Marissa Carpio is a passionate actress, activist, and woman of sage wisdom. 

I interviewed her for a story and in the process felt inspired by her love of performance and the many ways in which she connects to her culture, craft, and community.

According to the most recent Hollywood Diversity Report , the amount of Asians in lead film roles is less than 5.4%, while the share of all film roles is at a not too distant 6.5%. This makes the work that Marissa and fellow Asian-American actresses who grace the big screen much more impactful. This also makes conversations with women who are breaking down Hollywood’s monocultural history even more revolutionary and important. 

Here’s our interview: 

Dennica: What are your earliest childhood memories of connecting to the art form of acting?

Marissa: When I was 5, my parents brought me to see a production of Les Miserables in Chicago, and while I didn’t understand what the hell was going on, it all felt so grand – the feelings, the music, the life happening on stage – I knew I wanted to be a part of that.  My parents immediately enrolled me in children’s acting classes, singing lessons and ballet classes after seeing I was interested in music theater.  I may not have really understood what I was doing, but I knew I was having fun being loud, jumping around, playing make-believe, when all other aspects of my life growing up were quieter and a bit more restrained.  

Dennica: Who are some actors and actresses you grew up watching, loving, and learning from? What were movies that you loved to watch over and over growing up?

Marissa: I mean, the 2 movies I can recite line by line and not miss a beat are THE LION KING and CLUELESS, so I definitely watched those over and over again when I was little!  As a pre-teen/teen, two movies I really loved were ROMEO + JULIET and MOULIN ROUGE. Both directed by Baz Luhrmann.  They were just so different from anything else I was watching at that time.  

An actor I really noticed in those movies was John Leguizamo, because I remembered watching him in the SUPER MARIO BROS movie and TO WONG FOO… and thinking, “Wow, his performances are ALL so different from character to character!”  and so full of heart and passion.  I mean, and of course, I thought he was mad cute, too.  

I appreciate THE GODFATHER a million times more watching it now than I did back then, but I found myself gravitating towards modern-day films like DARK CITY, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, DONNIE DARKO – all moodier films, you could say.  Also a lot of those teen movies were coming out at that time like SHE’S ALL THAT and 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, which I enjoyed – also movies like THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY – honestly I was watching everything that a kid growing up in the Chicago suburbs was able to watch in theaters or rent from Blockbuster!

Dennica: Take me back to your life at home as a child. What are the ways in which your parents connected with Filipino culture? What part of the Philippines are your parents from? Are there any cultural traditions from back-in-the-day that you continue to embrace in present your life as an adult?

Marissa: Well, we lived in an overwhelmingly white Catholic suburban neighborhood, but my parents had close ties to other Filipino families in the Chicago area.  Culturally… it’s tough to say.  As I’ve gotten older, I now see some choices they had to make in order to navigate raising a family halfway across the world from where they grew up, in a neighborhood with a whole bunch of white people whose experiences were far different from theirs.  

Understandably, they wanted to assimilate into this white, suburban community, so they didn’t speak Tagalog to me growing up – I understand they probably felt it would help my English language skills, which would help me blend in more with my classmates.  And it’s not something I realized I had missed until I was much older.  

But, when a Filipino family in the area would have a party to celebrate a birthday, First Communion, graduation, etc, that’s really the time we would connect with other Filipinos – over FOOD!  There was soooooo much food, I’ll never forget those parties.  And of course, karaoke.  And the kids would be in one area playing whatever, and the moms would be in another area chatting, and the dads would be outside smoking and drinking – but we’d all be eating and singing at some point!  

D: What did it feel like to grow up as an Asian-American in Chicago? What were some challenges that you had to overcome? What are some of your favorite memories immersing yourself in Asian culture at home and around the city?

M: It was very, very lonely growing up.  Don’t get me wrong, I had school friends, but not many, and not kind, as retrospect has taught me.  There’s only one person I went through those 10 years of grade school with who I’d ever want to talk to again (and she remains a great friend today).  

I guess that’s what also drew me to performing arts – EVERYONE was weird and more concerned with having fun and being loud over being “popular” or “cool” or whatever the hell us kids were concerned with back in the day.  But, the plus side about being lonely is you learn to be alone, which I’d argue is a great life skill to have as an adult.

Because of the lack of anything Asian, really, in my life and my surroundings, I would get extremely excited if anything remotely Asian ever came up – like, I remember being super excited about a Thai restaurant opening up at the mall, anything Sanrio, or if I saw a single Asian person on TV, I’d flip out – out of happiness and recognition! 

D: Let’s invite the audience into your life as a young adult on the way to college. What inspired you to make the move from Chicago to New York to study mathematics?

M: I knew I always wanted to go to New York, totally influenced by a lot of movies I watched growing up.  I wanted to be close to Broadway, thinking I’d be watching a new musical or show every week!  While I would have loved to have studied music theater, my parents were very adamant about me pursuing an academic major, then I could “do whatever I wanted” after that.  So I ended up applying mostly to colleges in NYC, and a few others on the East Coast (like Harvard, at the insistence of my mom!).  

I ended up getting into Barnard and NYU and chose NYU – as my 17 year-old self really loved that downtown scene!  I didn’t care about a major until I absolutely had to choose one my sophomore year, so I settled on Mathematics. I thought Mathematics would be all number crunching, but it was a pleasant surprise to discover it was more about theory, abstract ideas, proofs – the way I relate that to acting:  both use a finite set of symbols, a vocabulary, in infinite ways to describe the abstract while reaffirming how little of the mystery we can really put to paper – but we still try.  Two very different paths leading to the same destination.

