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Photo: Parry Shen with DJ Qualls from "The New Guy". Photo courtesy of Columbia Pictures.

DENNIS:  You will be in the film “The New Guy” starring DJ Qualls (“Road Trip”), Eliza Dushku (“Bring it On”, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") and Lyle Lovett.  Can you tell us more about your character? PARRY:  I play the character of Glen, Quall’s character’s best friend and band mate.  We’re tight but we are not socially acceptable and DJ’s character distances from us and becomes the new guy and starts a new life in a new school.  The character of Glen plays a keyboard and he needs a girlfriend really bad.  He's a slick talker and acts like he's had more experience with women than he's actually had. DENNIS:  What was it like to work with these talented  people?

PARRY:  It's great to work with your peers who are on the top of their game. A lot of money is riding on it, so as a whole everyone's pretty well weeded out.  There's no real questioning of other actors like in acting classes because for the most part, they're all pros.  We had to go through two weeks of band rehearsals to learn how to play our instruments and we went to the recording studio because we do our own singing in the moving, so it was a great experience. 

DENNIS:  What was it like to work with Ed Decter?  He's written a lot for television and of course the popular film, "Something About Mary".  How was it like to work in his directorial debut?
PARRY:  Well, since Ed was the co-writer for “Something About Mary”, I was a little worried and wanted to know if I could make this guy laugh.  It was intimidating but what really made me respect him was when I just found out that I got the part last minute and flew to Texas within nine hours and got the script, unprepared and didn’t know the breakdown of the character.  Ed took me aside and told me that it would take time and he would work with me and he totally helped me out.

DENNIS:  If there was one thing that you will remember from this movie, what would that be?
PARRY: My hair in the movie.  Since my hair is normally spiky on top, it was deemed "too cool" for Glen so they needed to have my hair go down but it wouldn’t go down. They tried everything.  They finally used a straightening pomade which African-Americans use to straighten their hair called Murray's and this waxy stuff and it made it so slick and hard that water would just bead off of it.  So, it would take three days just to take it off.

DENNIS:  Let's talk about your other upcoming film in which you are playing the lead character.  It's called “Better Luck Tomorrow”.  Can you tell us more about your character?
PARRY:  My character’s name is Ben and he and his best friends are all overachievers.  They are part of academic decathlon, they volunteer in the hospital, focus on getting into a good college.  He’s a perfect kid but then he starts to shoplift, sell cheat sheets because he’s so smart and feels he can make money doing that, then gets involved in drugs and just gets into a downward spiral.  He’s a smart kid, he has a job and money’s not an issue but his reasoning is that why not get something free and if he gets caught, nothing really bad can happen because he's a minor.  But things get bigger and bigger and he gets in over his head.

DENNIS:  Any similarities with you and your character? 
PARRY:  Oh totally!  For those reasons are the same reasons I did those things when I was a kid. Thank goodness I didn’t have to learn the lessons the hard way by being arrested or caught. 

DENNIS:  You are in the movie directed by Justin Lin titled “Better Luck Tomorrow”. What was it like to work with Justin?
PARRY:  I would see his work ethic and know that we are very much alike.  We are hard workers, we focus, we always have a plan and that was in evident in his screenplay.  He’s so organized and resourceful. 

DENNIS:  What was it like to work with your co-actors Jason Tobin, Roger Fan, Sung Kang, John Cho? PARRY:  It was great.  All of us known each other for several years because we auditioned against each other over the years.  We would only speak to each other in five-minute increments before the audition and we never got to know each other.  Now after that we did the movie, I don’t know how in the hell we auditioned together because we are so different.  Our acting styles are different.  But now it’s great to talk to them because before I saw them as competition but now we talk to each other

Photo: Sung Kang, Jason Tobin and Parry Shen from "Better Luck Tomorrow".

about what’s been going on and for six years there was no outlet to voice my insecurities but now I have a group of brothers who feel the same way.  There's a web site: www.betterlucktomorrow.com.  It's got updates on the film, cast info and the trailer will be there soon too.

DENNIS:  Let's get to know Parry Shen outside of acting.  If you had one word to describe yourself, what would that word be and why?
PARRY:  Resilient.  I’m like those super rubber balls you get out of those machines at the supermarket for 25 cents. You throw them and they rocket everywhere ; they're indestructible. And that’s how I am.  If I see something that I want, I try to find the route to get there.  It’s never a question of if I’m going to make it but when because I'll just keep on going.  When I get rejected, I actually get pissed and motivated to try 10 times harder in defiance.  I definitely live by the mottos "go down swinging" and "die trying".

DENNIS:  What is the most satisfying aspect about being an Asian American actor?
PARRY:  I think because I'm an unknown factor.  There's really no precedent set for someone in my position.  A young Asian with two features coming out, one commercial and a strong serious Indie, both of which are characters that are integral to the story.  I'm not the usual Asian character that will fade in the background. I make a statement in the films.  I'm going to come under the radar being Asian and it'll be exciting to see what happens.  I'm realistic, it can be that nothing happens, but now I'm getting the chance that I've been waiting for: to be judged on merit, Asian or not--and see what happens.  I'm assuming the worst and hoping for the best. 

DENNIS:  What is the most frustrating aspect about being an Asian American actor? PARRY:  People would say that it’s lack of roles but every race of actors have their obstacles.  White guys have to deal with that they're a dime a dozen, African-American face the fact that they're reduced to the Ebonics speaking ghetto types--there's frustration for everyone.  You just have to deal and overcome. DENNIS:  Do you feel that with a lot of concentration on foreign Asian actors, it hurts Asian American actors? PARRY:  To me it’s not.  I don’t even see that.  When those movies came out I didn’t think, “this movie will be good for Asians”.  I don’t see the foreign Asian actors hurting or improving my chances at all.  It's a trend that will come and go and come back again.  It's a totally different category to me.  To me what the Rick Yune's and Will Yun Lee's are doing with their spotlights and careers more directly affects me.

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