point in my life right now that one person hasn't
paid my bills yet, So I'd really like it if
it could start paying my bills a little bit more.
But it is fulfilling. I think there's a lot of
(25:43):
change and a lot more opportunity now, and I think
right now it's just about me hitting the ground running
with it and creating and not looking just in film
and TV. For me, like I said, I'm getting into
comic books back in my childhood doing more. Maybe I
have to accept reality TV is a great space for me,
(26:03):
you know, even though it's been hard, and that's a
journey for me because really my first love was acting,
it wasn't reality TV. And then reality TV just keeps
popping up. I mean, like, look another Emmy Award winning show.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah, number one peg.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Right, So I was like, well, whatever it is I'm
supposed to be doing, I must be doing it right
because more of it just keeps appearing. But at the
same time, I would still like to get my other
stories out there that are script there.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
What do you think it is about your personality that
just attracts so many fans and so many people.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
I think it's because it's kind of like you just
don't see many Asian guys out there on a reality
show and just being like one of the guys, or
like having that unfiltered perspective on what's going on in
the world. And I think as Asians we always say this,
but we're pressed to not speak yeah, or to have
(27:00):
an opinion or stand up for ourselves.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
You've spoken about the importance of strong relationships and helping
others find true happiness. How do you find that philosophy
has informed your world and the characters that you both
played and built and the persona that you represent.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Yeah, in real life. I still stand by that it's
like you should help if you are super lost in life,
because this has helped me. I literally started just thinking
about other people and how I can help them. And
that's how the tech talk happened and the documentaries I did,
and then Bling, and you know, Bling really was a
(27:44):
passion of love for me. It was a project of
love because I knew that reality TV was such a
huge audience and it's an audience that need to see
Asians absolutely, and I just knew such a big impact.
And then the response was great, Like I had so
many girls who were dating Asian guys like hit me
(28:06):
up and say, man, my boyfriend speaks about this and
I'm so glad you're out there, or like or just
like girls just saying I didn't know Asian guys were
like that, were you watching?
Speaker 6 (28:16):
You know?
Speaker 5 (28:18):
And so it was just such a big impact that
I can't take that back. And you know, like I said,
maybe unscripted is a different forte. I just wish I
had a little bit more respect when it came to
TV and film. It seems to be the trashy of
trash and sometimes you mean.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
That unscripted a device against them. Well that's why. I
think it's because people don't fully understand it. And I
hear you, like I again, like we look at it
as a storytelling format, and I don't know that people
fully understand what goes into it. How about if you
could you walk us through whether it's traders or whether
it's blaying, what the process is creating an episode for
(29:01):
talent On one of those shows, you spoke a little
bit about it. You walk in, you tell your whole
week to the producer. Can you walk us through that
format and how it comes into full fruition? Sure?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
So I usually speak to a showrunner about these my
whole life for like three hours, five hours, and then
there's a lot of notes taken, and they come to
a room and see how my story relates to other
people in the show, or what's going on in your life,
you know, who are you dating? You know, like all
that kind of things. And then they literally just go
(29:37):
and shoot for two months straight, and then throughout the
whole year they start doing pickups because life goes on.
There might be something really interesting going on. I mean,
I remember I call up.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
I'll tell everyone what to pick up is.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Oh, a pickup is just a shot a day to
film again to that wasn't scheduled, so you can tell.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
A story or to build out the story.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
Right to build it out, or to redo a story
that just didn't really make sense. So there were a
lot of those in.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Bling because because the real time putting together what the
storyline will be.
Speaker 5 (30:15):
Yeah, and the way I like to say is like
it's more like a documentary at one point, because you
really are just documenting people's lives. Sure, and a lot
of it was in my life. And so what's great
about Bling at least is that the producers were really
about Asian representation and just like, oh, you're the guy
for Asians, you know. The Traders wasn't so much like that.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Actually, yeah, it's a game show for me, game show.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
You don't really tell your story.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
No.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I found that to be very challenging. Yeah, why because
I'm a storyteller.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Yeah, I'm not a.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Game player, you know, unless icond tell my story, and
my story has to do with the game. But with
a game like The Traders, which is about lying the
seat and murder and finding out who the murders are.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
For those of you back home we're listening, it's kind
of like playing Mafia.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Yeah, kind of like the.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Game Mafia, but live on TV with all the commentary
and you don't leave and you don't leave.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
But it was seriously, like so challenging because then that
had to do with strategy and gameplay, and I was like, man,
this is not my world that I normally come from.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, it's a very different format.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Very different format that is a different skill in competition,
is very different than where I come from, just like
it's a different skill to be able to live your
life and tell your story, which I know this sounds
really weird, but everybody thinks they're really good at it. Yeah,
my producers say it. They're like, he gets submissions from
(31:46):
millions of families thinking they're so interesting and this is
not sure. But I think what made Bling unique is
that it was the first time that an easier perspective
was put.
Speaker 7 (31:56):
Into Yo, this is no Boy and you're listening to
Bruckas Avenue Radio, the world's number one South Asian radio station.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
On the BART Radio.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Do you have a storyline either within one of these
two shows or in your movie Asian Persuasion. Do you
have a storyline and it can be multiple that you
just fell in love with You were like, this is
I wish we could spend more time on this or
something that was very memorable, and you were done. You
were like, that is going to be a lightning Yeah.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
When I went to Paris to reunite with de Vaughan
my girlfriend now to this day that we broke Yeah,
we broke up because I was just getting sober and
we had so many great feelings after that and by
the way, still today, one of the best episodes I've
watched and been a part of ever.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Falling in Love.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
Really yeah, and we were really excited to be able
to keep telling that story afterwards. Unfortunately we weren't able to,
but we still want to be able to somehow because
we definitely know there's a lot of couples out there
who suffered through someone with addiction who won't get help,
and just want to let them know that it's possible.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
I love that episode of you guys. I want to
go a little bit into this third format of gaming
that you've ended up in, and you talked about how
it's a little bit difficult to really expose yourself as
a character within that format. Can you walk us through
a day on one of those types of sets? What's
that like?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
So The Traders was filmed, I believe in three weeks,
So let just alone that's shooting schedules, intents, INT's intents,
and it's like ten or eleven episodes. I think it's eleven,
and then you literally have three weeks, whereas like Bling
had what eight eight.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
To ten, and you had like, oh year, you know
the time.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
So it was really intense. Well, I got to tell
you though, the production company that ran that was a
well oiled machine. Like they literally picked you up on
time to go to like your confessionals, which is just
sitting in front of the computer's or screen talking to
somebody behind, woke you up on time, like the miss
(34:33):
got you to the missions on time, like did the round,
Like everything was just so timed out. But it's a
very long day.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Can you delve a little bit deeper into what is
going through your head as a creator when you're trying
to get in those moments of authenticity and you are,
of course a storyteller at heart, and you're trying to
get these pieces in. What is that? What are the
struggles there? What is what is the what's going through
(35:02):
your head?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
So I come from Meisner technique from acting, So Meisner
technique is about being in the moment. They also have
these exercises where you're trying to knock on the door
and come in. And so reality TV docuseries works great.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Hold on the finish the exercise because not everyone you
knock on the.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
Door and you go in, and you're just repeating each
other's sentences to stay present in the moment. And then
you're eventually able to like get away from repeating each
other's sentences because it's about listening. So you're just sounding
out what the other person's saying. Then you get into
an argument or you start crying, or nothing happens, whatever,
whatever the moment is. It's all about just whatever the
(35:45):
truth of that moment is, moment by moment, living in
it truthfully, doing a minds and exercise, like for you,
your chief, your audience is a not it's like I
knock them like and then you observe me and make
an observation or something.
