Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast

Born in Hong Kong and raised in New York, Tzi Ma is a genre-spanning actor who has dedicated his career to documenting the Asian American experience. With every acting decision - whether it be on stage, screen or television - he has sought to portray fully rounded characters, working in an industry where accurate representation has not always been high on the agenda. He has turned down roles he has considered to be stereotypical, and instead, Tzi prefers to champion the voices of minority filmmakers often working with no money on projects which may never see the light of day. Sometimes, they break through - like Lulu Wang's critically acclaimed 2019 comedy drama, The Farewell. Even his mainstream roles challenge the preconceived notions of Asian characters in Hollywood movies: a compassionate father in Mulan; a geologist in Dante's Peak; a military commander in Arrival; Michael Caine's fixer in The Quiet American; 'the General' in the Coen brothers comedy The Ladykillers. When he has played roles in martial a