Hello Beautiful People,
I’m absoltely thrilled to introduce you to our next participant in the Actors & Actresses Q&A Series, Telly Leung. Telly is an amazing actor, singer, and truly well rounded artist. I am confident that he will be someone that is on the stage and the screen for quite some time! Telly was kind enough to chat with me about life, art, education, and all things theatre in this exclusive Q&A. Enjoy!
TWT: First things first, did you always know that you wanted to be an actor and a singer?
TL: No. I knew I loved music and I knew I loved the arts even as a little kid, but I had didn’t know that I definitely wanted to make it my profession until I was in high school. It was in high school that this side hobby / passion turned into a full-time pursuit of my dreams.
I had other interests growing up. I grew up speaking Chinese (Cantonese) and I studied abroad in Spain during my junior year, in a University in Madrid. I had a talent for picking up languages, so if I wasn’t an actor, I’d be doing something at the United Nations, I think.
Recently, I’ve actually decided that as much as I love acting and performing, I don’t want to retire as an actor. I want to spend the latter part of my career teaching, and retire as a professor of the arts.
TWT: The entrance process for NYC students at the high school level can be rather daunting. Stuyvesant H.S is considered to be one of the top schools in the city. Can you describe to our readers what the whole application process was like, as well as your time spent at Stuyvesant?
TL: Stuyvesant is a specialized high school in math & science. As for the application process, it’s a standardized test that you take for admittance to the three top academic public high schools in NYC (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech). It’s similar to the SATs. Your score and where you rank as far as percentile determines which school you are eligible to attend, with Stuyvesant being the most competitive for admittance.
My experience at Stuyvesant was very positive – but also very difficult, challenging, and eye opening. I was a good student, and I did well on tests – so I got in. I was good at math and science, but I didn’t really love it. I had classmates who LOVED math and science. They saw the world in biology, physics equations, and chemistry. I saw the world in stories, relationships, arts, and music. I knew right then and there that I wasn’t meant to spend my life in an operating room or a lab. I didn’t quite fit in at Stuyvesant, and it helped me realize that I had much more of an artistic sensibility.
But, Stuyvesant taught me a lot about discipline and hard work – and those lessons have proven very useful to me as an actor. Stuyvesant also taught me how to really be a “good student”, since it was an environment steeped in academia, and I think that the student mentality (which says you are NEVER done learning) is something that’s helped me along the way as well.
TWT: Of all the roles that you have played, is there one (or two) in particular that are most memorable and closest to your heart?
TL: The one that immediately comes to mind is ANGEL in RENT. That character embodies love, friendship, community, and courage to me. Angel is HIV positive, and instead of choosing to spend the rest of his (or “her”) days in fear, he courageously chooses to spend the rest of his precious time on this earth in LOVE. The anthem of RENT is “No Day But Today” and Angel embodies this idea: that we all must live every day like it’s our last and make sure we fill it with love instead of fear of what’s to come.
TWT: In terms of your career, what’s the best piece of advice that you have received, that you would pass onto a young performer just starting out?
TL: Never stop being a student. It doesn’t matter how many TV shows or Broadway shows you’ve done, you must always keep growing as an artist. I’ve been doing this for quite some time, and I still take acting classes, voice lessons, etc. I take very opportunity I can to learn something new. Learning can happen everywhere. Believe it or not, going to the museum or watching human behavior on a subway train can be a learning experience. It all informs our work as actors. So my advice? Leave yourself open to new experiences, and be a good student – of LIFE.
TWT: GLEE is a television phenomenon, with a loyal and faithful following. Can you describe to our readers what your experience with the show has been like?
TL: GLEE was a great experience. It was definitely a “pinch me – is this really happening?” moment to know that I was small part of something that is a cultural phenomenon. It’s not just a TV show for entertainment sake. It’s changing the way a whole generation of people are experiencing music. To be a very small part of that is an honor – and it’s something I look forward to telling my grandkids one day. “Hey kids, look! Grandpa was on Glee!”
TWT: Just for fun, what sound do you love?
TL: Laughter. What actor DOESN’T love getting the laugh?
TWT: Just for fun, what sound do you hate?
TL: Gunfire.
TWT: Just for fun, if you had to pick a different profession other than the one you have, what would it be?
TL: I would either work at the UN or be a teacher.
TWT: In today’s economy, arts programs are being cut. What reasons would you give a politician for preserving arts programs in schools?
TL: The arts – especially the art of theater – is important to us a civilized people. For it’s social significance, I would like g0 back to the humble beginnings of theater – back in Ancient Greece. I was lucky enough to visit Athens on a vacation, and I got to visit the hallowed grounds of the Theater of Dionysus at the Acropolis. It was there that the light bulb went off for me, and I made a connection between my chosen profession as an actor, and how it all began so many centuries ago. Back then, theater was meant to be a place for the community to gather and learn something. The plays being written by theater giants like Sophocles and Euripides was meant to inspire us, as a society, to “do better” as human beings and citizens. Attending the theater was more than just entertainment. It was a civic duty to be a part of the discourse. As an artist myself, I feel a responsibility to do that as well. I always feel like I’ve done my job successfully if we, the artists, are able to create a change in our audience during the course of the performance. If the audience leaves CHANGED and INSPIRED after they leave our show, than we did our jobs right.
TWT: Who is/was your greatest teacher?
TL: I have had so many wonderful teachers. The first one that comes to mind is my high school musical director, Mr. Vincent Grasso, who put me on stage for the very first time (The show was Pippin. I played Lewis.) He taught me the most valuable lesson of ALL about theater – that it is a collaborative art form. Theater does not exist in a vacuum, and the beauty of theater is that it requires teamwork. It brings people together. He used to say to me: “In the theater, everyone is important. It doesn’t matter if you are the star above the marquis or the guy who sweeps the stage every night after the show. Everyone is equally important in creating the theatrical experience – and because of that, you MUST RESPECT EVERYONE IN THE THEATER, no matter what their job is.” It’s a lesson that’s served me well over the years – to show EVERYONE I’ve worked with the same respect, no matter what his or her job or title may be.
Thank you, Telly!
Live, Love, Learn,
Megan &