I was going to take a long break from blog posting. However, I was moved to tears more than once during last night's Oscars telecast and just had to write about it. Overall, acceptance speeches gave me hope and the inspiration to not give up on dreams. To persevere. I was hoping Ke Huy Quan would win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. He did and tears were streaming down my face during his touching, heartfelt acceptance speech. He's an immigrant who came to the U.S. at a very young age and grew up in the downtown L.A. area. I grew up in L.A.
He shot the movie about three years ago and then lost his union health insurance because he could not book any work after he completed filming. That's mainly because the door for diversity was closed. All of us people of color who could not get representation, who were out of work for a long time because of lack of opportunities and perhaps also lost insurance know the feeling and cheered last night's Oscar success for Ke Huy Quan and Michelle Yeoh. Those of us who were told we were too old to be hired also cheered. Michelle Yeoh is in her 60s. So is Jamie Lee Curtis.
For those of us considered to be "minorities," as Michelle Yeoh said, one frustrating thing about pursuing our work is that our White friends think that the playing field is level. If we're seen on-air, they assume all is well. That was my case for years. I had a wonderful commercial agent for 12 years. She got me on-air and voice-over work in commercials that kept me financially afloat. She pushed for people to let me into auditions. As for my weekly work on TV, broadcast agents turned me down for representation -- even when I was on national TV. The comment I heard the most from them was "I wouldn't know what to do with you."
The work I did on VH1, my work as host in two game show pilots that aired, my years on local WNBC and Fox5 morning news shows, my year as a film critic for ABC News, my Food Network show host work and the national radio job I had with Whoopi Goldberg -- that was all employment that I got on my own. No broadcast agent submitted me for it. The ABC News job, which was on a live weekday that show aired on Lifetime TV, and the Whoopi Goldberg radio show were national. I was hired at $500 a week.
I was sure the exclusive one-hour VH1 interview I did of Paul McCartney in London would help me get an audition/interview to be an entertainment contributor on CBS SUNDAY MORNINGS. I pitched myself for years and never got a response. I quit the local WNBC job after I was told by my boss that, although my work was excellent and I was popular with viewers, I would never be under contract and I would "never move up to network" exposure. I had to fight for the ABC News film reviewer job audition in 2000 because producers were not sure I "knew anything" about movies. I got the job.
After my VH1 years, I met with Disney executives in L.A. about doing a possible syndicated celebrity interview show. Someone there loved my weeknight celebrity talk show on VH1. One top Disney TV V.P. (who was later fired) said he was concerned because some of my material "seemed gay." When I was shooting episodes for a classy game show pilot, TV execs wondered if America would "accept a Black game show host." This was all in the early 90s. In 2002, a broadcast agent said he couldn't get me work because I was "getting older." Two months later, I booked the job as a Food Network show host. The show aired from 2002 to 2008.
I reveal all this to let you know the depth of why those acceptances speeches touched me show. They touched me and motivated me to not give up on my dreams regardless of my age. And color.
If you want to see work I've done, check out my previous post -- OSCAR WINNERS AND ME.
In the meantime, see EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE. I'm so glad that it won top Oscars. Representation matters.
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