Lynn Chen, one of our favorite actress/food bloggers, is working on a film and reaching out for supporters to donate towards the production. This is an indie project feature film (not a documentary), called “The Man’s Guide to Love,” written and directed by Chen’s cousins, Mark Levin and Jennifer Flackett, based on a website of the same name launched by Chen’s husband and some friends two years ago. The website compiles a video each day of a different man answering this same question: “If you had one piece of advice that you’d give another man about love, what would it be?â€
The video mosaic on the website is cool, and funny. The feature film promises to be even cooler and probably funnier. Chen is on the cast list, as is her terrific food blog, The Actor’s Diet.
This film is being funded (hopefully) by the public — that would be you — via Kickstarter, and Chen and her cousins are asking for donations starting from a mere $5 (which will entitle you to for special behind-the-scenes updates). There are lots of levels and lots of different premiums (posters, hats, “we love you” calls), including your name in the credits for $150, a cameo in a party scene for $1500, a chance to be a crew member for $2000 and this for $5000: Continue reading →
UPDATE:Due to a scheduling conflict, our conversation with Lynn Chen is now scheduled for Monday, April 11 at 7 pm PT.
Lynn Chen is a woman after Erin and my own hearts… and stomachs. She’s a foodie as well as a talented actress and musician, and she writes one blog, “The Actor’s Diet,” about “the life of a Hollywood actress. Meal by meal,” and recently launched another, “Thick Dumpling Skin,” about Asians’ diet and body issues, with Hyphen publisher Lisa Lee.
We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be speaking with Lynn for our next visualizAsian show on TUESDAY, APRIL 26MONDAY APRIL 11 at 7 pm PT (10 pm for you folks on the east coast). Just register here for the free dial-in and webinar information — if you’ve registered for previous visualizAsian calls, you’ll already receive the info.
Lynn Chen, whose “excessive beauty makes us want to rip our eyeballs out,” according to the ladies of the Disgrasian blog, was born in Queens, New York in 1976 to a mother who sang at the Metropolitan Opera and a father who is an ethnomusicologist, and she was raised in New Jersey and attended Wesleyan University.
As a child, Lynn sang with the Children’s Choirs at the Metropolitan and NYC Opera Houses, and made her acting debut in the NY State Theatre production of “South Pacific” at Lincoln Center. Television credits include “NCIS: LA,” “Numbers,” guest roles on almost all of the “Law and Order” shows, and recurring roles in “All My Children” and “The Singles Table,” opposite John Cho and Alicia Silverstone.
Of her films, Lynn’s best-known as “Vivian Shing” in Sony Pictures Classic’s feature film “Saving Face,” a role for which she won the “Outstanding Newcomer Award” at the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards. Since then she has appeared in over a dozen films, most recently starring in “White on Rice,” “Why Am I Doing This?.” “The People I’ve Slept With,” and the just-released “Surrogate Valentine,” which is making the rounds of film festivals.
“Surrogate Valentine” was directed by Dave Boyle, the young filmmaker who also wrote and directed “White on Rice,” a terrific indie film, and it’s a fictionalized story of the real-life experiences of singer-songwriter Goh Nakamura. The film was the closing night selection of the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, and just screened at SXSW Film in Austin.
But Lynn isn’t just limited to acting. In fact, she took some time off from acting to deal with her eating disorders, and started “The Actor’s Diet” in 2009 as a way to write about food and to hold herself accountable for eating healthy (with the burgers and fried thrown in). Here’s how she explains the blog: Continue reading →
