Christina Chong | Ep. 22 - The D-Con Chamber

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everyone from the Decon Chamber family. We've had a
rough couple of days here in Los Angeles.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Tragic.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Frankly, We've had friends, people that you're fans of, lose homes.
I've never experienced anything like this in the thirty years
I've lived in Los Angeles.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
This is I've seen some scary stuff here, but this
really it is tantamount.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
And listen, people need help, animals need help. We are
going to show you a list of places that you
can donate to. We would really encourage you, as part
of our wonderful community to donate anything that you can
because it's it's look the fires are slowing, but it's
the aftermath that's going to be a real, real job

(00:45):
of reconstructing what city looks.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
And not least the donation to the first responders, the
Los Angeles Fire Departments and all their affiliates, I mean,
the brave, incredible work that they do. We can only
thank them from the bottom of our hearts. They saved Hollywood.

Speaker 1 (01:05):
And there there are people and there are animals that
need our help. And if there's anything that you can give,
it would be much appreciated.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
Yeah, so what you can, thank you very much. Guys,
and we hope you enjoy the show. Nonetheless, this has
been a tough time for La.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Yes, stay safe.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
Hey man, Hey, good to see you back in the chair. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Likewise, like it's been a minute. We've done a few
watch parties, Yes we have. Those have been fun.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, stand by, We're excited about the watch parties. I've
enjoyed looking at these old episodes that we did years ago,
and I haven't seen some of these episodes since then. Yeah,
I know, it's been a long time. We were young
men and viril vital. Even today's guest is very vital.

(02:00):
She met her briefly along the way in these conventions.
I think the first time we met Christina was in Germany.
We had I think it was Germany. We had lunch
with her, do you remember, and she was I thought
she was very charming then, and I remember pitching her then.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Would you come on all show? I don't think I
had it aired yet. Had there's show aired yet?

Speaker 3 (02:23):
It might not have. I don't think it might not
have your MC because it is it's it was right
after the pandemic or after the first lockdown. Yeah, anyway,
really excited to have her on. I've been watching and
so have you watching her on Strange New Worlds.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
Wonderful.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
She's bloody great, isn't she? And you know she's I
know she had a nasty accident or some sort of
injury as a dancer, which sort of took away the
triple threat. But she certainly a double threat. She sings
like a songbird and her acting, I got to say,
is impeccable, and she's inhabited this part of lan Uh

(03:04):
and they've given her a lot to chew off.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Absolutely. I mean that show is so interesting, you know
it is, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (03:12):
They've got the they've got the musical episode, They've got
the crossover episode, and there's just something there's just something
subtly different about the tone.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yes, it's got a modern tone, it's got a it's
I know, I think a lot of it's relatable. I
think a lot of aficionado's are sort of bulking a bit,
but they'll come around. They always, they generally always do.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Don't show.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
It's well done. It's a good show, and.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
The production value is amazing, and the cast is amazing.
The sets that I'm just amazed by, and I've seen
some of the behind scenes stuff the scapes that they create.
I mean, it's there's no stone.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
It's not exactly like the last watch party we.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Had, remember, I mean, I mean we did half our
scenes to tennis balls on c stands and and it
makes me think, good we were. But she really is
a charming girl. And I'm very excited to sit down,
I mean, and to have sort of created this. I mean,
it is a new world globally speaking as an actor

(04:18):
where she you know, stayed in London, you know, started
in London, gets cast from London, and has ended up
becoming you know, a household name on American TV. And
that's not to be no small thing.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
I did it.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
I did it the hard way. I won't tell you
in Hollywood anyway. Enjoy this episode with Christina. She really is,
She's a charmer.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah, you'll enjoy it.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
Please, this is what we call our call to action.
We really need your support and I can't say it
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(05:14):
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Speaker 2 (05:22):
We know you love it, so please step up and
help us.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Do that and join us Sundays at eleven o'clock Pacific
time on YouTube for new episodes. And we've got some
great ones coming we shall have, so pay attention. Look
at the website. It'll let you know when we are starting,
so we can't wait to bring it to you.

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Thank you, guys.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
The show has been gun since your phasers, the fun
you bi for Trip with car.

Speaker 3 (06:06):
It's the count Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Treky's
and Trekkers. Welcome back to another episode of the Decon Chamber.
I'm your co host Dominic Keating, joined as always by
my best chum my fellow co host, mister Connor Trinier. Hey,
we're really, really, really honored today to have a guest

(06:28):
in the chair who is a true force of talent
and charm, lighting up screens with performances that are as
powerful as they are heartfelt. You'll obviously know her as
the complex, fiercely loyal and resilient Lah and Noonian Singh
on Star Trek's strange new worlds, whether she's leading away
teams or giving side eye that could stop her a

(06:49):
gorne mid growl. She's brought a brilliant mix of toughness
and heart to one of Star Trek's most unforgettable characters.
But her journey doesn't stop there at the final frontier.
She's dazzled us in Doctor Who, Line of Duty, Black Mirror,
and a British TV show called Monroe, proving that she
can handle drama, action, and pretty much everything in between.

(07:11):
But when she's not conquering screens, she's also serenading the
world with her incredible voice, which is guaranteed to leave
you swooning harder than a cadet meeting Captain Pike for
the first time. I wrote that, So sit back, buckle up,
and please be prayed to be charmed by the unstoppable
Miss Christina Chong. Wow, welcome to the show.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
My dear Christmas card from you.

Speaker 3 (07:35):
I know I almost got it full full flow. And
look at this little puppet in your hand. Look at
her work.

Speaker 5 (07:47):
She's, as we just discussed, four and a half years
old and that's.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
The only age we're giving away to that.

Speaker 5 (07:54):
And yeah, she's in the show as well. She's in
season one episode eight.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (07:59):
Fancy the episodisode where she plays Princess Taralia's.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
Did you watch that one? That's the one, the only
one I didn't watch. I got about as far as
seven in the first season.

Speaker 5 (08:10):
Hey, yeah, yeah, And.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Well listen, I mean, let's get straight into it. I'm
really intrigued. How you got this job? Look, I know
you've done a lot of You've done American shows, obviously
cast out of London. Yes, and a lot of them
were shot in Cape Town. I noticed he's been to
Cape Town more times than I've had hot dinners.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah, I love Cape Town face twice back in the day.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
Yeah, yeah, So tell me, I mean, how did this
How did the call come for for Lane Union?

Speaker 5 (08:41):
So I will say dom it's Lane Union.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Saying yeah, that's our show.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
L Rebecca Remain, who plays Number one, she was the
first person to say it in the show. And how
it's written. You know, it could be Lan, it could
be Lan, it could so.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
Many and it's really Lan, isn't it Lan? Is it
too silly?

