cindy chu ukulele

Sundance 2011

So it’s almost upon us! I’m talking about the Sundance Film Festival, of course! And I’m going. 😀 You may recall in an earlier post, that I played the part of Alisa in the film Salvation Boulevard. Well, George Ratliff is premiering it at Sundance, so I felt it would be the perfect opportunity to attend for the first time. My only qualms are that I decided so late in the game, and the ticketing procedures were unfamiliar to me, so I will have to see if I can get tickets once I’m there.

Here are some images from the film (they all link back to what site they’re from if you click on them):

Pierce Brosnan as Dan Day in Salvation Boulevard

Salvation Boulevard--Dan Day

Greg Kinnear as Carl VanderVeer in Salvation Boulevard

I’ll have a partner in crime for my SLC/PC trip: my actor friend Lauren Petre! She’s also represented by my talent agency, Charlie’s Talent Agency, or CTA. She also has a film in which she acted premiering at Sundance. It’s a horror film directed by well-known director Lucky McKee, called The Woman. We’ll be attending the Wednesday night showing together! Here are a couple creepy images from the film:

Still from Lucky McKee's The Woman--from ShockTillYouDrop.com

Behind the scenes shot of Lucky McKee's The Woman--from soundonsight.org

In preparation for the festivities, I picked up a couple more sweaters and some good solid snow boots, so I’ll be ready to wait outside in the cold!

The North Face Nuptse Fur IV Boots

It had been awhile since my last haircut, too. I had my stylist, Josh Thiele of Orbit Hair Salon in Ann Arbor, Michigan, give my mop a good cleaning up today.

Cindy Chu with her fresh coif

Looks like 2011 is off to an exciting start for me. I can only hope that this year will be even more successful for me in my pursuit of acting. As with all actors, learning new skills or just having other skills can be important sometimes. Take Christina Hendricks, who has been learning how to play the accordion. Well, while the writers of Mad Men were brainstorming ideas, they decided they wanted an episode in which she played a song at a dinner party. They found out she played accordion, and so they wrote the scene for her.

This brings me to my point. I have been earnestly practicing on my ukulele, and recorded another song the other night. Right now, I’m working on learning yet another, and as soon as I feel I’m performing it at my best (difficult strum pattern!) I will post it, as well. This one was “Sentimental Heart” by She & Him, and I definitely should have practiced it longer than 15 minutes before uploading any performance, but c’est la vie! (Pretty sure I can perform it a bit better than in the video now… 🙂 *shrugs*)

And in other skill areas, I finally got out my Nikon D70 to shoot my friends’ event. The Ann Arbor hip hop duo made up of J Thrill, and D Train, aka Thrill$Train, had a show at Sava’s last weekend, and I was there with my camera to capture the magic. They were pretty happy with the photos! They’ve got a show in Detroit next month at The Old Miami. Check out their website for more details or to download their album free! These were a couple of my favorite images from the night:

D Train says J Thrill looks like "The Most Interesting Man in the World's Son" here

Thrill$Train in all their hot hot glory

D Train thrilling the crowd

Thrill$Train playing to a packed house at Sava's in Ann Arbor

As with other posts, I like to promote friends, and I went to a show recently at the Crofoot and discovered this AMAZING new band from Monroe, Michigan. They are called Jack & The Bear and they play instruments like the banjo, violin, trumpet, accordion, etc. Absolutely brilliant. One of their friends uploaded some live video footage from the show which you can check out on their Facebook fanpage. From what I heard, they are in the midst of recording their first album. I wish them the best of luck, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised to see them blow up big time in the next couple of years.

Alright, I guess I’ll hopefully have a few more updates for you when I get to Salt Lake City/Park City, UTAH! It’ll be my first visit to the state. Huzzah!

~cindy

Cindy Chu-Model/Jessica Y. Hernandez-MUA/Jimmy FivePhotography-Photog

Hello again!

Wow, it has been a minute. Sorry I’ve been busy, and have neglected my poor site.

The summer ended up flying by, as did fall. I started working on a couple films in late July. This Must Be the Place (TMBTP), starring Sean Penn and Frances McDormand and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, ended up taking me from July through part of October. I started as an Office PA on TMBTP, and was promoted to Production Secretary when they commenced principal photography in Michigan. I also had the opportunity to work on LOL: Laughing Out Loud as a Producer’s Assistant for a few days, assisting the awesome Stacey Sher. I got to tell Miley Cyrus about the Hannah Montana sour gummy vitamins my mom made me take that morning. Demi Moore and Thomas Jane play Miley’s parents in the film, and Douglas Booth her love interest. Ray Liotta stopped by our set one night to say hello to Demi. For a minute, it seemed like I was in Hollywood of old, seeing all these movie stars at my workplace. I always knew this was the industry for me, but it’s a bit surreal meeting some of these actors IRL. Especially in Detroit. Thank god for the film initiatives, which have allowed me to enjoy these jobs and opportunities I otherwise would not have had unless I had moved somewhere like Chicago, NYC, or LA. A move is still in the plans but for now, I’m happy for the work here.

Sean Penn as Cheyenne in This Must Be the Place

L-R: Paolo Sorrentino, Sean Penn, & Frances McDormand

L-R: Thomas Jane, Demi Moore, & Miley Cyrus, stars of LOL: Laughing Out Loud

Douglas Booth plays Miley's love interest in LOL

Ray Liotta

I’m now PAing on a gig with Radical Media and GM. After it wraps up, I’m helping a friend out in a music video, playing his ex in a relationship gone south. You may remember his name, Roborobb. He interviewed me for his artists blog awhile back.

I am so so so incredibly thankful for all the opportunities given to me this year, and I hope that 2011 will be even bigger and better, but for now, it seems like everything’s gonna be alright.

Even with how busy I’ve been, I’ve found some new interests/skills to pick up. I recently purchased a beautiful Oscar Schmidt OU7T, a gorgeous tenor ukulele of spalted mango wood.

Cindy Chu with her Oscar Schmidt OU7T Ukulele

So I’ve been finding time to play it when I’m not completely exhausted, and have made a few simple recordings of me playing a couple different songs. This is about a month in, but I thought it’d be good to force myself to record and have it documented so I can watch/hear myself and perhaps it’d help me improve more. Here are the videos for your pleasure. Not the best renditions, but I had fun doing them. I hope you like them.

I’ll Follow the Sun by John Lennon and Paul McCartney–As dedicated to my friend Anna Castelaz, who is on a grand trip abroad in Haifa, Israel.

And something a little more fitting for the holiday season… Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah

And just to throw in some extra meat into this posting since it’s been so long, here are some photos of me from a MUA photoshoot. Jessica Y. Hernandez was the MUA, and Jimmy FivePhotography the photographer.

Cindy Chu-Model/Jessica Y. Hernandez-MUA/Jimmy FivePhotography-Photog

Also, I can’t forget to plug my friends before ending this posting!

My buddy, Magestik Legend, has his new album The Great Escape out on iTunes today! I was featured in his track “On The Run” doing voiceover work as the part of the Reporter, heard in the opening of the track. Click here for the link where you can hear it free!

I had another small VO job in a wedding video for Jen & Dave, filmed and produced by Hyun Suh and Rob Frenette of Two Penny Productions. If you need a wedding videographer, these are the guys! You can check out more of their videos on their Vimeo account.

That’s all I’ve got for you now. I hope to have more good news to share with you asap, but until then, take care, and yall stay fabulous!

~cindy

PS: Got a SAG email today, and I believe I get to vote in the SAG awards this year, and also get screeners mailed to me for the voting process? Not 100% sure, but fingers crossed! That would be awesome!