This Is The List (Part 2)

JARED ASATO (Jared Ishii)

I met Jared back in 2005 as I was casting my short film comedy HUBRIS. I sourced him off a Bay Area Theater website and invited him for an audition. I was testing improv skills as I needed an actor to be funny as hell, but not “trying too hard” all the time — if that makes any sense. Man, he really was the funniest guy during the audition so we quickly cast him for the role of “Ricky the Rocket”.

During the filming he just kept on impressing me with his skills and dedication to the craft……not to mention his professionalism. Let’s see — those qualities in an actor — are a slam dunk for me in which I try to give back to them as much as they have given to me — so I knew I had to write something for Jared in my next project.

What’s cool about Jared is now I have a talented friend in my circle where I am able to proudly showcase to people that there are talented Asian guys out there that only need to be given the chance to shine — which he does in NEW YORK LATELY. I specifically wrote the role of Jared Ishii for him — I’m so crafty that it took me a whole 2 seconds to come up with that character’s first name…okay maybe 3 seconds. The most important aspect of the character is that he just is a normal guy stuck in a corporate job — no other agendas going on here….no important race card to play, no political statements, he just is a regular person grappling with an internal struggle of what is the right thing to do versus following what one is told to do (in the workplace). I knew Jared had the chops to embody that internal struggle so I tailored it for him and he comes off like aces.

You’ll probably notice a theme in my next few posts about certain actors — that once I get to know them — I like to write a role specifically for them to really give them something to chew on.

I’m already scheming on what Jared will do in the next film……