Speaker 5 (09:05):
Is larg the postraphras?

Speaker 2 (09:07):
And we got it?

Speaker 5 (09:08):
Yeah, we got it? But but yeah, so Rebeca said.
At first she decided how to.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
I played Malcolm?

Speaker 1 (09:12):
Read you played Malcome Malcolm.

Speaker 5 (09:19):
But yeah, so how I got Star Trek. It was
in twenty twenty, the pandemic, when nothing was going on,
you know, really great time for relaxing because you know,
there's no as an actor, nobody else is doing anything anyway.
And I got the audition in October of twenty twenty
just kind of I was in that place of like,

(09:39):
I don't care. I've tried so hard my whole career.
I'm not really getting where I want to be. I'm
just going to say the words. If I'm honest, I'm
just gonna say the words. Self tape, send it off. Anyway,
didn't hear anything, probably for how long? Well probably in
my head, I didn't hear anything for like three months,
and I was like, it's probably because I just said
the words, you know. But then January I get the

(10:03):
audition through again and my agent sent it through and
I was like, you know, I've I've done this already.
I still have the self tape on my computer. What
do they want? Do they want another scene? Do they
want notes and meet to do it better? And he
was like, oh okay, yes, but better. And so I

(10:23):
was like, he said, yeah, let me go back to them,
see what we can do more. Otherwise just send the
same tape in and so they come. So it's la times.
So he's speaking to them at night and I'm in
the UK at this point, and they said we just
love her and we want, you know, we would more
of her and just you know, but.

Speaker 3 (10:44):
No notes about the reader as it were. They look
because it kind of I guess just saying it kind
of suited her didn't.

Speaker 5 (10:51):
And so then my agent was like, well, if you
like her, why don't you test her? And they were like, oh, yeah,
good idea.

Speaker 3 (10:57):
I wish.

Speaker 5 (10:58):
And I don't know who he's talking to at this point.
He's probably not just talking to the casting Yeah, And
and so the next morning I wake up to an
email saying, you have a Zoom test today with a
new scene and I actually prefer that We'll go back
to Monroe later. But like say, with Monroe, I got

(11:21):
the sides cold. I love that because there's no pressure
and you can just say you can just let you
let your instinct guide you. And so I had a
few hours to prepare the Zoom meeting and it was
with Henry Lonzo Meyers and the casting directors, and I
just did what came in the moment. It just came
in the moment. Didn't prepare very much to learn the lines, obviously,

(11:45):
And then I think it was a couple of days later,
they were like, okay, we want to we want to
send your tape to the studio and test you with
I guess a few other people. And I was going
through the whole process and looking at the contract and everything,
and one of the things that came in you looked
at the contract, Yeah, well on eat the very last minute,

(12:05):
only the last minute, which is where the problem came in.
So they were discussing all the points, the major points,
and I was like, yeah, that's good, that's good, whatever, whatever,
And then it came to me actually reading the contract.
And at this point, we have maybe a couple of
hours before we have to send off the deal and
so that we can go into tech or you can
read yeah, yeah, and then well we'd already they were

(12:28):
just going to test the tapes actually because it was
the pandemic, they were just doing it.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
But you've got to make the deal the protocol.

Speaker 5 (12:36):
So then my my agent sends me the contract and
I'm reading it and there's this clause exclusivity. You can't
do any other TV show. You can maybe have a
guest appearance in something, but you can't play a regular
in any other TV show. And we can talk about
this later as well. We can put up in in
this if you want. But I have been creating a

(12:59):
TV show since twenty twenty nineteen. It's been in my
head for years, but it came out in twenty nineteen,
the summer of twenty nineteen, and it's about my family
and my family story, and so it had gotten to
a really good place. It'd been in the hands of
Michelle Yo Nnahidi, and so I knew there was something

(13:22):
in it. And I was like, I can't do Star
Trek because this show is so important to me. It's
about my family.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Did you write it?

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (13:29):
And I was like, I can't bear the thought of
me being on a spaceship somewhere in the universe whilst
my TV show is being filmed in London. It's set
in London.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
I'm really in a spaceship in I just want to
throw that out there. I had this conversation very early
on Oh.

Speaker 3 (13:51):
My god, I've read it for me, never mind the
thousands of people.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
Sorry you guys, I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 (13:58):
Had you written yourself a part.

Speaker 5 (13:59):
In your that was the idea because I wasn't getting
where I wanted to be the idea, will let me
just create it, I'll write it for you and so
and so my agent was like, uh, was this is
really late in the days to be doing this. And
I was like, I didn't know that this was a thing.
And I'd never been a regular in American TV show before.
I didn't realize that exclusivity was. It's not in the UK,

(14:21):
you know, And so I'm at least it wasn't back then.
I don't know, maybe it is now follow the American yeah, exactly. So,
so he got all the casting directors on the phone
and everything. We had this whole meeting with my manager
and my agent and they were like, Christina, we really
think you should go in for this and and I
think it's a mistake if you don't. And I'd spoken

(14:43):
to everyone I could think of to speak to for advice,
and so they were saying, you know, this will help
your TV show to be made, you know, hopefully, yes,
But I just couldn't see at that point. I was
just worried and I had, like, now, it was probably
forty five minutes to decide either I go in for
this or not. And and so the last person I

(15:04):
spoke to before I made the decision was my dad.
And I called my dad and he picked up the phone.
I just cried because it's about my dad. And he's like,
what's wrong, what's wrong? This is how he talks.

Speaker 3 (15:14):
What's wrong? What's wrong?

Speaker 5 (15:15):
I was like, I was just crying my eyes up.
Is somebody somebody hurt you?

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Somebody?

Speaker 5 (15:21):
And he's just absolutely mortified. I was like, no, Dad,
I've been over this star check TV show and then
I might not be able to do old TV show.
And he's like, don't be stupid. You gotta do it.
You don't worry. But if your TV show doesn't, it
happens and you can't do it, doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

(15:41):
I was like, Okay, my dad says, I can do it.
Let me go in for the test. But secretly I
was walking around crossing my fingers hoping I didn't you didn't.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Get that job. How to get without a book of holiday?

Speaker 2 (15:56):
I don't care when.

Speaker 5 (15:57):
You exactly when you don't care or you don't need it,
or you want it.

Speaker 1 (16:01):
The universe is that you didn't have anything set for
your show.

Speaker 5 (16:06):
No, you wasn't even at that point.

Speaker 3 (16:08):
Hang on was it?

Speaker 6 (16:10):
No?