Speaker 4 (35:59):
So Kevin, you're wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
I'm wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Kevin, you're wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
I know, I'm Kevin, I am wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
That's a gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
This is a gray shirt.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
It's a long sleeve gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
It's not like your green dress.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Do I have to keep saying the same thing.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
You can talk about but I just said about the
green dress. So you just play back and forth. It's
moment to moment, and it's it's silly because then you
could be like stop saying I'm wearing a green dress.
I'm so sorry whatever your emotion is at the moment.
And so the thing with docuseries that works great, but
the competition reality show doesn't work so great. Yeah, because
(36:40):
if you're really pissed off in the moment, or you're
suspicious to somebody, you need to like kind of give
it away. You can't give it away, and I can't
be like, you know why I thought you were suspicious
killers because back then, like a Russian guy would beat
me up and he would call me jing jang jong
and be like you can't get into that detail because
(37:01):
it has nothing to new to the game. You can't
express yourself.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
I love how your brain has created a whole separate
story storyline based on some superhero who got beat up
by Russian monslors exactly, and you're sitting there on Traders
trying to inject it.
Speaker 5 (37:17):
You're like I could do this, and I can't because
then they're like, Okay, let's go back. You know, like,
actually production never interfered, which is great with our stories
or around or whatever. Be an investigator at Traders, it
was really cool how they just let everything go. But
from somebody who doesn't play games that much, I like
to watch games, Yeah, I don't like to play games,
(37:38):
and unless it's like card games, that's fun. But I
literally had the hardest time relating to people because you
don't even have time to really get to know people,
because you have such a quick time to like figure
out who is the person killing everybody who's gonna get
murdered this morning, and then you talk about it, and
then you don't really get into each other's lives. So
(38:00):
it's hard to create that connection with other people.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
So you have found yourself a great audience within reality
and these competitions, and you've talked about it, but you
also have this great love of acting. So when you
start pursuing these stories that you're actually creating, do you
feel like you need to bring some of this other
(38:26):
world that you've been a part of into these characters
or do you feel free to create whatever I do.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
I did in the beginning, I feel like I had
to literally copy and paste this character into a scripted thing.
But then people are like, well, we actually just watched
that already Onbling Empire or something or your YouTube channel whatever,
And I was like, oh, oh, that's right. Like I'm
a creative I have freedom.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
So what I've done is like for comic books especially
or film, I take past experiences and I actually this
is where I know myself the best. I know how
to create a world or characters. But then when it
comes to the actual writing part, I have partners in
it that help it out, and they come in with
their own perspectives or other writers, and so I feel
(39:14):
so much freedom when I have great idea great concept,
a great story, and I have other people to work
with to help tell the story.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
And each of those stories has a little part of you.
Speaker 6 (39:26):
You're listening to Rocks Avenue Radio available now on the
free iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
So you' so you're in there no matter what, totally
you're in there, no matter what. I want to talk
a little bit about about this discovery of character and
these little pieces of you, And you talked about your
childhood being so important to building out those characters. Are
the things you haven't explored yet, like you had such
(39:56):
a layered childhood, even when I was trying to introduce
you just you know, adoption is one thing. Coming from
a different cultured background, growing up in America as a
whole nother thing. When you you come from a different culture,
rediscovering your career and roots is a different thing. Is
there something that you're really looking forward to exploring? And
(40:17):
if so, can you walk us through how you would
tackle a subject matter that you're that you're really close
to and how you how you see that exploratory phase
as something that as a creative as something that's growing
within you.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
Yeah, it's some of the stories i'd love to tell
more of. I mean, I'm doing it now, but I'd
love to start more of so I'm adopted, as you know,
and a lot of the adopt these stories are from
a woman's perspective.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
That's interesting point of you when.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
It comes to finding identity, when it comes to finding love. Wow, Yeah,
and I find that I'd really like to start telling
more about men falling in love, pursuing love because that
was my whole thing. It's like I grew up a
certain way. Women rejected me because I looked a certain way,
(41:16):
and I wasn't white, or I wasn't black, whatever race
I was pursuing, you know, and then I felt inferior,
and so I wanted to also break those boundaries of
love and dating, and then addiction gets in my way,
and then so I finally found love again. I mean,
my whole life has been about acceptance and love. When
(41:37):
I really think about it, I actually think most men
built businesses and entrepreneurs because they weren't acceptances love as well,
they weren't recognition, which is a form of acceptance and love.
And I find that what's disappointing what I see is
there is so many adoptee stories, but it's all from
the woman's perspective, and I'm trying to break that so
(42:01):
it's not just a gender thing, Like yeah, I know.
So I want to have that side of the story
out there because I know a lot of men feel
very similar to me. We're like, hey, you know a
lot of green adoptee men want to be seen in
her too.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
I love that you're exploring telling that story. I think
it's the perspective it needs to be shared with this world.
We're reaching a point in our show. It's one of
my favorite parts of our show where we do a
character analysis. Love the foo foot person we're interviewing, So
I asked you what your favorite drink is right now,
and you answered ollipop strawberry vanilla. Does this bring up
(42:38):
any memories for you?
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (42:39):
They used to be my competitor bee.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Drink because I'm like, it is good.
Speaker 4 (42:48):
You know, if you can't beat them, join us. Okay,
I'm going to play something for you, my man. I
asked you the first song you thought of that listen
(43:10):
to memory for you? And you said, row, row your boat.
What is that memory?
Speaker 5 (43:15):
It's combined with a current memory and an old memory.
But my dad would, uh, you know, I bathe in
a tub with my brother. We're kids, you know, and
my dad and mom would sing that song to us
when we were when we were kids and they would
bathe us. And I always remember that song because it
just sounded like a typical song, right. But then recently
(43:39):
Devonne sang that song and she had a different interpretation,
which is you really should row This is what she said. Yes,
my fiance said to me. What I love about this song,
she said, is that this is like life and I
just want to remind you, Kevin, as we go on
(44:00):
our new journey together, that we should row our boat
gently down this stream because at the end of the day,
life is really just a dream.
Speaker 4 (44:09):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
And that hit me so hard. I was like, wait,
that's what that song was about.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
What a beautiful thing, what a beautiful it.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
Just thinks we should row through life more gently.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
I love your love. You guys are beautiful together.
Speaker 5 (44:25):
You are.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Before we continue to wrap up questions, you have one brother,
you older or younger.
Speaker 5 (44:30):
I'm the oldest brother one one other.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
So what does he do?
Speaker 5 (44:34):
So he's in the car business, never gotten into cars,
don't even own a car. Very ironic.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
No, I just always think it's interesting how siblings under
one roof form and how differently.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
They He's a golden child, like he took part in
my dad's business, got in the cars, has three beautiful kids.
Why house everything? He is like the example.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
Well, as a rebel myself, there always has to be
one rebel the bunch. When I say the word home,
what do you think of.
