I was a dancer when I got discovered, and I started working immediately. I started being in commercials and doing guest star roles. My first big thing, which happened maybe six months after being discovered, was 'Bring It On: All or Nothing.'
So, immediately after that, I got a commission to write a piece for chamber orchestra, and in working on the material I discovered it was possible to incorporate the Buddhist teachings into the music, so that's what I started to do.
I auditioned for this agency. I got an advertisement first, and then something else, which I got fired from. It was soul-destroying. And then the next thing I got, I thought was going to be my big break, and they cut the role. It was only the year that I started auditioning for 'Star Wars' when I really started getting roles.
I had been doing plays in New York and on a whim we packed up and moved West, I started doing commercials and plays and guest star spots on TV and one thing led to another and I got Knots Landing.
It's, like, your classic journey from a drama school. I went straight to the three-year acting degree, and I waitressed throughout that to support myself and for the first six months after I graduated. Then I started to get commercials here and there, and then I got a couple of roles in Australia and then a more regular role on a TV series.
I got into the UFC after six months of training. I started doing jiu-jitsu, had my first fight, tried out for 'The Ultimate Fighter,' and got on.
We were discovered by Don Fury; he was the first record producer who discovered us and essentially plucked us out of the rough. But I think in another way, we were discovered when we discovered each other, right before we started high school. We were 12 and 13. I don't want to speak for Justin Beck, but that's a big moment, linking up with your foil for the first time. Glassjaw definitely changed my life in the biggest way possible.
I started acting, when I was 15, in commercials and guest roles. I was definitely a working actor, so I was thankful for that. But I never had to work at a store, although I would have liked to.
I discovered I was an Asian American when I arrived in the U.S. I didn't identify as that before I came here. People started calling me that, and I started being treated in a specific way.
I started writing when I was 13. I got my first electric guitar when I was 13, but I'd always been singing. I had my first little acoustic when I was six. But I started being in bands when I was 13.
I started out my career as a screenwriter and quickly discovered that adhering to a script isn't always the best way to make a film. You have to take into consideration the nuances of the characters and what the actors bring to their roles.
I don't know how old I was when I first started going to shows, maybe 14 or 15, but very quickly, I discovered Dischord Records in D.C. and loved all the music on that catalog. I was a big Rites of Spring fan, Minor Threat, of course.
After decades spent in rewrite rooms surrounded by other shouting writers, I discovered that I work best alone. I like being in charge of my time, working out the problems according to my own rhythms and being able to nap. That's a big one, the napping on demand!
That was the first time ever in history that anybody got Special Guest Star. I started that whole nonsense.
Years ago, when I first started being a big star, I had fans that were fanatical. It was when 'Jolene' was a big hit.
Years ago when I first started being a big star I had fans that were fanatical. It was when "Jolene" was a big hit.
I got the job [in Moana project] about six months before we started rehearsals. No, seven and a half months before we started at the Public, and so, it's been my ocean of calm throughout the Hamilton phenomenon.