Speaker 5 (16:10):
I did have it? It was it was optioned by
a TV.

Speaker 3 (16:13):
Did you have a working title?

Speaker 5 (16:15):
Yes, my title is Triad.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
And Dodgy.

Speaker 3 (16:23):
He was saying, don't worry about it was shot. You're
gonna have a knives shot in the bround.

Speaker 1 (16:29):
Yeah, so so.

Speaker 5 (16:31):
So it's with a production company in the UK who
do down to Abbey the Last Kingdom.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
So it's it's a drama, drama, drama, drama.

Speaker 5 (16:38):
It's a drama, thriller, action, right, and but at the
heart of it, it's a love story between that.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
Brings us to You know, you're one of six kids
from a Chinese dad.

Speaker 5 (16:51):
Yeah so all so all the Chinese? Uh so, basically,
my my dad has six kids.

Speaker 3 (16:58):
But my they weren't all they weren't all so.

Speaker 5 (17:01):
The first three or have a Chinese mum. My dad
was married before he met my mom, right, and then
my mom has three kids.

Speaker 3 (17:09):
So where did they meet them? So?

Speaker 2 (17:12):
My club.

Speaker 3 (17:16):
At a gambling club deep in soho. My my dad's.

Speaker 5 (17:22):
First wife left when the kids were one, two and
three left back to Hong Kong and they both came
from Hong Kong, did, and so my mum was the nanny. Nanny, yeah,
and that's classic story.

Speaker 3 (17:35):
Classic yeah, yeah, so yeah, it was that the three kids,
so that that that first mum went back without the kids.
And wow, that's deep yeh.

Speaker 5 (17:46):
And I'd love to make something about that. That story
that's my siblings went through.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Was that's quite hard. That that abandonment can be very
very difficult.

Speaker 5 (17:55):
We all have abandonment issues, right, surely, But I think
that's very deep.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Yeah, you're close with them all.

Speaker 5 (18:01):
Yeah, pretty close with all of them. There's a big
age range.

Speaker 2 (18:05):
But where do you fall?

Speaker 5 (18:08):
You're trying to find out my age.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
On a second, she's.

Speaker 3 (18:15):
Very protective about this, curious or I've got people on
the coach.

Speaker 5 (18:22):
No, I'm middle. My mum's first, so I'm middle bottom
of things. So I'm the fourth four of my dad's.

Speaker 3 (18:31):
Is anyone else in the biz? Anyone else?

Speaker 5 (18:33):
My little sister was for a while, she was a
professional dancer, so she went to performing arts college as well.
But then nobody else is at.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
All, because then after your mum and dad, they separated.

Speaker 5 (18:44):
Yeah they did.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Then you went back up to Lancashire where mum was from,
long long Ridge, which is a tiny little place. It
really is, it really is. And you did speak like
that for.

Speaker 5 (18:55):
A while, her accent like that, Yeah, where is that?

Speaker 1 (18:58):
It's Lancashire for you America out there, we don't know.

Speaker 5 (19:01):
Northeast northwest sorry never eat ready we yeah, northwest northwest
and kind of about an hour from Manchester. So so
there was a tiny Yeah, it was a village at
that time. I think it's a town now, but it
was a village and everybody knows everybody, and you can't
walk for anyone. It was about how many people? How
many people just a town in a city you I
think I.

Speaker 3 (19:20):
Did look it up. I think there was no more
than fourteen thousand. Interesting, Okay, it was a small place.

Speaker 5 (19:26):
Yeah, yeah, so you know, even now going out anywhere
with my gran in Longridge, you can't walk one hundred
meters without somebody going.

Speaker 3 (19:34):
A I raise, yeah, cute. And you started dance lessons there.

Speaker 5 (19:39):
Well I was already dancing, but I wasn't. It wasn't
my true love then, I was. I was kind of
I wasn't very good at it or I didn't. I
wasn't made to believe I was very good at it,
and so it was kind of just this thing my
mum maybe do. I tried to give up, and although
I loved dancing more at home on my own, the
classes felt a bit pressured, and the exams that I
had to do, and just getting like.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
Did mom have aspirations that she were on fulfillmed?

Speaker 5 (20:04):
Interesting you say that.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, so she she.

Speaker 5 (20:08):
Started ballet as a little girl and really loved it,
but my grand stopped taking her because it was too
far away. And so she remembers that vividly.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
That was a long ridge maybe Manchester or something like that.

Speaker 5 (20:21):
Well, no, it wasn't actually that far away, but at
the time my grand would have to walk to get
her there, and yeah, and so she wanted to ensure
that didn't happen to me, that if I wanted to
go to dance classes, I could continue and if I
loved it, you know, I could keep going.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
Were you the one that showed an interest or were
you so? Was it given? Was it shown to you
and to see if you had an interest?

Speaker 5 (20:45):
I'm sure, I'm sure I was probably dancing around. I
don't know the answer to that, to be honest. But yeah,
but very quickly after we moved up north it it
was obvious that I wanted to do this as a career.
The teacher Janet Sutcliffe, she's still going to stay. Still
had that person who believe in you and give you
that confidence. So important, it is so important who you

(21:06):
have to teach.

Speaker 3 (21:07):
So then you get to Italian Conte. How did that?
How did that?

Speaker 5 (21:11):
That?

Speaker 3 (21:11):
Italian vally Conte is like the Performing Arts in London,
performing Art school in New.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
York, kind of like a Juilliard, kind of.

Speaker 3 (21:18):
Julliard of the UK.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
And so I am more than the other ones.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Or well though you've got your official drama schools. I
mean I might not say Itali Coant is not official,
but you've got your Rada, the Royal Academy, Central Lambda,
your Weber Douglas and then you've got Arts Educational Italian
Conte and where David Agella, who you like, you work
with David so many times, it's amazing. And he was

(21:44):
at Anna Shares who she started a drama class in
North London that I know so many people who went to.

Speaker 5 (21:52):
And anyway, so I grew up on a Council of State.
So we had no money and so which is like
what would be a counselor state here?

Speaker 3 (21:59):
Projects?

Speaker 5 (22:01):
So we didn't have money and and so how did mums?

Speaker 3 (22:05):
I mean, did all the kids go with you? With
you and the mum? Or did three of them stay
in London?

Speaker 5 (22:10):
Three stayed with They stayed with that just my mom.

Speaker 3 (22:13):
So are three it's still three kids.

Speaker 5 (22:15):
But they were like teenagers like you know, so they
had to kind of fend for themselves at that moment
because my dad was, you know, doing what he was doing.
So so anyways, so then I suddenly realized I want
to do this as a career musical theater. I want
to do it all dancing act and was in Teeth
Darling yes, and so we oh no, I get this.