D: Let’s zoom forward to first step in acting. What was your first ever role? What are some cherished memories that you reflect on from that production?

M: My first ever role on stage was a play I self-produced along with my actor friends from my classes at Stella Adler!  Wow, this was ages ago, but this was a true passion project that I did with people I loved – I couldn’t ask for anything better.  We certainly learned a lot about producing and staging a show, and I’m sure there were problems that came up along the way, but I don’t remember any of those – I just remember really loving the process of starting from an idea, collaborating with others, working and rehearsing for MONTHS to make it happen… and then it did!

D: How about your first film professional role, what was that like? 

M: My first ever role on a professional film set was a commercial where I played a scientist.  I had done student films before, so this was quite different in that the production was HUGE!  We filmed it at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, which was probably the biggest building I had ever been in here in NYC.  Hundreds of crew members, hundreds of background, and everything was moving FAST – the energy was buzzing and I lived for that!  That’s probably the one and only role where my math degree came in handy – there were no lines since the commercial was all narrative voiceover.  I was supposed to improvise talking like a scientist, so in the audition and on set, I was breaking out my math knowledge and explaining mathematical concepts and theory – I had a blast!  And the commercial was cool and sharp and ended up airing internationally for a few years – that was such a great experience.

D: Many people of color in creative industries find themselves in the minority. What are some things you keep in mind to bring you strength in clarity as you navigate these spaces?

M: It’s a balancing act both storytelling-wise & creatively so you have to be open to playing with ideas and staying in the spirit of collaboration, but at the same time, you have to keep another part of your mind cognizant of whether you’re going in a direction that can be harmful to you or your community. You also have to consider whether or not the production is going to treat you as an equal to your white counterparts. 

It’s a tough balance, because white is still seen as the default in American storytelling, therefore there’s a perception that white stories still have more value, therefore there’s a perception that white storytellers have more value.  While there is a shift in that there is more desire and need for diverse stories, the people behind the scenes, the decision makers, all still tend to be predominantly white – even if you have writers, actors and a creative team made up of people of color.  And because those decision makers tend to have a final say, that’s when you see a lot of compromise start happening in the way the story is told.

Now, I am not anyone hugely well-known or “high up” by any means, I’m a working actor, so I tell myself that I am in control of my performance, and I have the power to say no to things that make me uncomfortable as an actor of color.  My voice, my experience, my creative input has value.  If people don’t respect that, I am free to walk away – and I am lucky in that I haven’t come across any situations where I’ve felt the need to do that.  But if I do, I’m prepared for that- in being confident in who I am, what my experiences have been, and what I have to say as an artist.  I also know I have a community of fellow artists of color that has my back.

D: What are some words of advice you might have for fellow Asians in acting who are interested in being represented by SAG-AFTRA?

M: I love being a member of the union, and I’d be thrilled for more Asian actors to be a part of that!  The union is there to protect you as an actor, not to mention joining is a necessary step in pursuing an acting career.  Because SAG-AFTRA is the professional film actors’ union, and because pretty much all the narrative film productions you see on screen hire SAG actors, you have to be ready to play at that professional level.  So get as much acting experience as you can beforehand, through acting training, student films, independent films, filming your own productions – which I HIGHLY recommend – understand who you are and where you fit in amongst the hundreds of thousands of actors auditioning alongside you day-to-day, and when you feel ready (you never do, by the way, ha!), join on up!  It’s a big step in any actor’s career, but it does take a bit of work before joining to ensure you’ll be making the most out of your entry into the actors’ union.  I joined the union because of my role in the Netflix film THE SLEEPOVER – it was time by that point!  I’m glad it was because of that film.

D: What would you like to see more of in terms of character roles for Asian women in Hollywood? What changes would you like to see in the industry?

M: I want to see Asian American women in EVERYTHING!  In all kinds of roles, especially roles written by other Asian American women, other women of color.  The experience of Asian American women isn’t singular, and while we do experience a lot of similarities, I want to see the differences explored – we all have different ways of navigating the world as Asian American women.  

For example, for Asian American women who grew up in Asia, growing up in a setting where you were a part of the majority is a different experience than that of an Asian American woman who grew up in America as the minority.  I want to see those differences in character and thought explored, and what brings us together despite those differences.  

I want to see Asian women get to experience the full spectrum of character and emotion on screen, on our terms – we can be funny and quirky and losers and winners and wacky and full of rage – we can be romantic leads and villains and protagonists and so much more than the best friend to the lead white character.  I truly believe that starts with having more Asian women, more writers of color, more diverse writers in the writing room, on the creative team, and in the room where decisions are made.  

D: What are some important questions to raise for us as a viewing audience? 

M: I also think you need an audience that is receptive to seeing an Asian woman as more than one-dimensional – I mean, look at the backlash against TURNING RED.  People complained that you already see enough Asian people on TV, that they couldn’t identify with the lead character, a 13-year old Asian girl, because it’s “too different” from them.  But growing up, do you know how much we’ve been subjected to stories about white people, predominantly white men, and how we’ve continuously been asked, through those stories, to feel empathy for them?  

Why can’t audiences do the same for Asian characters, especially Asian women?  Why are stories around Asian characters dismissed by a lot of white people as “woke” or “pandering” – why is our existence on screen, our stories that illuminate our humanity, such a threat to those white people?  I have my theories, but that will lead me into writing a mini-novel here – and I suspect there’s a word limit to this article, ha.  That’s why we need more.  More stories about us.  Flood all the screens with stories about Asian Americans to the point where we can neither be dismissed nor be ignored.