demi moore

A holiday greeting from Jinxie and I to you and yours this beautiful holiday season! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Pittsburgh was wonderful! I got back home last week from filming on Those Who Kill, and it was great hanging out with my fellow cast mates James D’Arcy (Master and Commander with Russell Crowe), James Morrison (TV show 24, Jarhead, Catch Me If You Can), Chloe Sevigny (Big Love), Omid Abtahi, Ryan O’Nan, and Kate Boyer, along with getting to chat with my director Joe Carnahan (The Grey) about growing up in Michigan and his next project Undying Love, and rehashing scenes from Willard (starring the great Crispin Glover) and What Is It? with Glen Morgan. I ran into a couple production people I’d met in Michigan, too. My costumer Tony also worked on Red Dawn, and one of our craft services peeps was on LOL (starring Miley Cyrus and Demi Moore). Small world getting smaller.

While having the weekend off, the actors got together and watched some work from a couple of us, including Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best, nominated multiple times for Best Original Song in the Oscars (listen to the soundtrack), and Showing Up, an interview style documentary about auditions that can be a very meaningful watch for more than just actors, really, but anyone who has dreams he/she wants to pursue and is afraid to try. It was all very inspiring for me to be amongst these working actors and film professionals who are doing what they love, and making a living at it. A few conversations with them about the perks of moving to LA got my internal clock ticking again. It’s something I’ve been talking about for as long as I remember but I keep holding off, citing money as a reason. Another reason is to get myself a little bit more into the niche market here in the Midwest and East Coast as THE young Asian actress to hire, but it’s still a matter of do I want to hit the big time, because if I do, I will need to make the move at some point. When we Skyped last night, my sister said if I didn’t do by June 2013 she’d be very disappointed in me. So, maybe LA this next year? So many things to think about as we enter the post-Mayan calendar. Looks like I’ve got to make some huge New Year’s resolutions…

For now, I will have to wait and see if Those Who Kill’s pilot gets approval once it’s edited, and then we’d all get to watch it on A&E. If not, it was a grand experience working with the team. Still waiting to hear back on an audition time for a big project I really want to land but all in good time.

Happy Holidays to you all! Remember to enjoy life and follow your dreams!

xoxo,

Cindy

PS: Our family doesn’t really celebrate Christmas, but my second brother Mike and I are home enjoying family time with the parents. Mike has been shooting on a Canon 5D for awhile, which is a full-sensor camera, while I’ve been shooting on a Nikon D7000 which is awesome, but a cropped sensor, and everyone in the film/commercial world I know uses Canons… I was checking out Canons yesterday and IF I COULD, I’d love to upgrade to the Canon 5d Mark II one day, with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM Lens one day…Maybe next Christmas, a gift for myself if I can kick ass at the whole acting career this year! It’s okay to get yourself Christmas presents, right? 😛 (All my siblings and I invested in a new 40 inch flat screen for our parents this year. A huge upgrade from their little 20 inch old-school big box TV…which my mama wants to keep for some reason…)

Cindy Chu Enjoying a mug of coffee at Zenith Antiques in Shadyside, Pittsburgh

The First Presbytarian Church near my hotel, the Omni William Penn in Pittsburgh

The first coconut I ever cracked

Our honey wagon for Those Who Kill

One of the dining rooms at Zenith Antiques, Shadyside, Pittsburgh

Those Who Kill basecamp Pittsburgh

My little dressing room on Those Who Kill!

Little theater in Pittsburgh, the Harris, where I watched Holy Motors

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!