(22:41):
It's called The Stage. It's a newspaper in the UK,
and I think it's like weekly or is it here
as well?

Speaker 6 (22:45):
Well?

Speaker 2 (22:45):
Got Bad Stage.

Speaker 5 (22:47):
Yeah, it's the same kind of thing, and I would
get it now. I remember it was two pounds like
once a month or whatever. I would read it and
I found this advert in there for Italian Conte summer school.
So it was a two week course I think or
maybe it was a week I don't remember, and you
do classes and you create the show and then your
parents come and watch.

Speaker 3 (23:03):
The end result it like a summer thing. Oh yeah,
just in summer school.

Speaker 5 (23:08):
Yeah, school. So I said, Mom, can I go do that?
I really want to go and do that. And my
dad was still living in London, so she was like, okay,
you can go stay with your dad and.

Speaker 3 (23:16):
Were they quite friendly still enough to yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (23:18):
He would still come up and see us. And so
I go to the summer school. Absolutely love it. And
at the end after the performance, my mom had come
down to watch, and the principal came to my mum
and said, this kid has fourteen Yeah it was fourteen
at the time. Yet this kid's got potential and we

(23:39):
would love her to come to the school. We've got
auditions in two weeks, she said. But if she's going
to come to the school, she's got to come this term,
this next term, because.

Speaker 1 (23:48):
Otherwise university it's high school as we would have called it.

Speaker 5 (23:52):
I'm still confused as to what's what.

Speaker 1 (23:54):
Well, yeah, high school from fifteen to eighteen. You're going
to high.

Speaker 3 (23:58):
School, right, Okay, So Italia can't say do educational classes alongside.

Speaker 5 (24:03):
These vocation academic So it was two weeks before the auditions,
and then I would have to join that year because
otherwise it would be interrupting all my exam important exams.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
Levels coming up to well, the two years before.

Speaker 5 (24:19):
It would be and then a levels, yeahs old.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
I'm so, And were you academically quite bright as well?

Speaker 5 (24:28):
I was because I applied myself.

Speaker 3 (24:31):
Yeah. But so I did this audition, tiger mom, but
not tiger Mom, Yeah, exactly, I did.

Speaker 5 (24:37):
This audition, went back down to London again on the train,
and afterwards, in the meeting with the principles, she said,
I don't normally do this, but I'm telling you now
she's in. You have three weeks before the term starts.
So then we go back home and I'm like mom, Mom,
and she's she's, you know, visibly like upset because she

(24:58):
can't send me, she doesn't have any money to send me.
And I said, but Mum, I have to go. We
have to find a way to go. And I remember
for a good week or so just rolling around on
the flooring tears, like like literally like so devastated that
I'd got into this school and I couldn't go. I
was like, Mom, there's got to be away, there's got
to be away. And she's like, but Chris, I can't.

(25:19):
And I you know, I see her face now, like,
you know, the thought of her holding me back because
she doesn't have money, you know, it was devastating her.
And so she put this little portfolio together of pictures
of me and when I'd won awards and newspaper clippings
when I've been in the local newspaper, you know, everything

(25:41):
she could, like school results, all of that, and sent
it off to local businesses in the area.

Speaker 6 (25:46):
Really yeah, and she crowdfunded you before crowdfunding exactly amazing and.

Speaker 5 (25:52):
She it was very close to the beginning of the term,
but I think I think we maybe had a week
when once we'd found out, or maybe it was two weeks,
I don't remember. It was very close once we'd gotten
this letter from a company called the Shepherd Street Trust,
which sponsors underprivileged, talented, underprivileged kids. And you know, I

(26:14):
don't know how my mom found that out and where
they were. They were in Preston, near Longbridge. They said
they pay for the first year of study and bless them. Yeah,
And so I went to school that first day in Barbie, London,
and I remember the the academic head teacher say to me.

(26:34):
He was like, you actually look a bit like him.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
But mister, do we like that or do we not
like that?

Speaker 5 (26:42):
Was Australian and he said to me, glad you'd make
glad you could make it, kid.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
Because they have in house dormitories and stuff that you
live in.

Speaker 5 (26:57):
But I had to do everything myself.

Speaker 3 (26:58):
Where was he?

Speaker 5 (26:59):
And then no, he was, well he was I think
he might have been working in Harbordon, but he was
living in like North London, right, And so I do
get myself to school, to do my washing, my cleaning, everything.
It was a lot, and so I found it very hard.
After the first time, I said to my mom, I
can't cope, like you know, I'd have to get up

(27:20):
at like half six, get myself to school. You don't
finish school until like seven. I don't get home to
like eight. Work to do half eight, got to do
my homework, has my dance routines, all of whatever. So
my mom moved the kids back down to London and
lived with my dad again.

Speaker 3 (27:37):
For me, oh wow wow. As friends as.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
It were, they got back together. But I mean probably
wouldn't have if it.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
Wasn't for me. Are they still together now then?

Speaker 1 (27:48):
No?

Speaker 3 (27:49):
They were.

Speaker 5 (27:51):
That forwards. Yeah, but they they're properly apart since.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
Yeah, so you do four or five years at Italia.

Speaker 5 (27:57):
Five years yeah, long stretch. Yeah, and then I go
straight into a musical. But didn't you Elton John Tan
Rice in Essen and you injured yourself? Yeah, so I
had like this where the hamstring inserts at the top
like I had. It was probably because I didn't know
how to prevent injury. I didn't know as a dancer

(28:20):
because Itali Conti is all round musical theater, you know,
place to study. It's not necessarily focused in on you know,
how to look after your body, how to eat, how
to you know all of those just on stage and
get you there. And it did prepare me for that.
I really was prepared for my first job. But I

(28:41):
think doing the same move I had to do this move,
the solo dance I had on the same leg every night,
eight shows a week, and I think that's what did it.
And and I just didn't like the industry very much
as well. It can be quite catty musical and dramatic,
and I didn't like the energy, and I thought, well,

(29:01):
if I'm going to do musical theater, I want to
play a lead, and it's going to take me a
very long time to work my way up from ensemble
to a lead in this this way if I do
it like this, So I'm going to go into TV
and film, raise my profile, and then come back into
theater and play least.

Speaker 1 (29:19):
That was the That was the dream, the same track.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
I had the same idea.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
I was like, I went to LA because I'd seen
people getting leads in off Broadway and Off Broadway. Yeah,
and they all had television credits. And at the time
there was law and Order in New York and that
was it. And I said, I'm going to go to LA,
get some credits, come back and hit the boards again.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
I never left.

Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, that's LA for you.

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Speaker 2 (31:43):
Slash audio.

Speaker 5 (31:44):
But the strangest thing it was Star Trek that brought
me back to my dream? How so our musical episode,
Oh the Rhapsody see Subways Raps season the musical episode.
I mean I was pitching you have the big number
in that. I mean Rebecca can sing too, Rebecca can say.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Can everybody sing?

Speaker 1 (32:05):
But you can see I was wondering about this when
I was watching it. Well, I mean everyone and we
all have Our cast.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
Would have been like I'm a lot flat.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
I mean, Anson god Bless does a bit of Rex Harrison,
but and he's not called upon too much.

Speaker 5 (32:23):
No, I mean everyone has everyone has help, even Barbers
Dreisend isn't pitch perfect, right, So apparently I was. And
so you know, I think everyone had decent voices for.

Speaker 2 (32:39):
Sure, thank god.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
Yeah, because it's fantast You have the big number.

Speaker 5 (32:42):
Though, and I was I was disappointed with who are you?

Speaker 3 (32:46):
Well, of course you are. You're you're an actress.

Speaker 5 (32:49):
We're all because I when I pitched it, like I
started pitching this musical idea from c this is from you. Well, no,
I mean obviously Henry and Henry and Okiva are big
musical people also, so I think they already had it
in their head. But I was like pushing it for
anyone who would listen. I was like, so Gorne dancing, Gorne,
tap shoes, Cane's hats, you know, and I'm thinking the

(33:11):
you know, boom boom. But when we got the actual script,
I was like, where is the sequence, that's the r
There was none of that.

Speaker 3 (33:25):
You were still the security officer.

Speaker 5 (33:28):
Yeah, obviously I'm not now, but in that moment, I
was in my head. It was something completely different.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Did you all think of a moment, Oh, what have
we done?

Speaker 5 (33:37):
No, I mean maybe some of the others did. Maybe
probably Ethan had that moment, Babs probably had that moment,
But I was and Celia obviously was totally in and
and because Rebecca and sing as well, she was really
up for it. She was great. He's got a great voice.
I actually did a song with him for my which

(33:58):
I think I'm going to release with scenes and three
and EP. Yeah, and he came along to studio. We
wrote song and he's singing on it. He's got a
great voice.

Speaker 3 (34:08):
Yeah, yeah, Well, I love it. And I liked the
fact that it was about your relationship with you know,
James Kirk and uh, you know, and tomorrow and tomorrow
and tomorrow. What a fabulous episode for you.

Speaker 5 (34:21):
Oh my gosh, that was incredible.

Speaker 3 (34:23):
He's grateful well Wesley, Wesley, Yeah, he was terrific. And
I particularly love that conceit when you find yourself in
the Square downtown and he goes New York because they
always played Toronto and then she goes no Toronto. I
thought that was just one of the funniest in house

(34:43):
joke lines. I've ever seen on a TV show. So,
I mean, you're going to come and live in America now,
we think, don't we? Yeah? So how are you gonna go?
Who reps you back home? In London?

Speaker 5 (34:54):
Independent?

Speaker 3 (34:56):
Good agency? Do they do they have a sister relationship
with someone here? Are you going to look for new
reps here?

Speaker 5 (35:01):
And I am looking for an agent in La? Any
agents out there?

Speaker 2 (35:07):
I say no sometimes, but that's okay.

Speaker 5 (35:09):
Yes I might say no, hard to get but no,
I haven't actively started looking yet. I think maybe next year.
But because there's also a limited amount they can do
right now.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
Right when you go back? Yeah? So I was going
to say, when do you go back to start the
third season.

Speaker 5 (35:27):
Of I think it's been out there that March. Yeah,
I think it's already been out in the press that
it's March.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
How do you feel about the move to LA.

Speaker 5 (35:36):
I've always seen myself in LA for like the first
time I came twenty twelve, I was like, huh, I
can see myself living in LA And because.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
Not all Brits like it. I've seen them come and
go in the thirty years i've been here. Yeah, it
doesn't suit them some of them.

Speaker 5 (35:52):
Yeah, and I think for me, a big part of
it is the sun and that just like I get
depressed with the gray weather, I.

Speaker 3 (35:59):
Did whether in I didn't realize that I was light sensory.

Speaker 5 (36:04):
Sure, yeah, And and it just feels like there's more
for me. I like, I want to create my own work.
I want to do my own things, my music.

Speaker 4 (36:14):
You know.

Speaker 5 (36:14):
That's what keeps me saying in between when I'm hired
talking of that.

Speaker 7 (36:19):
I mean, you've so, you've this EP that you've released
with Jack Gosling, J J J. Gosling, who's he's huge,
Lady Gaga, all of them.

Speaker 5 (36:30):
Sheeri completely intimidated.

Speaker 3 (36:34):
So how did you meet him?

Speaker 5 (36:36):
So funny story or weird story.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Rather, it came up to me in a nightclub.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
I turned him down.

Speaker 5 (36:46):
So then, so I had just come off of the
back of season must be season two because we've done
the musical, Yeah, and I was looking for somebody for
a photo shoot, a stylist and I hadn't reached out

(37:10):
to anybody at this point, but that night a stylist
had accidentally tagged me on Instagram. She had a client
called Chris Chung and she'd actually accidentally tagged me. So
when I wake up the next morning because my tag
used to be Chrissy Chong. I've since changed it, and
I woke up and I was like, ooh, mistake.

Speaker 3 (37:30):
You know.

Speaker 5 (37:30):
As I messaged her, I was like, hey, I don't
think you meant to do this, and she's like, oh
my god, I'm so sorry. I said, but actually I'm
looking for a stylist. Are you free these dates? And
she's like I am Actually. I was like, oh cool, great,
I'd be down for working with you. So we start
working together and I open up to her. She's a
really good friend now and we really get along and

(37:51):
I'm telling her about how I've done this musical episode
and I'd love to do my own music. I've always
wanted to do my own music, just didn't know how
it would happen.

Speaker 1 (37:58):
I've never done it before.

Speaker 5 (37:59):
I've never done it, but knew I wanted to. But
I knew that I would know when the right time
was to do.

Speaker 3 (38:05):
Did you have some songs? Nothing?

Speaker 5 (38:07):
All I had was the it wasn't even the final
version of how would that feel? From the musical episode?
That's all I had. And so she said, Oh, Olga,
her name is Olga, said, I have a friend. She's
a singer songwriter. Maybe you could have a call with
her and she could give you some advice. I was like, great, perfect,
Who was it?

Speaker 3 (38:26):
So a Nuke?

