Story | Connie Li Photography | Jeff Rattanong, courtesy of Netflix
In a scene from Wu Assassins, addict Tommy Wah tells a support-group meeting that he scored a small bag of high-grade heroin overnight, yet was conflicted. While he was tempted to use, he also thought of good friend and real hero Kai, and wanted to live like him. He overcame the temptation and flushed away the drug.
Light seeps into the dark room through the window behind Tommy as he speaks. Although his face is in the shadows, the pain and shame on his face are visible as he admits he is an addict. But that morphs into relief and pride as he talks about conquering his craving.
Tommy is played by Asian-American actor Lawrence Kao, who says he submerged himself into the character in order to understand the circumstances and beliefs Tommy had about himself that led him down the path of addiction.
“Sitting with thoughts about how his family and friends view him, I was able to see how he began to think of himself as a screw-up,” Kao says. “Tommy begins to use illicit substances not to feel a high, but to feel nothing. I continued to dig deeper holes, through negative self-talk, and took his sorry beliefs about himself and ran with it. Solidifying this base helped juxtapose the introduction of new story elements into further episodes to give Tommy Wah a substantial arc.”
Fistful of Vengeance
Kao has moved on from the Tommy character and now is more than just an actor. He has become a screenwriter and a producer, hoping to project a more resounding voice.
Kao has co-written the script for Mana, a dance film about the complexity of relationships involving Asian-American families, hoping to “explore issues that most Asian-American films do not tackle, such as polyamorous relationships, divorce and especially taboo subjects.”
He has dug deep into issues about Asians, through Wu Assassins and then Fistful of Vengeance—both have the same Asian-American cast—and he describes filming both as an “absolutely refreshing” experience. “We were hanging out a little too much, demolishing all of the dim sum in Vancouver, and having hot pot parties every week,” he recalls.
Fistful of Vengeance
Later, reunited in Bangkok for the filming of Fistful of Vengeance, “we were all family, and to work amongst culturally similar peers was an experience I will never forget.”
With their shared ethnicity and nationality, the cast felt a responsibility as artists to elevate the community. As the pandemic exacerbated hate crimes against Asian-Americans, Kao realized heritage was a huge part of his identity. “I hold a responsibility to represent those that look like me and do the best possible work I can,” he says.
This year, Mana will go into full production. It’s the story of a choreographer named Luc, who is asked by his former girlfriend, Mana, to plan a proposal dance for her current boyfriend, bringing out the complexities about relationships and emotions.
Not only does Kao play the part of Luc, but the story also touches on something very personal to him. “Mana, for me, is a personal story about my father leaving my mom and me when I was in high school,” he says. “My dad, even after the separation, left his car in our driveway for years.”
But in the movie, Luc’s mother is the one to leave the family, Kao says: “I wanted to explore what it would be like to have a different father figure in my life, a way for me to forgive my own dad.”
In his eyes, everyone’s life and emotions are unique and complex. By playing a “screw-up” like Tommy, Kao’s intent was to use empathy to humanize personalities with layered interpretations, based on reality. “I guess we’re all screwed up in some way, right?” he quipped.
This takes us back to an incident when he was in high school. During a rehearsal for a theatre class, Kao had an altercation with someone; he had a weapon and was arrested, and faced an attempted murder charge. A police officer warned him that he could be spending 40 years in jail. Luckily, he was found to have been falsely accused and was released within a week.
“Being led to believe I would be locked up for quite some time really narrowed my focus,” he recalls. “I thought heavily about what I wanted to do with my life.
“I do love playing characters that are flawed. It gives me the opportunity to bring empathy to personalities that a general audience doesn’t normally humanize in their everyday lives.”
Kao, now 37, was born and raised in California and learned to play piano at a young age. In high school, he took up acting and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in theatre at the University of California at Irvine. There, he was also a member of a contemporary dance group called Kaba Modern, and he believes his entire life experience has been a self-exploration process every step of the way.
“Piano definitely facilitated loosening up my inner emotions,” he says. “It was crucial in helping me connect with my artistic side and it was through acting that my self-exploration really began.”
The night he was released from detention following his high school incident, Kao went on stage to play Lysander in the closing night of the school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He had missed performances while incarcerated, but was ready to go on stage when his teacher asked him. “[The experience] solidified what I was passionate about,” he says upon reflection. “I changed my major to theatre immediately.
“Although I received a bachelor’s degree in theatre, college seemed more like the place where I found myself physically through dance. Acting in mainstage shows at UCI and dancing with Kaba Modern in my free time, I was able to find my artistic self kinaesthetically.
“The combination of all these events led me to discover just how endless self-exploration can be.”
Admitting he did not enjoy instant success at auditions upon graduation, Kao concedes, “it was difficult to navigate as an actor who was just getting his foot in the door.
“I’ve reframed my beliefs about auditions into opportunities to perform and flex what I’ve learned over the years. These days, when I don’t get a part, I trust that one is right around corner.”
Kao thinks he brings an “unexpected nature” and surprises to his performances. “I try not to follow any premeditative tracks when I’m performing,” he says. “If I surprise myself as I traverse the journey the script takes me on, then I know I’m living in the truth of the moment. My characters will always be susceptible to the crux of a story, opening my imagination to places that others might not venture towards.”
This self-exploration was apparent in Fistful of Vengeance, continuing the story of Wu Assassins. Tommy and the other protagonists of the movie go to Bangkok to find the person responsible for his sister Jenny’s murder and to avenge her death. But Kao says the Tommy appearing in the sequel is different: “He’s still scrappy by nature, but Tommy is definitely now more physically capable.” Kao also nuanced Tommy’s underlying sense of inferiority and timidity. He is different, yet still the same character, in the two productions.
The part of Tommy got Kao noticed and now he finds himself filming his own script and playing the main character. Although he has accomplished a great deal in his career, he remains humble, yet confident. He believes that acting is a job and, for him, doing it well is a given. However, he says it’s no different from other people doing their jobs well.
“Acceptance has been a muscle I’ve been exercising for quite some time,” he says. “Nothing can really phase you if you embrace everything.
“Life’s ups and downs are very transient, and I allow for the good and bad to enter as they please. Accepting the impermanence of all things has helped me cope with the rollercoaster that is life.”
On Kao’s webpage, there’s a line from Shakespeare’s As You Like It: “One man in his time plays many parts.” Is there a better way to encapsulate Kao’s career as a dancer, actor, writer and producer? Or, as Kao describes himself: “Goofy, curious, sensitive, clumsy, reckless and understanding.”
