We recently connected with Paul Gunn and have shared our conversation below.
Paul, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
My personal mission started when I was a teen in the late 80s/early 90s. Growing up as an Asian immigrant in Dallas, TX. during this time was a difficult time for me. I wanted so badly to look like everyone else, I just wanted to “fit in”. Furthermore, because of the choice of popular culture, because there was little programs with an ethnic lead, let alone, Asian, this led to my feeling a sense of self- hatred. I found that I wanted to be some race other than Asian. I have since learned to love and embrace mine and all Asian cultures now. I am grateful that I do stand out and look unique and different, and choose to embrace all my flaws. I’ve made it a point to perform roles that are not stereotypically Asian in western media and try to portray Asian men in more masculine, heroic roles.
I’ve been fortunate to have been hired for more larger-than-life type roles, more warrior, gangster, deity, demon, demi-god like roles, rather than reporter, writer, guy-next-door roles. I feel that I am on track with following my childhood dreams.
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.
Nowadays, I’m in the filmmaking world, I mainly act, produce and perform stunt work, I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Management Information Systems from UNLV.
I started in musical theater; as a teen, I took singing and dance lessons. I was a skinny, insecure, bespectacled Asian teenaged immigrant, growing up in a suburb of Dallas.
I often felt alone and isolated. I just felt that I never fit in.
In Texas, sports was big, but, I just wasn’t as good as the other kids. You see, I’m sort of a late bloomer. I look younger than my age, but, there’s a bad part about looking younger than your age: when I was young, about 17/18, I looked REAL YOUNG, more like I was 13/14! All my male friends were starting to get deeper voices and muscles, I still looked like I just showed up from junior high school.
Unfortunately, sports was just not within reach for me. So, being that my family is from Thailand, at the age of 15, I asked my mom if I could go stay with my grandmother in Thailand and learn Muay Thai, Thai Boxing, one of the most vicious aggressive martial arts. She said no, that she didn’t want me to get beat up or my face broken.
So, a future in sports AND martial arts were now off the table. Mom wanted me to be a doctor. I did have this weird notion that I had wanted to be a singer from an early age. I was in enrolled in choir class; our high school had what’s called a show choir or swing choir. You have to be able to sing, perform choreography, partner work, tap, and you must audition for it and they only had 18 + 1 manager per year . And, they replace members who have graduated, so, there was probably 3-5 spots to audition for. I ended up getting in.
This was my introduction to dance,
Peers have told me that I was a naturally coordinated and good dancer. I wish I could agree; I just had a very anal-retentive way of rehearsing and practicing, I was filled with a lot of self-hatred, so, I kept rehearsing till it just became muscle memory. Think Russian or Chinese gymnastics coach militant when it came to stretching and rehearsing.
My sophomore year, my choir teacher, Jim Sparks asked what I wanted to do when I got older. I said I really liked dancing and that I would really like to to be a dancer. He said that I might consider taking dance classes. It totally never occurred to me! However, there was NO way my parents would pay for dance classes! So, I had to find dance classes on my own.
There was a dance studio walking distance from my house.
And, of course, i knew NO ONE from that dance school!
One day, age 15, I worked up the courage to walk in off the street and ask to speak to owner or manager, Her name was Diane Cole Johnson. She and her husband Mike, recently passed. I introduced myself, said I went to the local high school, and was a part of the show choir there. I said if she gave me dance classes, in return, I would perform in the recital, sweep the floors and compete for their school. She agreed, she thought I’d fizzle out after a couple weeks, but, I kept returning.
From taking dance, it took me onboard cruise ships, I picked up public speaking there. I also had a chance to watch a lot of specialty acts, the old vaudeville acts, comedians, jugglers, magicians, contortionists, xylophone players, ventriloquists…. it was a study in performance, how to handle unexpected events, costume malfunctions, hecklers… I learned A LOT. Plus, I got to travel around the world.
From there, I moved to Las Vegas. I married a Hungarian casino dealer I met on the ships. I performed in shows on the strip, notably Splash. I went to school for IT, my ex worked as a casino dealer and went to massage school. we grew apart and divorced.
I was then hired at Chippendales. It was a fun ride. It taught me how to appear more appealing, and I became better at interviewing. They let me go. Twice. No fault of my own. They went a different direction. It was a low point in my life. That was the biggest accomplishment for me and they let me go. A good friend, Gary Groff arranged an audition at a local stunt show. From that point, I got interested in stunt work, which then led me to acting.
Along the way, I had managed to pick up other skills, from the different shows I performed. There were also special events where I would end up working with Regis Philbin or Vanessa Williams. Most of the time, dancers tend to stay with a show until it closes or they retire. I always made it a point the audition for a new job every couple of years to pad my resume.
I am not through, it has been a long, challenging path. But, I would not have chosen it if I did not believe in myself.
I started taking acting classes 9 years ago and have already worked with Eric Roberts, Richard Grieco, Tara Reid, Karina Smirnoff, Kevin Sorbo, Robert LaSardo, Michael Madsen, Gilles Marini, Fred Savage, Zachary Levi, Jon Favreau, Taika Waititi and more. Since moving to Los Angeles seven years ago, I have had main roles in independent films and started working smaller roles in larger productions and have worked on Bullet Train, Free Guy, Snake Eyes, The Mandalorian and Our Flag Means Death.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
It was during the time I got let go from Chippendales. I tried so hard to appeal to them, I trained, ate right, I had dance training, so I could teach or learn parts. In the end, my contract was not extended. I fell into a depression. I thought I had gone as far as I could. Afterwards, I was hired at a medeival stunt show in Las Vegas called Tournament of Kings. From there, I was led into the stunt and acting world. I’ve continued to learn, grow and thrive.
In retrospect, best case scenario, if Chippendales had valued me and treated me well and kept rehiring me, I would’ve rested on my laurels, I wouldn’t have bothered learning to act and would probably be in management or tour manager or artistic director. I much prefer to have camera time. This is a new world filled with opportunity for growth. I’ve met some very helpful, talented and reputable people who believe in me.
Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?
Luckily, I’ve been hired for interesting work somewhat consistently. I’ve been fortunate to have gotten interesting, and engaging material. Or, perhaps I pace the news of one event to another, so instead of posting multiple posts, I save my material and pace myself. I suppose it gives me the feeling that I am consistently working.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.showgunn.com
- Instagram: @paulgunnactor
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paulgunnactor
- Twitter: @paulgunnactor
- Other: www.imdb.me/showgunn
Image Credits
Rob Flate, Apollo GT, David Greenhouse