Speaker 5 (45:05):
Ah, I'm still trying to find home. I think that's
why I keep creating.
Speaker 6 (45:10):
Hmmm.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I love that. When I say the word heaven, what
do you think of.
Speaker 5 (45:16):
Oh, heaven is on earth?
Speaker 4 (45:18):
What about the word hell?
Speaker 5 (45:20):
Hell is in my mind?
Speaker 4 (45:24):
What is the food that you find most comforting? I'm
smiling with a big smile because the dinner is so
we share. What is the food that you find the
most comforting?
Speaker 5 (45:36):
It's actually but it feels so bad when I have
it now these days. But it's my mom's cooking cheese.
She makes mac and cheese like the best I've ever had,
along with some crabcakes, just some good comfort food for Christmas.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
I love that it's your mom's that makes a lot
of sense to me. Mine is my mom's roteas and cabbage.
You'll have to come over someday.
Speaker 6 (46:00):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
What sound makes you smile?
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (46:05):
Man? I know so many sounds that don't make me smile,
like babies on an airplane. What sounds make me smile? Ching?
Speaker 4 (46:17):
Now you know you were the second person to say
that today. I love that. How do you define love?
Speaker 5 (46:25):
Love is still choosing to love somebody even when you
don't feel it.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
How do you define success?
Speaker 5 (46:31):
Success is freedom for me to be able to do
the things that I want, create what the people I want,
whenever I want.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
How do you define failure?
Speaker 5 (46:40):
Failure is actually giving up on it without learning anything
from HM.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
Do you believe in magic?
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Of course I believe in magic. You're playing magic the gathering.
I like the Magic Castle, my first magic trick I
learned in second grade. It still gets people every time.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
Oh, we should talk about that some other time. I
was a magician second grade.
Speaker 5 (47:02):
Second chances, I totally believe in second chances, but I
don't believe in third love a first sight, luston first.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Sight without considering time, ability or money as an obstacle.
What is the one thing you've always wanted to do
or learn?
Speaker 5 (47:20):
Okay, I think my dream's about to come true. Yes,
But the one thing I've always dreamt about was always
being invited to come to comic con and be like
a hero or something. They're like the whole, like signings
and panels and stuff like that. So I think I'm
gonna have a version of a pretty soon.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
I want a version of it. Someone write in comic
book character quickly, what would you like or who would
you like to create a story about? Or four in
the future about.
Speaker 5 (47:53):
Or four in the future. Okay, well, I hope this
isn't taking too much of my idea away, But I
always dreamt about Okay, let's just say I passed away.
I always wanted to put in my will that this
sounds a little dark and morbid, but I wanted my
ashes to be turned into ink and comic books and
(48:13):
printed with my life story and biography as a superhero.
I always wanted that.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
I love that. What word best describes you as a storyteller?
Speaker 5 (48:26):
Hmm, man, it's supposed to honest. Is just the one
that I know.
Speaker 4 (48:35):
What inspires or drives you.
Speaker 5 (48:38):
Oh, when people don't do what I want, It's true though.
It always comes from like wanting something, not getting it,
and then I just do it. I mean it started
from being like an actor to beverage to comic books
like oh, I wanted to be a comic book here.
Oh okay, fine, I'm just gonna create it. Do that
(49:00):
because somebody didn't do what I wanted.
Speaker 4 (49:02):
And our last question, what's your favorite story?
Speaker 5 (49:06):
It's my favorite story, Princess Bride. Yes, still my favorite
story to this day. Yep.
Speaker 4 (49:14):
I get that. The magic, the wonderment, the sexual awakening,
belt need a new Princess Bride? I think so too, Kevin,
Thank you so much for being with us here on Storytellers.
Speaker 5 (49:33):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (49:36):
Check out ruckus Avenue radio dot com for our full
schedule and listen to past episodes, available on all major
podcast platforms.
I just wanted to make perfect.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Hi list is Siva and you're listening to on Bocas
Avenue Radio on Ihearted Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Hello there, and thank you for tuning in to Women
in Showbiz Everywhere's inaugural podcast series, Brown and Brilliant Power
by Wise, a celebration of South Asian women and non
binary artists and storytellers highlighting their incredible contributions to the
global entertainment industry. Joined us for captivating conversations, exclusive film promotions,
(00:50):
and a blend of season filmmakers and promising artists shaping
tomorrow's entertainment. To learn more about our organization and the
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and amplify women's voices and entertainment by becoming a member,
making the donation, purchasing our merchandise, or all of the above.
(01:13):
Get involved in help hashtag open the door to talented
women in showbiz.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Kevin, you play and build characters that have been pegged
both by yourself and others, as characters that redefine stereotypes.
Do you feel a responsibility to consistently live outside the
box with the characters. You're developing, the characters, you're creating
(01:40):
the persona that you play, the persona that you are
because of that reputation. Do you feel a pressure to
do so? And how is that defining how you're building
out storylines or how you are building out the version
of you that gets to be on television.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Yeah, I do feel certain responsibility, especially when I speak
on a podcast, store, on stage, or building a character,
because the one thing that I realized growing up is
that these portrayals how Asians were portrayed a long time ago,
from outdated stereotypes and tropes of humans, were really harmful
(02:17):
to men growing up about their self esteem, their perspective
of what they could do in life. And so now
these days, I really find it it's very important for
me to not play or be a part of a
stereotypical TV show, movie media. So I find that even
(02:38):
today today, I still see a lot of it, and
I don't want to partake in a lot of it.
And I've kind of hit this boundary where I'm like,
I really want to keep acting, but I also want
to be true to myself. How much of that should
I align myself to and will keep me going further
in my career because it was really easy just to
(03:00):
be myself.
Speaker 4 (03:02):
So for me personally, one of the things I really
struggle with is that as a society, we need, or
we've decided we need these definitions right and even when
it comes to our work, naming you a director, producer,
and actor, reality star, all these different things. And I
personally find that although there is a lot of joy
(03:26):
in representing, you know, the characters that we play, we
build the people who we are day in day out,
sometimes that box and even building that box of representation
can become stifling.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
Totally, totally, and I'm feeling it from the community recently.
I feel like we're becoming too journalistic, too much like documentarians,
too much like historians, like this is how it's supposed
to be, and I feel that we're kind of creativity
needs a little bit freedom, and I just feel like
we're being a little bit less creative these days because
(04:04):
we're so trying to get it right. Yeah, and gotta
tell you it's not always right. But the beauty is
we get to go outside of all these boundaries.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
So that's what I want to see more of sometimes
as storytellers. We have to be the people who take
everyone outside those boundaries. I like how you whispered that.
Welcome to Curiosity Entertainment's Storyteller Studio. My name is Adrusha
and I create and write movies, music, and television. Each week,
(04:37):
Join me and my team as we talk to the
world's greatest storytellers in pursuit of the answer to the
question where do the best stories come from? Now, let
me introduce you to today's guest. Today, we explore the
difference between unscripted and scripted storytelling with Kevin Krider, a
dynamic presence renowned for his diverse roles and reality TV film.
(05:01):
Kevin rose to fame with this candid portrayal in Netflix
smash hit show Bling Empire and as a lead in
the romantic comedy Asian Persuasion. Kevin also appears on the
game show The Traders, which is currently the number one
unscripted series across all streaming platforms in the United States.