Speaker 5 (38:27):
Her name is a Nuke?

Speaker 3 (38:28):
And I do I know of that? I don't know.

Speaker 5 (38:31):
I don't know if you do a nuke.

Speaker 1 (38:33):
And and so.

Speaker 5 (38:36):
I start messaging with a Nuke and she's like, hey,
do you have anything you know that you can send us.
I have this Star Trek thing, but obviously it can't
go anywhere. It's not finished and it's musical theater, so
it's not what I want to do for my own project.
But so and Nuke listens to it and then gets
back to me. She's like, hey, you can you talk
right now? I was like yeah. So she puts me

(38:57):
on speakerphone, so, hey, my fiance is here, Yeah, Jake Gosling,
and we'd love to work with you.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
Can I just touch you?

Speaker 3 (39:05):
Because yea.

Speaker 5 (39:10):
And Jake Goslin. I was like okay, But at that
point I didn't know who Jake was. I didn't know
who I was talking to, and I had to argue, probably.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
The best thing isn't it's always the best. So you're
just natural and.

Speaker 5 (39:18):
Yeah, just be myself. And they were like, we'd love
you to come down to the studio. So now I'm like,
oh my god, I don't know what I'm doing. I've
never written a song before. I don't know if I
can do this. And so I go down to the studio.
First day we write No Blame. And that day Jake said,
I'd like to do your holy pe and I'd like
to put it through my record label.

Speaker 7 (39:39):
Aware in the ladder alone and my head, let's.

Speaker 3 (39:42):
Still fuged love me.

Speaker 5 (39:49):
Land to.

Speaker 1 (40:00):
And then he said good and swell flask help living me?

Speaker 5 (40:10):
Where begin you begin?

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Her?

Speaker 3 (40:15):
As well?

Speaker 5 (40:15):
Happy holidays? You can both go to him. You said
that she makes your laugh like I do. What was
the Master supposed to say?

Speaker 7 (40:28):
Except forget you for.

Speaker 5 (40:32):
Making me cry? By the Christmas treet where you said.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
Goodbye, that's charming your funness.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
God, that's great.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
I mean it reminds me of you know, what is
it about a boy where he's written that jingle that
yes forever and ever and ever.

Speaker 2 (40:48):
In the malls and uh, that's great.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
She's good. What a voice saying yeah, yeah, yeah, did
you do those with Jake?

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yes?

Speaker 4 (40:56):
You did well?

Speaker 5 (40:57):
Actually, and the Twin Pines was with Jake and the
Christmas song actually was with a guy that I randomly
met at an open mic night. He's super talented. I
was like, hey, you you're talented. I want you to
write with me, and we met. We wrote the song
in London, No sorry, I met him in Leeds. I
was supposed to go and see James Bay and leads

(41:18):
and he canceled as I was on the train up
because he had a man flu or something and so
normal flu but ten times worse. But but yeah, So
I went up there and I was like with my
friends and I was like, well, let's do something. Let's

(41:38):
go to an open micaels you know something.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
Live music, very very adventurous.

Speaker 5 (41:46):
Yeah, And so met this guy there and wrote this
song but it wasn't a Christmas song originally. And then
I was in the shower last year, like around like
November time or end of Hope November. I was like
your yearly yeah, and I was like, hang on a minute,

(42:06):
that song that I wrote in February could be a
Christmas song an anti Christmas song, And so I told
my music manager and he was like, brilliant, let's do it.
So do you know who Chesney Hawks is.

Speaker 3 (42:16):
Yeah, I do iced to know him back in the day.

Speaker 5 (42:19):
He's lived here in La.

Speaker 3 (42:21):
Oh kidding, that's right.

Speaker 5 (42:22):
So we both have the same music manager. That's England
and I came to La so very sweet, lovely guy.
So he helped me rewrite the That's a Christmas song.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
It is catchy as hell.

Speaker 3 (42:35):
Yeah, it's beautiful, isn't that?

Speaker 2 (42:36):
Yeah, it's really nice.

Speaker 5 (42:38):
And Will Matthews I should shout out his name because
he's a talented kid that I met at this semon
Will Matthews. Yeah, And in Jake's studio, Sticky Studios, there's
all these tolaroids of everyone who's ever worked with Amy?

Speaker 3 (42:51):
Why not?

Speaker 5 (42:51):
Like everyone everyone you're gonna think of with work? And
I'm sat there going, who what am I doing? Massive imposters?
I still have that with singing, you do I do?
And with writing? I have that with writing and singing,
I feel like a bit of an impossible But why
I think it is is because I'm I feel those things,

(43:12):
don't I'm not controlling them. They kind of come through me,
you know.

Speaker 3 (43:17):
I hear that so often these days with really talented
singer songwriters.

Speaker 4 (43:21):
That they are.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
It is they're the vessel. It's all in the ether. Yeah,
and it's whether it comes through you or someone else.

Speaker 5 (43:29):
Yes, exactly, And that's why. And that's maybe with acting.
I don't feel that so much. It's more like an
applied technique with acting where and I have to I
had to learn how to let acting well.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
I want to Actually, I know that you say that,
there's one little step I want to go back to.
As you went to the least Rasbourg. I did it
for eighteen months in New York. How did you fix that? Hunt?

Speaker 5 (43:51):
What do you mean how did I get Well?

Speaker 3 (43:52):
Yeah, I mean, I mean that's a big deal.

Speaker 5 (43:54):
I mean just to put yourself up in New York
and do eighteen you need to get away from a breakup.
I wanted to get away from London.

Speaker 3 (44:00):
And did you have money to just go and finance?

Speaker 5 (44:02):
This was after the AIDACS. I had money from there.
And I knew the acting was a thing for me.
I'd played Anita in West Side Story for my end
of year production at Tali Conti, so and I really
enjoyed that, and so I knew there was something there
and I wanted to explore that. So I went and

(44:22):
studied at Strasbourg, and I was like, yes, this is it,
this is what I'm supposed to be doing, helping you
open up with that exactly. And I wouldn't necessarily recommend
Strasburg to anybody now, because I think it's great for
opening up and you know, maybe some people do really
connect with it as a technique to use for you know,

(44:43):
for the rest of their life. For me, yeah, but
for me it was something as a more of a
starting point.

Speaker 2 (44:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
I found myself an auditions sometimes in the room and
I'd look over and I would know exactly and it'd.

Speaker 5 (44:55):
Be like, before, what are you doing, like they're gon
to take off exact?

Speaker 3 (45:01):
Is that a thing there?

