We were lucky to catch up with Yin Yin Liow recently and have shared our conversation below.

Yin Yin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

Taking a risk can be exciting yet scary. 2 years ago, I decided to leave the rewarding marketing career I’ve built for 10+ years and moved back to Los Angeles to build an acting career. I left corporate job as a senior marketing executive, said goodbye to my family, close friends and a very comfortable lifestyle in the bay area. My car was fully packed with my luggages (some heavy emotional baggages as well!). I drove down to LA by myself. Facing a future full of unknown challenges and creativity. This is the second time that I chose to move from the bay area to LA. Also, one of the biggest risks I’ve taken.

This decision was difficult to make and I made up my mind after getting a few signs.
Few years back when I was still working as a marketing executive in corporate, I took acting classes and acted in an USC graduate film ‘Please Translate’ , playing a character of an immigrant single mother who is resilient to overcome the cultural gap with her American born Chinese daughter. This film got me awarded ‘ Best Actress Emerging Talent’ at the 1st Coven film festival in San Francisco. I felt encouraged that my work got acknowledged in this women centric film festival and that was the 1st sign. In 2021 while I was still working in the corporate world, I acted in a superbowl commercial and worked with several talented actors who were acting full time professionally. Their hard work inspired me and raised my passion to pursue acting professionally in Los Angeles. This was the 2nd sign.

I am unfamiliar with the entertainment film industry in America though I had been a professional TV artiste in Asia for a couple years, before migrating to the states. I was a full time artiste on TV and part-time radio host for the largest broadcaster, Mediacorp in Singapore. Acted in several TV drama and comedy series, hosted prime TV and radio programs (interviewed the legendary Tony Leung!) . My family migrated from Malaysia to California and I put aside my acting career to experience a new life in America and went back to corporate marketing and pursued a master degree in fashion marketing in San Francisco. But the passion in acting never dies though it rested for a decade.

Long story short, many years back when I was building my marketing career, I also moved from the Bay Area to LA, then moved back to the bay area to run a start-up company. So this is the 2nd time I made the move from NorCal to SoCal and it felt even more risky than moving from Asia to America.

It’s very hard to put everything including the people I love behind, to start something new with only faith as my emotional support. One simple reason that drove me to move forward was because I thought “life is too short! I can’t risk not to take the risks to pursue what I love”.

I want to live a life feeling authentic, purposeful and courageous.

How did it turn out? I think acting is a marathon, an adventurous journey that takes me to experiences that I couldn’t have imagined. To me, it is tougher than building a start-up small business. My first year after moving back to LA was incredibly challenging, I did over 100 auditions, some I prepared for a week and I only heard back from very few. Constantly, I had to deal with the fear of rejection and recurring self doubt after not hearing back from auditions or callbacks, I didn’t know who to talk to and just kept working on my craft. At the same time, I tried many different approaches to become a Union actor in order to gain a professional status, and it was a rough patch. I remembered one time I did a background gig for a film, they had me dressed in summer shorts and top, staying outdoor in a rainy cold night without a shelter. I stayed outside overnight waiting for my part, freezing and feeling discouraged, and I earned my first union voucher.
Pursuing a professional acting career put me under tremendous stress mentally, emotionally and financially. It was a whole new level of challenges compared to the journey I went through when building a marketing career in the states. No formula to succeed, no corporate job appraisal, no financial stability but in return, I am so grateful this journey has built me more strength, self discipline, appreciation of the art and faith in God!

I felt lucky that later part of the year, I booked a faith base feature film “Why The Nativity” ( 17 million views on Youtube!) produced by Turning Point Studios as one of the principals acted as a royal Queen. I worked with my dream asian american film making group “WongFu Productions” on a TV series collaborated with Hong Kong TVB (top broadcaster in HK) named “Cross My Mind” written by Porter Duong, directed by Wesley Chan; and an original asian american play “White Sky, Falling Dragon” written and directed by Steve Spike Wong. All these productions were very well received by audiences with high production quality. This opened up new acting opportunities for me and I started to work with more incredible filmmakers and actors, and often get cast in characters portraying as strong and courageous asian american women.

Yin Yin, 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?

Growing up in Malaysia, I have been passionate about dancing, acting and singing. When I was getting my bachelor degree in Business at National Taiwan University, I joined a local theatrical company and performed in a few plays. Upon graduated from college, I started acting on TV in Singapore after joining and winning the Asian Star Search Competition (equivalent to “AGT”) as the female champion represented my home country, Malaysia. Since then, I have acted in several TV drama and comedy series, hosted TV programs about music and women topics, and also part time hosting prime radio programs. I was the brand Ambassador for Swiss Balmain luxury watches. In addition, I sang numerous songs for TV drama series. The projects I did back then involved international production with Malaysia and China.

What sets me apart from others, is that I am purpose-driven and versatile in roles (from shy girl next door, bold executive, badass detective, resilient young mother, courageous girlfriend, compassionate doctor, from period pieces to modern era and etc.) . I speak fluent Mandarin & Cantonese other than English and have a unique accent (Lived in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and now California) ;)

I feel honored that I am growing as an actor in America and the productions I joined delivered high level of creativity, are innovative and purpose-driven. For example, the faith based feature film “Why The Nativity” transcends the story about the birth of Jesus presented in creative storytelling and cinematography in 6 languages worldwide. The play “White Sky, Falling Dragon” carries a deep soul inspired by a real family story during WWll, crafted with love and hope that touched many people, and was performed twice in the bay area, and recently in Santa Cruz county. An indie short film in the AFI DWW+ “Made In USA” brought an untold story of a casino executive turned her house into a birth center after getting fired abruptly. A bold and unconventional immigrant story not about idealism or suffering. I felt proud that I was able to play complex female characters that are soft and feminine outside, but bold and courageous, with fighter spirits inside. Also excited to share that I’ll be playing another loving, bold woman inspired by a real historical women character in the western in this upcoming series “Wild West Chronicles Season 4”, airing on INSP TV, will be on Amazon Prime, Apple TV and more channels!

In addition to acting, I am featured in the American Heart Association campaign “Today You Were Ready” (produced by WongFu Productions) that encourages more people to be aware and learn hands-only CPR lifesaving skill. Super meaningful and empowering campaigns for especially women!

I am really looking forward to portraying more women characters on screen that changed the audience’s perspective of how asian women should/could be , and with productions that deliver great messages, creative and innovative stories!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My creative journey is driven by God and me being an Asian American. I am passionate about playing characters that uplift others especially women, and bold to pursue righteousness.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being an artist, I am able to participate in productions that take me to physical and emotional places that I could never imagine (it feels awesome!) , and the depth of the characters I could portray may inspire others in a positive way! Acting also makes me build compassion and empathy that are god driven qualities.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @yinyin_liow
• Other: IMDB:
  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8203917/