We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mayu Cho a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Mayu, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
When I was a teenage girl, I began to aspire to become an actor. I was very shy and had difficulty speaking to others in the classroom. My family’s issues at the time had affected me deeply, leading to a loss of speech and communication skills.
One day, I happened to visit a drama club and saw their performance on stage. The way they expressed their feelings through acting opened my eyes. One of the students suggested that I audition, so I did. To my surprise, I passed the audition for a spring stage event. After that, I became a member of the drama club and started training for the spring event. It was my first time performing in front of an audience. I felt so confident when I acted, and I realized that I could be anyone I wanted to be. This experience made me start thinking about becoming a professional actor.
Mayu, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m Mayu Cho an actor, originally from Japan. My mother was born in Hong Kong, so I have two different cultural backgrounds. My acting career started 20 years ago, and I have been an actor in theater and stage performances, as well as in films in Japan. I moved to the United States in 2017 to attend an acting school in Los Angeles. After graduating from the acting school, I began working as an actor in the film industry.
I worked with many professionals in LA, and I never expected this opportunity to happen in my life.
I recently appeared in two short films. The first film is called “The kiss of life “. I played a character much older than my actual age. This experience taught me a lot. After applying special effects makeup to become an elderly woman, I noticed my fingers and body naturally stiffened, and I found myself embodying the character’s vast experiences, intelligence, deep humanity, and generosity. The most fascinating aspect of being an actor is the ability to live and experience the life of a character so different from your own. The second film is called “Reminiscent.” It was shot at Enoshima Shrine in Japan, a place with personal significance to me. The story is a fantasy about a character trapped in the past, whose existence begins to fade. I played the female lead. The film turned out to be a spiritual and poetic piece, and it was nominated and screened at this year’s film festival in Atlanta. Honestly, I often find it challenging to pursue acting in the United States due to my background. However, I felt proud that “Reminiscent,” despite its distinctly Japanese atmosphere, was the only Asian work nominated at the festival.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
I’ve read many acting books that guide my artistic direction and inspire me. Whenever I feel down, I turn to them to reconnect with my creativity as an actor.
I’d like to introduce one of my favorite acting book is called
“The Invisible Actor” by Yoshi Oida.
Yoshi is the only Japanese actor who has continued to appear in the plays of British director Peter Brook. He often shares the various insights he has gained from his extensive experience as an actor.
In particular, he discusses how each part of the body contributes to an actor’s craft, describing its invisible functions and the profound connection between the body, mind, and imagination. Every time I revisit these ideas, I discover something new. For an actor, art involves expressing not only the body but also the mind, imagination, and even the soul.
This book has provided me with valuable insights, not just as an actor, but also in moments when I’ve lost my way in life, helping me to get back on track.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I believe that everything is affected by the state of my body, so I am very careful about what I eat. Even when I’m feeling down, I always check what I have eaten in the past few days.
Traditional Japanese foods especially help to maintain my health. One day, l just felt out of control and lost my mind. l cooked Japanese foods for all day to feed me. Just a cup of Miso soup gave me strength and resilience to recover from everything.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.mayucho.org
- Instagram: @mayu.cho23
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077278572491&mibextid=LQQJ4d
- Twitter: MayuCho823
- Youtube: @mayucho823
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6919155/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk
