We were lucky to catch up with Rebekah Yang recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rebekah, appreciate you joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Coming from a medical and scientific family, I was the first one to go towards a creative profession. When I was three years old, my grandparents gave me a copy of “The Sound of Music” for my birthday. It was on two VHS tapes. I instantly fell in love with the film. The music, the costumes, the dancing, the scenery, everything about it. Once I learned what acting was, I knew wanted to play Maria Von Trapp one day. As I got older, I kept falling in love with performing. Any school play I could be apart of, I was there. I always loved theatre. When I got to high school, I stepped back from performing. I let others tell me who and what I should be. When I began college, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something. Eventually, I decided to take an acting class. 1 lessons and I was hooked again. As I sat there analyzing the character, working with my coach, I knew I had to pursue this. I then left college, and began my acting career, starting with weekly classes.

Rebekah, 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 was born in China, and was adopted at 2 years old. I grew up in a north shore suburb of Chicago. until moving to the southeast when I went to college. I have two dogs that are my world, a rescue lab and an Italian greyhound. I grew up as a theatre kid, and did as much theatre as I could. I’ve been training in acting for film and television since 2017. I am planning to keep growing as an actor, and as who knows, maybe even dip my toes in the water in other areas of film making.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Choosing to become an actor can seem crazy to some people, but to other it feels like there is no other choice. My grandparents lived through two world wars and the Great Depression. Neither of them finished high school.They put an emphasis on stability for my dad. They wanted to make sure he wouldn’t struggle like they had. My dad not only finished high school and went to college, he got a Ph.D in neuropharmacology. My whole life they would ask about my grades, reminding me how important it was to do well in school. I was a good student. I let pressure from others convince me the dream of becoming an actor was just that, a dream. When I went to college, I assumed I was going to go down a different road. However performing was still on my mind. I never fully lost hope that it could happen. While I did well in college, and I understand what a privilege it was to go to college, I was miserable. I felt out of place, and the idea of my future would send me down a spiral. I didn’t want to spend my life unhappy in a field I wasn’t passionate about. I took one acting class, and it was like a light-bulb went off. I knew if I wanted to be happy in my career, it had to be performing. It has a hold on me. I think many people assume actors have their heads in clouds, and don’t understand how the world works. The truth is we are fully aware. We know the risks. We live with rejections, the survival jobs, the doubt and fear, and the judgment because we believe it is worth fighting for our dreams.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I think like most actors, I want to be a part of a project that touches other’s hearts. A project people watch because they find comfort in it, they see themselves in the project or the project makes them laugh during the bad times. If I got to handpick a project, I would want to be part of one about adoption, and what it is like being an adoptee or about mental health, especially eating disorders.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: _rebekahyang
• Other: tiktok: _rebekahyang

Image Credits

Hannah Colette Photography