January 10, 2019

Life and Work with Ngan Le

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ngan Le.

Ngan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My parents came from Vietnam after the war to live the American Dream in the U.S. I was born and raised in Chicago, IL and have two siblings. Throughout my academic career, I was very focused on science and received many awards and achievements for it. However, I took one acting class my senior year of high school and that opened a new world for me. I attended Knox College, where I received a B.A. in Biology and Theatre. In college, I was quite involved in theatre. I was a stage manager and assistant stage manager. Then, I appeared in Mosque Alert (Jennifer Backer), which sparked my interest to be an actress. After graduation, I assistant stage managed at Steep Theatre for Lela & Co. and started auditioning in the Chicago area. I was an extra in student films, music videos, and commercials. Later on, I landed small parts and lead roles. From where I started, not knowing a thing about acting and theatre to auditioning and learning about the community in Chicago. I want to thank my family for their support in my career choice and my mentors for the advice and guidance.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It was not a smooth road for sure. When I started auditioning in Chicago, I went to a lot of them and never got callbacks or picked for the small parts or lead roles. I started thinking to myself that acting is not right for me. That I am not going to make it in the industry because I am not tall, pretty or skinny enough. That they are looking for actors that are Caucasian to play the everyday role like next door neighbor, roommates in college, secretary, and more and people will not pick an Asian because of the stereotypes that society have placed, which makes them not fit to play the roles. So, for maybe about six months, I put my acting career on hold and focused my day job that I have and see what other careers related to it that I can do to make a living. However, I reminded myself why I became an actor and who I am doing it for. I want to be a role model to Asian youths who want to pursue performing arts. I want to be among other Vietnamese-American actors representing the Vietnamese community. After that, I continued to audition, regardless if it is paid or not, and eventually landed small parts and lead roles. It made me very happy, and I was proud of myself for getting past that mentality thinking that I cannot make in the entertainment industry. Every success takes time and effort. My advice to all the ladies out there starting their journey is not to let doubt be the reason you cannot do something and don’t let setbacks determine your path.

Please tell us about your business.
Currently, right now, I have a day job as a Youth Program Coordinator at the Chinese Mutual Aid Association. My role is assisting my manager in facilitating the After School Program, Youth Summer Camp program, Young Women Warriors (YWW) program, young men’s mentoring program, and After School High School Program, engaging with youth ages 6-18 years old. I am also a mentor for the Young Women Warrior (YWW) program, which is a mentoring program for young ladies ages 12-18 years old. I am an actress, focusing on on-camera work and modeling. I believe what I am known for is taking a lot of pictures and being very involved in my community. What sets me apart from others is that I have a group of young ladies that are at my job and are a part of the YWW mentoring program looking up to me and being inspired to explore the arts. I also have the support of my family for pursuing a career as an actress.

Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
I feel the biggest barrier today to female leadership, in general, is getting a lead role. Females either think that they could never get the role because it’s for men or wouldn’t be taken seriously because they are women. Women immediately doubt themselves before giving it a chance or strive for it because of the way society has continued on to place the idea that women are bossy, they are not as intelligent, they are soft-spoken, shy, don’t know what they are talking about, and more. Society, both men and women, need to change the way they talk about women such as, rather than saying “She is bossy”, you would say, “She is a boss,” making it more positive than negative. Also, men and women should encourage and lift each other up as well as work together than making it a rivalry and pride.

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