So storytellers join me now as we welcome Kevin to
(05:23):
Storyteller Studio. This episode was brought to you in partnership
with Little Black Tucks. Little Black Tucks is my go
to when I need a timeless look, whether I'm speaking
on a film panel, walking a red carpet, or need
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(05:43):
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I love my Little Black Tucks and I know you
will too. Welcome to Storyteller Studio, Kevin.
Speaker 5 (06:01):
Thank you first time here.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
We are so happy to have you, and I think
specifically because you represent not only fictional storytelling, but this
other medium of storytelling, which is unscripted and is indeed
a method of storytelling. We're going to delve a little
bit into that, but I want to start back with
bringing the audience kind of into how your world was
(06:24):
formed and how you saw the world specifically being adopted
by first of all, just being adopted, but then being
adopted by a German Irish family and having your Korean
roots influencing you in whatever way it did as a child.
How do you remember the first storytelling experiences you had
(06:50):
and the way your lens was different as an adoptee,
and was it also different or did you realize the
differences culturally that early on.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
Well, it's funny because I think the first thing that
came to my mind is that everybody always told me
what I should do, how I should feel about being adopted.
I felt like they were writing my story for me.
Speaker 4 (07:13):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (07:14):
It was very like, oh, well, shouldn't you know who
your parents are? I'd want to feel like I know
who my real parents are, And I'm like, man, I
know who my real parents are. Sure it'd be something
different if I want to go see them and find
my genetic ancestry all that stuff. Cool, But most adoptees
are very disappointed when they find who their real parents are. Anyway,
(07:36):
there's a disconnect. Then they're like, oh, you should go
to Korea, to your hometown, your everything. And I've done that,
and I feel like there's even more of a disconnect
because you are Korean and there's an expectation that you
have to speak Korean. I mean even today's roles, right,
you have to speak if you're Korean, you got to
speak Korean, and you got to speak English pretty well.
(07:59):
I mean, are the days. It seems like for Asians especially,
that you could just learn like we have to naturally
be gifted at martial arts or.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
That's so stifling too though, Like we're really in this
space where we're all individuals, and I think what's so
unique is individuals come into a world perspective through their
own experiences, and you know, two people's experiences are the same,
So to ever say that they should be is you know,
(08:29):
as a creative, that directly stifles the entire experience of
being able to wonder what other worlds are.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
You're listening to ruck Us Avenue Radio.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
For you when you were a kid, was there a
first moment where you remember really leaning or gravitating towards
story and falling in love with that and that process.
Speaker 5 (09:02):
Yeah, so ironically, comic books have always been Yeah, my
first storytelling experience.
Speaker 4 (09:09):
I love that comic What was your first comic? Do
you remember?
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Man? My first comic book must have been like it's
kind of cheesy, but it's like probably an archie comic book.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
No, I mean, where did you grow up?
Speaker 5 (09:21):
I grew up back in Philadelphia.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
Okay, how did you get end up with archie comics?
Speaker 5 (09:25):
Well? It was like Archie and Superman with you who,
like they had this weird crossover.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
And were your parents from Germany?
Speaker 5 (09:33):
No, so they're from Pennsylvania.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
And they had Archie comics.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
Yeah, it was like kind of weird. Like I those
are the first comic books I remember. They weren't superhero yet. No,
But what I remember about comic books is that I
loved how when it eventually got into superheroes, they were
fighting for things that they stood up for even though
other people hated them for being different. And that really
(09:58):
struck me, resonated in my core, and I wanted to
draw superheroes for a long time.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
I love that, and I.
Speaker 5 (10:04):
Thought my first passion was going to be a comic
book artist because I was going to tell these stories. Right.
Little did I know back then there's writers that do that.
But this is when I was really young. And then
I realized I wasn't very good at drawing, so I
was going to go into bodybuilding and start looking like
a superhero, which then led into more public speaking. And
(10:27):
I got to tell you, public speaking, doing a TED
talk or going on.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Your TED talk is so good.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
Thank you, thank you. And that was if you.
Speaker 4 (10:34):
Guys haven't got a chance. You have to go watch
Kevin's Ted Talk. You're a great speaker, Thank you.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
And really, what I think is important about my speaking
is that these are real life experiences. These are real,
meaningful conversations I want the rest of the world to
know about. And that's my first time I really felt
like a storyteller going on stage and sharing my own
life experiences resonate with other Asians.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
Let's go back a little bit, so you find this
kind of love for comic books. And the reason I
was so excited that was Archie comic because Archie comics
a lot of times are people who grew up with
foreign backgrounds are big and Archie comics yeah, all over Asia,
all over Europe. Archie was just so big. Yes it
was big in the United States, but it's really big
amongst children of immigrants. For you, specifically, you fall in
(11:24):
love with like this comic book world. I understand totally
the heroes that you're seeing and they're these unlikely heroes
and why that would resonate. Do you have someone at
this point in your life when you're like, when do
you decide this is something I might want to do,
I might want to go into modeling. I might want
to go into acting, I might want to go into
writing stories. And do you have someone who's like this
(11:47):
is a great idea?
Speaker 6 (11:49):
Was it?
Speaker 3 (11:49):
Like?
Speaker 5 (11:50):
No, Actually I do remember this. His name was Daniel
lou Well actually still is Daniel. He was one of
the first models back then signed by Ford. Oh wow,
And I remember being I think it was twenty four
to twenty five, sitting on the couch at my gym
that I was personal training at and my client who
knew so much about my background and how I felt
(12:13):
as an Asian guy growing up and just not seeing
much in TV at that time. I think it was
just Lucy Lou at that time taking over the TV
realm and he's like, look at this guy, it's possible.
He's like you always talked about wanting to be a
model or doing acting and stuff like this guy is
the first, So I think it's a good opportunity. Then
(12:34):
the financial market crashed and training was kind of going
to crap, so I was like, oh, let me, let
me make that move. And so he was really my
first inspiration seeing somebody like me go in do something
like that.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
And your parents and your friends were you sharing that
you were thinking about doing something like this.
Speaker 5 (12:53):
No, I wasn't very open back then speaking about things.
I think I went the typical jock route, which I
want to be a professional baseball player.
Speaker 4 (13:02):
Before this moment when you see someone who looks like
yourself and then you decide this is something you can pursue.
Did you see yourself as characters that you read in
books that you watched on TV or was it a
othering process where you were like, oh, I could never
be those roles.
Speaker 5 (13:20):
So I really took a page out of Tyson Beckford.
Tyson Beckford was another model who I saw in acting movies,
and you know he's actually part of Asian, which is cool. Yeah,
And so I took a page out of his book.
I was like, Okay, if I can do will modeling
might be able to jump me up to the next
platform such as acting. And so he was really my
(13:41):
role model into that with Daniel Lue, just knowing that
I actually look like him, you know, in the sense
I'm Asian, and he made it possible, and so I thought,
why don't we just go into this.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Check out ruckus Avenue Radio dot com for our full
schedule and listen to our past episodes. Available on all
major podcast platforms.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
You talk a lot about just the reality of realizing
how you were perceived by others, but I want to
talk about how that directly affected you as a storyteller
in these early days of modeling, in these early days
of deciding a path to get to Hollywood, were there
(14:36):
choices that you make or stories you were telling yourself
that directly affected your art?
