Photo by Jimi Sweet
Jake Choi resides in New York so we certainly hope to interview him properly (in front of the camera) once we have a new correspondent there or when he is in Los Angeles. In the meantime, we were able to have Jake answer some of our questions about his career. Jake is in not one, but two films being screened at the Asian American International Film Festival taking place next weekend, Closed (August 12th @ 6:45PM) and Home (August 14th @ 3:00PM). For complete information about the festival, screening times and tickets, visit their website: aaiff
1. Which came first, passion for playing professional basketball or passion for acting? Was being the host of the Korean TV show “Cuisine Tour” the main factor in deciding that you wanted to pursue acting over basketball?
I actually never thought of becoming an actor until I quit pursuing basketball which was about a year and a half ago. Basketball was all I knew since I was a middle school student and was very focused on either playing in the NBA or a competitive professional league overseas. Hosting Cuisine Tour gave me a taste of what it feels like to be in front of the camera and to play to the “audience” who will ultimately be viewing the show, so yes I’d say it was a huge factor in my decision to seriously pursue acting.
2. You also are involved in modeling and commercials. Do you see those as complimentary and natural promotion of your acting career or as separate from acting?
When you get booked for a modeling or commercial job, you are automatically promoting and putting yourself out there and that is beneficial to your career. I feel like as an actor in this day and age, you are a “brand” and you have to promote and market yourself to the best of your capabilities.
3. You have already completed two short films, Alex Shin & Christopher Zou’s “Closed,” and Seimi Kim’s “Home” both of which are being screen in New York at AIFF! What can you tell us about these two films and your character in each film?
There is an interesting story behind how I ended up playing the lead role for Alex Shin and Chris Zou’s Closed. I knew Alex when I was living in Korea and he started attending NYU two years ago. I came back to New York from Korea a year ago and I submitted for Closed after Chris invited me for an audition. I had no idea Alex was co-directing the film! So when I go to NYU to audition you can imagine how surprised I was to see Alex greeting me at the door! Also, he later told me that the role was actually inspired by me when he met me in Korea so that was pretty cool. In the film Closed I play an ex-gangster who decides to go clean by working at a humble Chinese take-out place with his girlfriend until his past transgressions catch up to him (sorry, don’t want to ruin by saying too much!).
The film Home by Seimi Kim is the story of a native Korean student named Sam (played by Seimi Kim) in New York City pursuing a career in acting and her trials and tribulations. I play the role of her boss who is a restaurant manager that loves to give Seimi a hard time just because he can. I was very moved by Home because I related to the character of Sam and her struggles to be successful in a brand new country alone, away from family and friends.
4. You are also in Geraldine Winter’s feature film “Psycho-Path: Mania” now in post-production. Tell us about the film and your involvement in the project.
It’s funny because Geraldine is a sweetheart but is so creative and has the ability to make great twisted horror films! I was introduced to Geri by a mutual friend and we talked for a little bit and I guess she liked my look because she offered a supporting role in the film as one of the orderlies (Luke) of an insane asylum. Psycho-Path: Mania is a psycho, twisted dramatic film shot in a docu-drama style about two mad doctors of “Banewood Asylum” who practice unethical and dangerous procedures on their mental patients, thus turning them into crazy zombie like creatures. I can’t wait for that to be finished!
5. What do you have upcoming? Although you are an American actor working in Hollywood, do you have any plans to also pursue acting in the Korean film industry?
I actually just finished filming a short film with award winning filmmaker Vincent Lin titled Benchmark which is in post-production. I also have an indie feature length film coming up which we will start filming this month, directed by Girard Tecson of Dayside Productions. It’s called The Bad Guy and I play the lead role of Ricky Lee who is an ex-pro wrestler who works as an accountant to live a more stable life. One day, he gets fired from his job, his girlfriend leaves him and his parents are so disappointed in him they want to disown him. Very frustrated, angry and in need of income, he decides to use his former wrestling persona to become a super villain/criminal and starts robbing other criminals to survive. It is a funny action packed film!
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