There are so many actresses I want to write for. I see them, and I think, 'Why is she not playing that lead? What's happened to that actress?' I think all I can do is to write parts for women, to say, 'Keep going, keep acting, because there are parts for you. There will be those plays.'
You'd think that my acting in 'Lost Angels' would have been the reason why I gave up on it. But yeah, I'm just not that good at it. Auditioning is super weird, and I'm bad at it.
I was not thinking about getting into acting in any way.
I got a little house in East L.A. and did the gardening. I was doing some acting here and there, doing my own thing... getting back to reality.
Acting has made me embrace my childhood. It's become some weird form of therapy. It's like I have a place where I can release all of these emotions. When I was playing Ira Hayes, I didn't have to think about the death of my parents directly. It's just there. I can blend it into Ira's character. I can use Ira's emotions as an outlet.
I've learned that for Indian people, the opportunity for us to succeed is very slim. So acting was a great tool for that. And in the process of learning about my culture, I've learned how to connect myself again to my ancestors.
When I was sixteen I started acting, and I also started to embrace my tradition and culture. I had a young medicine man interpret for me what it is to be an Indian. He really caught me at a good time because I was really vulnerable after the loss of my parents with all of the feelings of abandonment.
When I initially started acting, all I wanted to do was to be in one movie. That's it. That was my goal.
It's bad writing, however naturalistic it's written, that's where you have to do your best acting.
Acting is really about having the courage to fail in front of people.