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Yeah, totally. Like I've always been a believer in this pain,
this failure, this feeling that I was having back then
when I was pursuing acting and modeling, because there were
lots of failures, like just no work for a long time,
for sure, and so I knew there was a reason
for all of this, and that I wanted to come
out on top and be able to share my story
(15:05):
of overcoming these challenges, especially as an Asian guy, because
there just weren't that many back then. Now it seems
pretty like kind of cliche, but there's many now who
speak about these things like SIMU lose one of them,
And so I find that I always lean towards that
I was like, if I haven't seen anybody that I
could be called them as a role model, I'm sure
(15:27):
I'm one of many that don't have that, and so
I wanted to at least open the doors up for
other role models, for other children or other kids like me,
to say like, oh, I can do something like that.
I don't have to be a doctor or a lawyer
if I don't want to be, no shame in it.
If you just don't want to be, I don't have
to be a personal trainer or body build or if
I don't want to be which is a real, real
(15:49):
hard life. You know, I did that for many years.
Is a really hard life.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I love to learn where people's inspiration become storytellers comes from.
And I totally understand and resonate with this idea that
you know, you had a mixed identity growing up and
trying to understand the world through characters, and yeah, it's beautiful.
It was beautiful that you were able to pursue something
(16:13):
that allowed you that exploration within that you ended up
on a reality show, as we all know, what did
you think your first role was going to be in
the storytelling world.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
It's funny you say this, because I actually had no
idea my greatest character was going to just be myself. Yeah,
and I think that was super super cool, like I was,
because I couldn't see myself being a superhero at the time,
even though I've always wanted to be. I think every
kid wants to be at some point, sure, and then
you just see that it's probably not going to happen.
(16:50):
I mean I literally quit acting for a little while
for two years back in Philadelphia for many reasons. I mean,
like there was no success for a long period of time.
There's no acting or super creative storytelling when it comes
to TV and film in Philly, and I was thinking
about leaving it all until Yeah, this show caught wind
(17:11):
and brought me along, and by the grace of God,
I was able to get on this show because this
is when I knew nothing about storytelling, Like I had
no idea. There's a thing called development, which means that
it's not sold yet, it's no guarantee. You're still trying
to develop, right, and this show is in development.
Speaker 4 (17:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:32):
Literally, I got interviewed by the producers and they're like,
come to LA if you want to be in the show.
And I moved to LA. Then I'm like, when are
we filming? And then they're like, well, we got to
sell it first. And I was like, oh my gosh, sure,
what is this? And then we got lucky. But I
had no idea that this would be such an impactful
show and it would reach so many.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
People as someone who creates for film and television, and
as someone who I grew up on the stage, and
then from stage writing for television and writing for short
form and then coming to Hollywood and writing for brands
in between. I remember the first time I was exposed
(18:13):
to reality. I actually was exposed to reality back in Ohio.
They tried to do like a local reality show and
I was on it in the show in Ohio and
I was That was when I was doing entertainment reporting
for Fox News locally, and then I ended up coming
out to Los Angeles and I had a whole group
of friends who just like lived in that world. And
I think one of the most intriguing things was learning
(18:36):
and many people still to this day, I think the
cats out of the bag, but they don't fully know
that there is story building and world building in unscripted.
So you get thrown into this, into this world that
that is called reality, where you are quote unquote playing yourself.
(18:57):
How surprised and how inspired creatively were you as you
realize that this was world building and then there was
story involved.
Speaker 5 (19:10):
I thought it was a great introduction to Hollywood storytelling
because it was something easy for me to get into.
Like they just said, hey, share what's going on in
your life? And I was like, let me tell you.
You're the first person that wants to hear me, you know.
And so I think for not having a voice for
so long growing up, because I would always share about
(19:32):
my life and just say, hey, there's a little bit
of discrimination when it comes to dating or landing a
film or TV role, and people just said, shut up,
you're making it worse. You know, all this stuff like that.
It was always shutting me off. And then finally when
people are like, well share your story, tell me, tell
me what it's about. What would you like to do,
(19:52):
you know, because that's what executive producers do. They say,
what's going on in your life? And then you tell
them everything for like three hours, and then they go
another room and start saying like, well, should we document
these things that already happened or should we document what's
going to happen? And I felt so much freedom that
because I just wanted my story to be out there
to be heard. So that was a very good start
(20:15):
into Hollywood.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
So as you saw that they were threading together storylines,
so that affect the way that you were building out
what you wanted to share, is you got deeper and
deeper into the production process.
Speaker 5 (20:27):
Yeah, and so that's why I realized, like, wow, these
people are just kind of taking my own thing anyway
and not giving me a EP credit or story by
credit on any of this stuff. And it's my story, right,
A lot of it is real. What's not real is
obviously like just being planted in the middle of this crazy,
rich Asian life. But it's like that was me living
(20:47):
my true self out there.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
That conversation really opened when Empire opened. This conversation about
representation and media that we touched upon, we touched upon
a little bit. And so now you as someone who
has other aspirations. You're acting, you're writing, you have things
that you're building. You became made in many ways, part
(21:12):
of the poster children.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
What it's like to be made.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
For Asian representation? No, no, no, So I would love
to know like how you felt going into then creating
your own stories, your own worlds and the next characters
because you you as a cast basically were carrying the storyline.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
Yeah, I mean I thought I felt very more like
I could do this because as I told more stories
to the producers and we actually it airr, I was like, oh,
I'm actually not bad at this, yeah, and then I'll actually,
I mean really good. Yeah. Thanks. I also have a
lot of friends who are storytellers to in Hollywood and
(21:53):
writers and creatives, and we would talk and you know,
obviously i'd see some of them like put up movies
or TV show that definitely sprinkled a lot of my
own life sharing there. So I realized where.
Speaker 4 (22:05):
You were literally affecting the way people were telling other
stories about Asian representation through your characters.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
So I wanted to do that for myself, and I
felt like, Okay, this is the time to do it now.
Speaker 4 (22:18):
Can we talk a little bit about these worlds converging now?
So you come out here and you have this experience,
and you also get a chance to reflect back on
your upbringing and growing up with different roots. Of course,
all this is part of this process as you're going
through the story. So now when you're looking when you
(22:38):
want to develop what you want to.
Speaker 6 (22:39):
Put into the world, the world's most listened to South
Asian radio and podcast network.
Speaker 4 (22:52):
Where do you feel you were drawing inspiration for characters.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
I think it all drawing inspirations and even like teenage years, right,
I feel like a lot of stuff has drawn from there,
and just finding myself my identity. I mean, I guess
even today I was just journaling a little bit and writing,
and I'm like, man, the transition of my life in
the last seven years has been unbelievable. I mean, I
(23:19):
recently just came back from Hong Kong and Singapore and
it's my second time, and the first time I went,
I was nothing. I was just a model, and I'm like, man,
the life is so different, Like even the people, the
way they treat me is different, the way they even
date is different.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Now it's very big in Yeah, well it.
