Hollywood, Asian Stereotypes & NCIS Hawaii With Kian Talan

Walk into an audition room and you immediately think you’re entering a room from the multi-verse. Here you will find people with similar physical traits staring back at you, sizing you up. Once settled, you then have to adjust for what comes next. Entering a room where a panelist of judges will scrutinize you head to toe. In Kian Talan’s mind, all the Asian stereotypes come rushing in. So what happens when you’re judged before you even utter a word?

It was tough for me not to be seen in that community
Kian Talan on growing up in New Hampshire

The Backstory

Raised in white suburban New Hampshire, Kian Talan never quite ‘fit in’. A self-proclaimed introvert was how he described it. Being of Asian (Filipino) descent, Kian had to confront certain stereotypes early on. “As an Asian male in a white majority town, I changed myself a lot to fit in…stereotypes of Asians being weak and timid made me play a lot of sports”. It was clear to Kian that New Hampshire wasn’t for him for much longer. He graduated with a computer science degree before moving on to work for a tech startup.

Acting opens you up. It was the first time I felt truly vulnerable.
Kian Talan on how acting pushed him out of his comfort zone

Casting Call

The journey to his first casting call began in the city that never sleeps. It wasn’t until after one of his acting classes that he realized how unauthentic he was being with himself and his life. “I wasn’t passionate about anything while living in New York. I didn’t wake up excited to live”. His passion for the craft quite evident, Kian describes his path to Hollywood as non-linear. “It took two years to finally feel like an artist. I was holding onto a lot of things. I was scared to talk in public before I started acting”. It certainly wasn’t a smooth ride. Often feeling like he was fighting odds outside of his control.

When asked about about the difficulties of being an Asian American actor, Kian described it as a battle. So he had to do some work on himself internally. He had to build a level of confidence that overcame the insecurities and doubts that followed him around. “Letting go of all that insecurity, my feelings mattered and it was okay to be vulnerable”.

Kian even hid his growing passion from his parents. Not telling them about the countless failed auditions. Or the hardships of rejection, especially the ones that he felt had more to do with how ‘Asian’ he was, or wasn’t in some cases. “I would walk into the casting room and immediately feel nixed out of the conversation”. It seems much of that had to do with his skin tone. Kian notes that many Asian roles are filled by lighter skinned Asian actors. Too dark and you may no longer fit the ‘Asian’ category. His concerns were flamed considering his Filipino origin as Filipinos can generally have a darker complexion. His solution? Hide away from the sun to avoid getting a tan.

What’s hot right now is mixed. Mixed white and something else to appeal to the wider market.
Kian Talan on the difficulties ethnic actors have to work through in Hollywood

The Role

“Actors are some of the most resilient people on the planet with all the rejection they get”. Kian credits his acting lessons for teaching him to focus his mindset on the role and the truth of the character. Rather than focusing on pleasing a casting director and losing the authenticity, Kian notes “focus on the scene and what you’re doing as opposed to being there to impress a casting director”.

It’s not everyday an actor lands a coveted role that seems made for the actor and the actor made for the role. That’s why the role of Alex Tennant on NCIS Hawaii, along side Vanessa Lachey, Jason Antoon and Noah Mills, is such an integral part of Kian’s story. “You rarely see Filipino castings and NCIS was the first one I’d seen”. The series, which was picked up for a full season, covers the very topics Kian believes need to be addressed with one particular (EP.9) episode covering Asian-American racism. It was also the first time Kian told his parents he was an actor.

The Sequel

Kian understands the assignment. It doesn’t stop at one role. He wants to do more. He wants to tell Filipino American stories. He notes “You can’t wait for someone else to tell the story. The way we tell stories is the way we bring each other up”. With the rise of Asian led films and television shows (Shang Chi, Crazy Rich Asians, Squid Games, etc.) Kian notes, fad or not, this is a necessary step in the right direction for inclusion. Even as the origin story around Covid-19 has brought about asian-hate, “as sad as it sounds, the mainstream narrative of Asian discrimination has at least pushed this conversation forward”.