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (45:02):
You know, it's a whole getting your body in the
technique at least a yeah, it's it's opening up of
yourself and in any way that you have your own
personal way in doing that. There are you know, suggestions,
but you know, yeah, anything you want, you know, whatever

(45:24):
it is, Yeah, whatever suits you.

Speaker 3 (45:27):
Yeah? Did you well? I mean so you did eighteen
months there though, and did you work at all? Were
you allowed to You probably weren't allowed to work, were
you No?

Speaker 5 (45:36):
I don't think I should. I've just got my own
one visus.

Speaker 3 (45:38):
Shut up about that.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
Let's not go there, about cash money, Let's not go there.

Speaker 3 (45:45):
Let's go back to Dad in the triad.

Speaker 5 (45:48):
You can't go there either.

Speaker 3 (45:51):
What was your.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Description of the character for strange new words because a
limited Yeah, well.

Speaker 5 (46:00):
It was something like just like, she's the security chief British.
I don't even know if its specified that she was British.
Actually it was just achieved security.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
May it like spoiled eggs?

Speaker 5 (46:14):
Yeah, always can do with a spare boiled egg. And
I can't even remember, but it was it was like
one sentence that much much at all at all, just
that I was security and that's it. That's basically what
I knew, and that she could fight. They wanted somebody
who could fight. So I have martial arts training, so
that you obviously from my dance and stuff as well.

Speaker 6 (46:35):
So yeah, yeah, you look like you could take someone
out in a nice careful So you go back in March,
and do you know how many seasons this might run?
Do you have any Well, they make you sign for
a certain amount of years or.

Speaker 5 (46:54):
Yeah, just six year contract, but yeah, but whether it
will go for six because this up in the airness
with the sale to SKYDOWNCE. I mean, oh, yes, amountcrision.
I guess we don't really know where we fit in
and who's going to make the decision right who's going
to actually green light.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
The next How long does it take to make ten episodes?

Speaker 5 (47:16):
Five months? In two weeks, we'll probably two weeks beforehand
for prep.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
So how many days an episode?

Speaker 5 (47:25):
Twelve days?

Speaker 7 (47:25):
Ten?

Speaker 5 (47:27):
Just one unit and then two second unit.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Yeah, it's an extraordinary production, and you know, I mean
enviably so we were pretty cutting edge when we did
our show, but I mean the sets and the playgrounds
that they create for you and those scapes that they
make are just extraord and.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
The willingness to do things like the crossover and the musical,
and there's very different it is now, and it's remarkable
in that sense. There's, you know, for for decades now,
there had been sort of a particular way to do
Star Trek and I was going to also ask you,
and you're not doing that, which I think is remarkable.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
Did you know much about Star Trek prior.

Speaker 5 (48:08):
To hardly anything? I mean I knew that there was
a character called Spock, and Captain I don't even know
I knew about Shatner Shatner's character Kirk. But I think
other than that, I had zero Yeah, zero.

Speaker 2 (48:21):
I think that's a good thing.

Speaker 5 (48:22):
Yeah, and again I think I think if I'd have
known that it was such a big deal and what
the whole job encompassed beyond just filming, I would have
had a pressure to you, Yeah, I wouldn't got the job.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
How do you feel about doing all the cons? I
mean We've were talking briefly outside before we came in
that I really.

Speaker 5 (48:39):
I really do enjoy them. I do enjoy them, and
I really love meeting the people and you know, and
sharing my experiences with them. But what is hard, and
I have to learn how to balance this is the
travel and making sure I take time for me in
between the cons, especially that summer period when they're week
after week. I think, yeah, I just I just need

(49:02):
to learn how to.

Speaker 3 (49:03):
Who's who's who's banging the drum for you to do them?
It is CBS doing that or is it the agency
or is it.

Speaker 5 (49:08):
Just my my corn agents?

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (49:11):
Yeah, and I guess like while our show is on air,
it makes sense to do as many as possible.

Speaker 3 (49:16):
Oh yeah, you know. I mean when we were doing
when our show was on. It was you know, they
it wasn't a thing. You know people, I was the
first out of the gate. I've said a few times
to do them. It was a bit sniffy still about
are you're going to do those things? And now, yeah,
it was definitely.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
They didn't.

Speaker 1 (49:34):
They said you don't have to do you don't have
to say that they're there.

Speaker 3 (49:37):
What what year was that?

Speaker 1 (49:38):
Then the two thousand and one fired.

Speaker 2 (49:46):
Just after the war. We went in balloons.

Speaker 3 (49:52):
It was all in black and.

Speaker 5 (49:56):
They started properly.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Oh well they've been going since the I mean it
was it was bj Trimble who got them started again
after the sixties show went down, and then there was
this core group that just wouldn't let Star Trek go away.
And there was this letter writing campaign.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
And that's how Gary and Adam had a big.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
Gary and Adam who had this Yeah, they had this
shop in New York which was a you know, genre
Star Trek sort of DC Marvel shop, and and then
these yeah, they these sort of cottage industry conventions started
up and Gary and Adam were very influential in that.
But by the time we came around, Yeah, it was

(50:38):
a thing. The next gen people were doing them. But
I'd seen Denise Crosby had done the first documentary about
the fandom, called Trekky's, and I'd seen that it's worth
watching if you haven't seen it.

Speaker 5 (50:54):
I did watch that.

Speaker 3 (50:54):
I didn't and I've seen that and was like, oh,
there's an appendage here, and I was, yeah, I did
ten the first year.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
I was terrified.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
He was terrified.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Yeah, the only the first one I did. I did
only because it was about an hour from my parents' house,
so they'd been the audience.

Speaker 3 (51:12):
And they drove him there. They didn't even just drop
him off. They came in.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
They brought me a bag lunch.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
So but yeah, god knows the twenty five years that
have gone by, you know, the do you think they'll continue?

Speaker 2 (51:28):
Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (51:30):
I think Star Trek's are forever thing now too. I
think the famous Star Wars you know.

Speaker 2 (51:35):
Yeah, I think I.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
Said that there was a gap, you know, from Enterprise
into what was it Discovery was next.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
Yes, there was about an eight year gap, wasn't there?

Speaker 1 (51:44):
Yeah, But I think now now we are You're right,
it's a forever.

Speaker 3 (51:50):
I think it's a forever thing now. I mean that
when we're you know, our show was the one that
didn't do seven years out of that legacy group, and
how many years did you do?

Speaker 2 (51:59):
We did four?

Speaker 3 (52:00):
Yeah, it looked like we might have killed the franchise.
I mean we were we weren't sure if we were
going to go down in infamy.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Right for a while we did, Yeah, I know for
a while.

Speaker 3 (52:10):
Yeah, and I blamed you. We should have killed him earlier.
But yeah, and then Discovery came back, which reignited.