Speaker 5 (23:39):
Was big everywhere in Asia, especially, so when I go
back there, I realized, Wow, media has played a good
impact on these countries. You know, when I went to Singapore,
there was no crazy rich Asians, and now they're proud
of it and they're proud to be Singaporean, whereas like
twelve years ago, a lot of Singaporeans actually weren't proud
to be Singaporean and now they are and say like, wow,
(24:01):
my job is really fulfilling when it comes to that.
So I see this crossroad of like I'm drawing my
inspiration from the pain that I used to have.
Speaker 6 (24:10):
I still do.
Speaker 5 (24:11):
Probably chip on the shoulders for things, you know, Like
I think that's why I really got into more developing,
more production and going out there trying to raise money
and learning all these things from having a beverage company
at the time, and like, all these different things have
led me from learning and telling my own story.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
And I think you were really I mean, I think
that you got specifically got to be a redefining character
in this unscripted space because I think it was the
first time that we had kind of a paradox character
where you were the grounded individual in a larger cast
and you were bringing a reflection which we see in
film and television in scripted often where you'll create a
(24:53):
mirror character that serves as a mirror to the world.
And producers chose to bring you in as a mirror
character that was a mirror to this rich tapestry that
bling was set up, and you get to be the
dose of reality or the relatable individual and I'm sure
that you're going to continue to see and do you
have seen a bunch of characters you spoke of this
(25:14):
show up shown up on film and television that have
been representative of you. When you see those characters, what's
that feel like? Ah?
Speaker 5 (25:22):
It feels it's bittersweet, right because obviously I think it's great.
There's always this saying if I could help one person,
that's all worth it. But I think I'm in a
point in my life right now that one person hasn't
paid my bills yet, So I'd really like it if
it could start paying my bills a little bit more.
But it is fulfilling. I think there's a lot of
(25:43):
change and a lot more opportunity now, and I think
right now it's just about me hitting the ground running
with it and creating and not looking just in film
and TV. For me, like I said, I'm getting into
comic books back in my childhood doing more. Maybe I
have to accept reality TV is a great space for me,
(26:03):
you know, even though it's been hard, and that's a
journey for me because really my first love was acting,
it wasn't reality TV. And then reality TV just keeps
popping up. I mean, like, look another Emmy Award winning show.
Speaker 4 (26:17):
Yeah, number one peg.
Speaker 5 (26:19):
Right, So I was like, well, whatever it is I'm
supposed to be doing, I must be doing it right
because more of it just keeps appearing. But at the
same time, I would still like to get my other
stories out there that are script there.
Speaker 4 (26:31):
What do you think it is about your personality that
just attracts so many fans and so many people.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
I think it's because it's kind of like you just
don't see many Asian guys out there on a reality
show and just being like one of the guys, or
like having that unfiltered perspective on what's going on in
the world. And I think as Asians we always say this,
but we're pressed to not speak yeah, or to have
(27:00):
an opinion or stand up for ourselves.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
You've spoken about the importance of strong relationships and helping
others find true happiness. How do you find that philosophy
has informed your world and the characters that you both
played and built and the persona that you represent.
Speaker 5 (27:22):
Yeah, in real life. I still stand by that it's
like you should help if you are super lost in life,
because this has helped me. I literally started just thinking
about other people and how I can help them. And
that's how the tech talk happened and the documentaries I did,
and then Bling, and you know, Bling really was a
(27:44):
passion of love for me. It was a project of
love because I knew that reality TV was such a
huge audience and it's an audience that need to see
Asians absolutely, and I just knew such a big impact.
And then the response was great, Like I had so
many girls who were dating Asian guys like hit me
(28:06):
up and say, man, my boyfriend speaks about this and
I'm so glad you're out there, or like or just
like girls just saying I didn't know Asian guys were
like that, were you watching?
Speaker 6 (28:16):
You know?
Speaker 5 (28:18):
And so it was just such a big impact that
I can't take that back. And you know, like I said,
maybe unscripted is a different forte. I just wish I
had a little bit more respect when it came to
TV and film. It seems to be the trashy of
trash and sometimes you mean.
Speaker 4 (28:37):
That unscripted a device against them. Well that's why. I
think it's because people don't fully understand it. And I
hear you, like I again, like we look at it
as a storytelling format, and I don't know that people
fully understand what goes into it. How about if you
could you walk us through whether it's traders or whether
it's blaying, what the process is creating an episode for
(29:01):
talent On one of those shows, you spoke a little
bit about it. You walk in, you tell your whole
week to the producer. Can you walk us through that
format and how it comes into full fruition? Sure?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
So I usually speak to a showrunner about these my
whole life for like three hours, five hours, and then
there's a lot of notes taken, and they come to
a room and see how my story relates to other
people in the show, or what's going on in your life,
you know, who are you dating? You know, like all
that kind of things. And then they literally just go
(29:37):
and shoot for two months straight, and then throughout the
whole year they start doing pickups because life goes on.
There might be something really interesting going on. I mean,
I remember I call up.
Speaker 4 (29:50):
I'll tell everyone what to pick up is.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Oh, a pickup is just a shot a day to
film again to that wasn't scheduled, so you can tell.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
A story or to build out the story.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
Right to build it out, or to redo a story
that just didn't really make sense. So there were a
lot of those in.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Bling because because the real time putting together what the
storyline will be.
Speaker 5 (30:15):
Yeah, and the way I like to say is like
it's more like a documentary at one point, because you
really are just documenting people's lives. Sure, and a lot
of it was in my life. And so what's great
about Bling at least is that the producers were really
about Asian representation and just like, oh, you're the guy
for Asians, you know. The Traders wasn't so much like that.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Actually, yeah, it's a game show for me, game show.
Speaker 5 (30:41):
You don't really tell your story.
Speaker 6 (30:43):
No.
Speaker 5 (30:43):
I found that to be very challenging. Yeah, why because
I'm a storyteller.
Speaker 4 (30:48):
Yeah, I'm not a.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
Game player, you know, unless icond tell my story, and
my story has to do with the game. But with
a game like The Traders, which is about lying the
seat and murder and finding out who the murders are.
Speaker 4 (31:00):
For those of you back home we're listening, it's kind
of like playing Mafia.
Speaker 5 (31:03):
Yeah, kind of like the.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Game Mafia, but live on TV with all the commentary
and you don't leave and you don't leave.
Speaker 5 (31:15):
But it was seriously, like so challenging because then that
had to do with strategy and gameplay, and I was like, man,
this is not my world that I normally come from.
Speaker 4 (31:24):
Yeah, it's a very different format.
Speaker 5 (31:26):
Very different format that is a different skill in competition,
is very different than where I come from, just like
it's a different skill to be able to live your
life and tell your story, which I know this sounds
really weird, but everybody thinks they're really good at it. Yeah,
my producers say it. They're like, he gets submissions from
(31:46):
millions of families thinking they're so interesting and this is
not sure. But I think what made Bling unique is
that it was the first time that an easier perspective
was put.
Speaker 7 (31:56):
Into Yo, this is no Boy and you're listening to
Bruckas Avenue Radio, the world's number one South Asian radio station.
Speaker 6 (32:16):
On the BART Radio.
Speaker 4 (32:24):
Do you have a storyline either within one of these
two shows or in your movie Asian Persuasion. Do you
have a storyline and it can be multiple that you
just fell in love with You were like, this is
I wish we could spend more time on this or
something that was very memorable, and you were done. You
were like, that is going to be a lightning Yeah.
Speaker 5 (32:48):
When I went to Paris to reunite with de Vaughan
my girlfriend now to this day that we broke Yeah,
we broke up because I was just getting sober and
we had so many great feelings after that and by
the way, still today, one of the best episodes I've
watched and been a part of ever.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Falling in Love.
Speaker 5 (33:08):
Really yeah, and we were really excited to be able
to keep telling that story afterwards. Unfortunately we weren't able to,
but we still want to be able to somehow because
we definitely know there's a lot of couples out there
who suffered through someone with addiction who won't get help,
and just want to let them know that it's possible.
Speaker 4 (33:29):
I love that episode of you guys. I want to
go a little bit into this third format of gaming
that you've ended up in, and you talked about how
it's a little bit difficult to really expose yourself as
a character within that format. Can you walk us through
a day on one of those types of sets? What's
that like?
Speaker 5 (33:49):
So The Traders was filmed, I believe in three weeks,
So let just alone that's shooting schedules, intents, INT's intents,
and it's like ten or eleven episodes. I think it's eleven,
and then you literally have three weeks, whereas like Bling
had what eight eight.
Speaker 4 (34:07):
To ten, and you had like, oh year, you know
the time.
Speaker 5 (34:11):
So it was really intense. Well, I got to tell
you though, the production company that ran that was a
well oiled machine. Like they literally picked you up on
time to go to like your confessionals, which is just
sitting in front of the computer's or screen talking to
somebody behind, woke you up on time, like the miss
(34:33):
got you to the missions on time, like did the round,
Like everything was just so timed out. But it's a
very long day.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Can you delve a little bit deeper into what is
going through your head as a creator when you're trying
to get in those moments of authenticity and you are,
of course a storyteller at heart, and you're trying to
get these pieces in. What is that? What are the
struggles there? What is what is the what's going through
(35:02):
your head?
Speaker 5 (35:03):
So I come from Meisner technique from acting, So Meisner
technique is about being in the moment. They also have
these exercises where you're trying to knock on the door
and come in. And so reality TV docuseries works great.
Speaker 4 (35:18):
Hold on the finish the exercise because not everyone you
knock on the.
Speaker 5 (35:23):
Door and you go in, and you're just repeating each
other's sentences to stay present in the moment. And then
you're eventually able to like get away from repeating each
other's sentences because it's about listening. So you're just sounding
out what the other person's saying. Then you get into
an argument or you start crying, or nothing happens, whatever,
whatever the moment is. It's all about just whatever the
(35:45):
truth of that moment is, moment by moment, living in
it truthfully, doing a minds and exercise, like for you,
your chief, your audience is a not it's like I
knock them like and then you observe me and make
an observation or something.
Speaker 4 (35:59):
So Kevin, you're wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:02):
I'm wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 4 (36:04):
Kevin, you're wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:06):
I know, I'm Kevin, I am wearing a gray shirt.
Speaker 4 (36:08):
That's a gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:09):
This is a gray shirt.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
It's a long sleeve gray shirt.
Speaker 5 (36:14):
It's not like your green dress.
Speaker 4 (36:16):
Do I have to keep saying the same thing.
Speaker 5 (36:18):
You can talk about but I just said about the
green dress. So you just play back and forth. It's
moment to moment, and it's it's silly because then you
could be like stop saying I'm wearing a green dress.
I'm so sorry whatever your emotion is at the moment.
And so the thing with docuseries that works great, but
the competition reality show doesn't work so great. Yeah, because
(36:40):
if you're really pissed off in the moment, or you're
suspicious to somebody, you need to like kind of give
it away. You can't give it away, and I can't
be like, you know why I thought you were suspicious
killers because back then, like a Russian guy would beat
me up and he would call me jing jang jong
and be like you can't get into that detail because
(37:01):
it has nothing to new to the game. You can't
express yourself.
Speaker 4 (37:05):
I love how your brain has created a whole separate
story storyline based on some superhero who got beat up
by Russian monslors exactly, and you're sitting there on Traders
trying to inject it.
Speaker 5 (37:17):
You're like I could do this, and I can't because
then they're like, Okay, let's go back. You know, like,
actually production never interfered, which is great with our stories
or around or whatever. Be an investigator at Traders, it
was really cool how they just let everything go. But
from somebody who doesn't play games that much, I like
to watch games, Yeah, I don't like to play games,
(37:38):
and unless it's like card games, that's fun. But I
literally had the hardest time relating to people because you
don't even have time to really get to know people,
because you have such a quick time to like figure
out who is the person killing everybody who's gonna get
murdered this morning, and then you talk about it, and
then you don't really get into each other's lives. So
(38:00):
it's hard to create that connection with other people.
Speaker 4 (38:03):
So you have found yourself a great audience within reality
and these competitions, and you've talked about it, but you
also have this great love of acting. So when you
start pursuing these stories that you're actually creating, do you
feel like you need to bring some of this other
(38:26):
world that you've been a part of into these characters
or do you feel free to create whatever I do.
Speaker 5 (38:32):
I did in the beginning, I feel like I had
to literally copy and paste this character into a scripted thing.
But then people are like, well, we actually just watched
that already Onbling Empire or something or your YouTube channel whatever,
And I was like, oh, oh, that's right. Like I'm
a creative I have freedom.
Speaker 4 (38:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (38:50):
So what I've done is like for comic books especially
or film, I take past experiences and I actually this
is where I know myself the best. I know how
to create a world or characters. But then when it
comes to the actual writing part, I have partners in
it that help it out, and they come in with
their own perspectives or other writers, and so I feel
(39:14):
so much freedom when I have great idea great concept,
a great story, and I have other people to work
with to help tell the story.
Speaker 4 (39:22):
And each of those stories has a little part of you.
Speaker 6 (39:26):
You're listening to Rocks Avenue Radio available now on the
free iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 4 (39:35):
So you' so you're in there no matter what, totally
you're in there, no matter what. I want to talk
a little bit about about this discovery of character and
these little pieces of you, And you talked about your
childhood being so important to building out those characters. Are
the things you haven't explored yet, like you had such
(39:56):
a layered childhood, even when I was trying to introduce
you just you know, adoption is one thing. Coming from
a different cultured background, growing up in America as a
whole nother thing. When you you come from a different culture,
rediscovering your career and roots is a different thing. Is
there something that you're really looking forward to exploring? And
(40:17):
if so, can you walk us through how you would
tackle a subject matter that you're that you're really close
to and how you how you see that exploratory phase
as something that as a creative as something that's growing
within you.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
Yeah, it's some of the stories i'd love to tell
more of. I mean, I'm doing it now, but I'd
love to start more of so I'm adopted, as you know,
and a lot of the adopt these stories are from
a woman's perspective.
Speaker 4 (40:52):
That's interesting point of you when.
Speaker 5 (40:54):
It comes to finding identity, when it comes to finding love. Wow, Yeah,
and I find that I'd really like to start telling
more about men falling in love, pursuing love because that
was my whole thing. It's like I grew up a
certain way. Women rejected me because I looked a certain way,
(41:16):
and I wasn't white, or I wasn't black, whatever race
I was pursuing, you know, and then I felt inferior,
and so I wanted to also break those boundaries of
love and dating, and then addiction gets in my way,
and then so I finally found love again. I mean,
my whole life has been about acceptance and love. When
(41:37):
I really think about it, I actually think most men
built businesses and entrepreneurs because they weren't acceptances love as well,
they weren't recognition, which is a form of acceptance and love.
