We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ella Rouwen Chen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Ella Rouwen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful project for me recently as an actor is “Tranquil Waters, Boundless Skies” directed by Sean Yang. It is an action fantasy short film inspired by the great Chinese classical novel Journey to the West. The story follows two siblings who are descendants of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, as they learn to embrace their destined powers, confront their family’s past and unite to fight the vengeful Bull Demon King.
I had the opportunity to play Sun Wulin, the cheeky, playful little sister who must learn to fight when she unexpectedly became the one to inherit the Monkey King’s power. It was an incredible experience diving into the rich canon of Journey to the West and developing my character in the world Sean built. And just like Sun Wulin, I had to learn how to wield Jingu Bang (the Monkey King’s weapon) and the way of martial arts. Luckily, I got help from the best of the best. Martial Club was the team behind all the stunts in this film. You might have heard of a little movie they choreographed in the past called Everything Everywhere all at Once. Daniel Mah, our stunt coordinator, choreographed two amazing fight sequences and trained me so that I could look badass opposite Mike Rao and Travis Change who played my brother and the Bull Demon King respectively and are both members of Martial Club.
I’m also very excited to share that our film “Tranquil Waters, Boundless Skies” is having its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada, the largest genre film festival in the world!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I am an actor based in LA, originally from Shanghai. Growing up in a different part of the world definitely gave me a unique perspective, my native Chinese language skill and some slight accent. My accent used to be something I was embarrassed about and tried to hide, but now I see it as a part of who I am. (I also made a short film about this experience. Go check out “de closin night” on Omeleto Drama on Youtube! It was part of the American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes in 2023!)
What I want my future collaborators to know about me is that I am a multi-faceted person. To steal and misquote Anna Sawai’s excellent speech: I am a proud Chinese woman. I will never stop being Chinese. But I’m also just a human. It’s been such an honor to play so many authentic characters embedded in my culture or about the immigration experience in America. I wouldn’t trade those experiences for anything else. But my story – our stories, are not just about immigration. People like me are also at law firms, banks and in every corner of the society chasing their dreams, working and living alongside a diverse population of people. We can be the people lining up at US embassies to get our paperwork, and we can also be the people lining up at Costco with a grocery bag in hand ready to get that 5 dollar rotisserie chicken the second it’s out.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
It is so corny… Every movie has a monologue about it. But it’s true. When I work on something that I’m truly passionate about and am “in the zone”, it really is the best feeling ever. I am filled with purpose, joy and passion. Hours could go by and my Gen Z cooked brian doesn’t need to scroll my phone. And it’s not just when I’m acting on set, it’s also when I’m researching for an audition, when I’m rehearsing for a scene, when I make a discovery about a character, when I help my friend make a discovery about their scene, when I’m doing improv, the list goes on and on.
I remember when I was prepping for “Tranquil Waters, Boundless Skies”, the days went by so fast. Reading Journey to the West, watching other actors portraying the Monkey King or showing off their Monkey Kung Fu in iconic movies, TVs and Peking Operas, practicing my own steps, exploring the character in my body, breaking down the script… There was so much to do! I was ecstatic!
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
This got me thinking! The notion that “Show business is an extremely difficult industry” is something that I’ve had to unlearn – not because it’s untrue but because of how I internalized this message. It was making me feel small in this giant industry. I felt like I needed to grit my teeth and clench my fists to prove to others, so I was an anxiety ball desperate for outside validations. And overall, I just didn’t have a lot of faith in my talent or in myself in beating the odds. All that prevented me from showing up in auditions, meetings or performances as my full self. At one point in my career, someone said “What if it’s easy?” And that was a real light bulb moment for me, because I realized I don’t need to make the challenges in my head any bigger than they already are. Reminding myself constantly of the challenges instilled fear in me, which was counterproductive.
That being said, when I hear a hard-to-swallow rejection, or more realistically, nothing after auditions and auditions, I have to re-learn that lesson to remind myself to not take them personally. At the end of the day, us actors need to try to maintain a healthy, realistic and optimistic mindset. That means sometimes we need to fill ourselves up with hope and then sometimes we need to go “yup, it’s a tough industry”.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9213937/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellarouwenchen/?hl=en