Speaker 5 (52:21):
It all and here we are, And then there were
the movies as well.

Speaker 3 (52:24):
Yes, of course, and JJ came along.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Right, and you also have such a variety now with
the animation, yes, and what you guys are doing with
your show.

Speaker 6 (52:34):
And the new show that's coming and stuff, Yes, exactly right, Yeah,
with Jare Matty and is it Holly Hunter and God
bless Bob Picado.

Speaker 3 (52:46):
You can't kill Bob. I played the doctor in Voyager,
and yeah, he's got another gig playing the same character.
So well, after Star Trek, what do you think, I mean,
what would you like to get into I think my.

Speaker 5 (52:59):
My my goals, my goals. I think I'm working on
my album, yeah, and I'd love to tour as an artist,
an artist at some point. How that will happen. I
don't know. I see myself in these big arenas, but
I don't.

Speaker 3 (53:15):
Know if it will happen.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
Probably will, I don't.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
Know, We'll see.

Speaker 5 (53:19):
But and then I want to you're going to be.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
One name Christina.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
That's not bad, not bad.

Speaker 5 (53:34):
And then I don't want to just do one thing
I've always seen myself like any juggle. I want to
do many things, like I I write, so I want
to create my own project show TV show.

Speaker 3 (53:46):
But we have a we have like a.

Speaker 5 (53:48):
Showrunner now for that, who's like taking the majority of
the writing At the moment, What.

Speaker 3 (53:53):
Have you got if you've got a pilot and a
couple of I wrote.

Speaker 5 (53:57):
A pilot and a bible and then but now we
been developing it since twenty twenty, so it's like it's
gone through that. It used to be three timelines, it's
now two timelines. So set in London, set in London
in the seventies eighties, in the disco era. So it's
like glitzy, glam.

Speaker 3 (54:15):
My time. But I was going to see yeah, and unavailable.

Speaker 5 (54:19):
Not Chinese, though, I think you can do that and.

Speaker 3 (54:25):
The days are over. Yeah, they don't need alec gnis anymore.

Speaker 5 (54:30):
And then present day as well, so it's two timelines
so that I also really want to die. I have
a short film that I've written that I want to do.
I really want to direct because I teach, I teach taught,
didn't you I teach school a dance? But then I
have you had a Bavana chubbooks.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
Yes, she's legendary.

Speaker 5 (54:49):
She's become my friend now and she's like a mentor
to me. And and so she asked me a few
years ago if I would come over and do the
teacher's training so she can't on to me for like,
I mean, I've got the flight over, but normally it's
really expensive to do that, and and she wanted to
pass that on to me.

Speaker 1 (55:06):
You like it.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
Do you have the patience to teach?

Speaker 5 (55:09):
I love teaching.

Speaker 3 (55:10):
I love teaching even when they're no good.

Speaker 5 (55:13):
Okay, if they are, you know what I mean, harder,
But then there are small breakthrough So you see that
small breakthrough, that's a big breakthrough because you know you've
tried so hard to get them to feel something, or
to to just say a line, real.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
Yeah, what sort of what?

Speaker 1 (55:27):
What?

Speaker 3 (55:27):
What's if you would call it a method. Is it
Ivanna's method or yeah, it's.

Speaker 5 (55:31):
A twelve step technique. It's the chubbic technique. And the
main difference between Stanislavski and Evanna's work is that you
use the inner turmoil or your your your that's actually
your gongs, and you use it, you feel it, but
you use it to overcome adversity. So it's a driving force.

(55:52):
And that's what's really really charismatic. I think about performances
is that, Wow, I can see that you're struggling, but
I know that you're going to do your damned best
to get over there. And that's what I tried to
put into my characters. It's what I want to try
to put into my music, and I work that thing
of hope like inspiring people. Yes, you may be going
through a hard time, but here know that there is

(56:15):
there is a safety. You know, there's there's light at
the end of the tunnel.

Speaker 3 (56:20):
This is a safe place. Yeah. Andy Dean used to
just hold his pissing, didn't he did?

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Apparently?

Speaker 3 (56:26):
Yeah, he just did every scene like die for a pe.
Yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (56:31):
So she her technique is are twelve step. So I
would love to I would love to try my handed director.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
How did you get so chumming with the did you
go over to her class?

Speaker 5 (56:41):
I met her in two thousand and seven in London
when she was doing her master class in London, and
just kept doing a master class every time she came
to London, and then I started working with her one
on one and then we just became friends.

Speaker 3 (56:54):
And she's not noted for being an overly friendly person
a long while.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
But yeah, like, are you teaching here now?

Speaker 5 (57:03):
No, I wouldn't teach here. I just I would. I
taught in London maybe for about two or three years.
But it's you know, I want to do it well
when I'm doing it. I just since I haven't had
the bandwidth to be able to do do it properly.
But yeah, so directing, producing, creating my own projects and

(57:24):
just do it. I would love to do an independent
film like where it's like I carry the film and
it's just a really gritty drama something. I don't know
what it is. I'll know it when I read.

Speaker 2 (57:36):
It's strange.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
New worlds offer an opportunity for actors to hit in
the chair.

Speaker 5 (57:42):
Well, it's something we spoke about with my agent, but
I don't know if we don't know how long it's
going to run for. And I just I feel like
i'd i'd have to do a short film first, you know,
or maybe I think I overheard somebody saying that Alex
curts me requires you to do like three short films. Yeah,

(58:04):
and then you've got to like shadow the directors and everything, and.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
They don't just let you do that from the go.

Speaker 4 (58:09):
No.

Speaker 2 (58:09):
If you said that on.

Speaker 5 (58:10):
Day one of No No, I mean yeah, I think yeah,
if i'd have said, if i'd have had that desire
back then and started, you know, three years ago, that
maybe I could direct next season, but it's no. And
also I don't know how I would feel directing my coworkers,
you know, I don't know, but yeah, I think I'd

(58:30):
prefer to do my own things. And yeah, just I
think that's it music writing, producing, creating, teaching at some
point maybe again in the future, I don't know. Just
whatever I feel, I just want to try everything.

Speaker 3 (58:45):
I think you're gonna You've got it all in you, Christina.
You're a force of nature.

Speaker 5 (58:50):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (58:51):
You really are big talent and charming with it. Thank you.
It's been an absolute delight having your on the show.

Speaker 5 (58:57):
Saying thank you so much for asking me to come.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
Of course she was wonderful.

Speaker 3 (59:02):
She was, Wasn't God. I can play cats, you know,

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Christina Chong | Ep. 22

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Christina Chong | Ep. 22