And I find that what's disappointing what I see is
there is so many adoptee stories, but it's all from
the woman's perspective, and I'm trying to break that so
(42:01):
it's not just a gender thing, Like yeah, I know.
So I want to have that side of the story
out there because I know a lot of men feel
very similar to me. We're like, hey, you know a
lot of green adoptee men want to be seen in
her too.
Speaker 4 (42:16):
I love that you're exploring telling that story. I think
it's the perspective it needs to be shared with this world.
We're reaching a point in our show. It's one of
my favorite parts of our show where we do a
character analysis. Love the foo foot person we're interviewing, So
I asked you what your favorite drink is right now,
and you answered ollipop strawberry vanilla. Does this bring up
(42:38):
any memories for you?
Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (42:39):
They used to be my competitor bee.
Speaker 3 (42:44):
I love that.
Speaker 5 (42:47):
Drink because I'm like, it is good.
Speaker 4 (42:48):
You know, if you can't beat them, join us. Okay,
I'm going to play something for you, my man. I
asked you the first song you thought of that listen
(43:10):
to memory for you? And you said, row, row your boat.
What is that memory?
Speaker 5 (43:15):
It's combined with a current memory and an old memory.
But my dad would, uh, you know, I bathe in
a tub with my brother. We're kids, you know, and
my dad and mom would sing that song to us
when we were when we were kids and they would
bathe us. And I always remember that song because it
just sounded like a typical song, right. But then recently
(43:39):
Devonne sang that song and she had a different interpretation,
which is you really should row This is what she said. Yes,
my fiance said to me. What I love about this song,
she said, is that this is like life and I
just want to remind you, Kevin, as we go on
(44:00):
our new journey together, that we should row our boat
gently down this stream because at the end of the day,
life is really just a dream.
Speaker 4 (44:09):
Wow.
Speaker 5 (44:10):
And that hit me so hard. I was like, wait,
that's what that song was about.
Speaker 4 (44:16):
What a beautiful thing, what a beautiful it.
Speaker 5 (44:18):
Just thinks we should row through life more gently.
Speaker 4 (44:22):
I love your love. You guys are beautiful together.
Speaker 5 (44:25):
You are.
Speaker 4 (44:26):
Before we continue to wrap up questions, you have one brother,
you older or younger.
Speaker 5 (44:30):
I'm the oldest brother one one other.
Speaker 4 (44:33):
So what does he do?
Speaker 5 (44:34):
So he's in the car business, never gotten into cars,
don't even own a car. Very ironic.
Speaker 4 (44:40):
No, I just always think it's interesting how siblings under
one roof form and how differently.
Speaker 5 (44:44):
They He's a golden child, like he took part in
my dad's business, got in the cars, has three beautiful kids.
Why house everything? He is like the example.
Speaker 4 (44:57):
Well, as a rebel myself, there always has to be
one rebel the bunch. When I say the word home,
what do you think of.
Speaker 5 (45:05):
Ah, I'm still trying to find home. I think that's
why I keep creating.
Speaker 6 (45:10):
Hmmm.
Speaker 4 (45:11):
I love that. When I say the word heaven, what
do you think of.
Speaker 5 (45:16):
Oh, heaven is on earth?
Speaker 4 (45:18):
What about the word hell?
Speaker 5 (45:20):
Hell is in my mind?
Speaker 4 (45:24):
What is the food that you find most comforting? I'm
smiling with a big smile because the dinner is so
we share. What is the food that you find the
most comforting?
Speaker 5 (45:36):
It's actually but it feels so bad when I have
it now these days. But it's my mom's cooking cheese.
She makes mac and cheese like the best I've ever had,
along with some crabcakes, just some good comfort food for Christmas.
Speaker 4 (45:49):
I love that it's your mom's that makes a lot
of sense to me. Mine is my mom's roteas and cabbage.
You'll have to come over someday.
Speaker 6 (46:00):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (46:01):
What sound makes you smile?
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Oh?
Speaker 5 (46:05):
Man? I know so many sounds that don't make me smile,
like babies on an airplane. What sounds make me smile? Ching?
Speaker 4 (46:17):
Now you know you were the second person to say
that today. I love that. How do you define love?
Speaker 5 (46:25):
Love is still choosing to love somebody even when you
don't feel it.
Speaker 4 (46:30):
How do you define success?
Speaker 5 (46:31):
Success is freedom for me to be able to do
the things that I want, create what the people I want,
whenever I want.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
How do you define failure?
Speaker 5 (46:40):
Failure is actually giving up on it without learning anything
from HM.
Speaker 4 (46:45):
Do you believe in magic?
Speaker 5 (46:47):
Of course I believe in magic. You're playing magic the gathering.
I like the Magic Castle, my first magic trick I
learned in second grade. It still gets people every time.
Speaker 4 (46:57):
Oh, we should talk about that some other time. I
was a magician second grade.
Speaker 5 (47:02):
Second chances, I totally believe in second chances, but I
don't believe in third love a first sight, luston first.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Sight without considering time, ability or money as an obstacle.
What is the one thing you've always wanted to do
or learn?
Speaker 5 (47:20):
Okay, I think my dream's about to come true. Yes,
But the one thing I've always dreamt about was always
being invited to come to comic con and be like
a hero or something. They're like the whole, like signings
and panels and stuff like that. So I think I'm
gonna have a version of a pretty soon.
Speaker 4 (47:40):
I want a version of it. Someone write in comic
book character quickly, what would you like or who would
you like to create a story about? Or four in
the future about.
Speaker 5 (47:53):
Or four in the future. Okay, well, I hope this
isn't taking too much of my idea away, But I
always dreamt about Okay, let's just say I passed away.
I always wanted to put in my will that this
sounds a little dark and morbid, but I wanted my
ashes to be turned into ink and comic books and
(48:13):
printed with my life story and biography as a superhero.
I always wanted that.
Speaker 4 (48:20):
I love that. What word best describes you as a storyteller?
Speaker 5 (48:26):
Hmm, man, it's supposed to honest. Is just the one
that I know.
Speaker 4 (48:35):
What inspires or drives you.
Speaker 5 (48:38):
Oh, when people don't do what I want, It's true though.
It always comes from like wanting something, not getting it,
and then I just do it. I mean it started
from being like an actor to beverage to comic books
like oh, I wanted to be a comic book here.
Oh okay, fine, I'm just gonna create it. Do that
(49:00):
because somebody didn't do what I wanted.
Speaker 4 (49:02):
And our last question, what's your favorite story?
Speaker 5 (49:06):
It's my favorite story, Princess Bride. Yes, still my favorite
story to this day. Yep.
Speaker 4 (49:14):
I get that. The magic, the wonderment, the sexual awakening,
belt need a new Princess Bride? I think so too, Kevin,
Thank you so much for being with us here on Storytellers.
Speaker 5 (49:33):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 6 (49:36):
Check out ruckus Avenue radio dot com for our full
schedule and listen to past episodes, available on all major
podcast platforms.
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