Today we’d like to introduce you to Roy Vongtama.
Hi Roy, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a Thai American actor and an oncologist at UCLA. I grew up in Buffalo, NY and I’m a diehard Buffalo Bills fan since childhood. Before I die, we will win the Superbowl, just so everyone is on the same page!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think I lucked out in a lot of ways. For example, my parents are pretty short. Somehow I grew to be a foot taller than my mom and 7 inches taller than my dad. I asked my mom how I got so tall- she said it was the “chicken and milk.” (It was the 80s, I don’t think they had banned steroids and hormones in chicken and cows yet.)
One of the challenges of going into acting was that I very rarely saw someone on screen that looked like me, and less rarely talked like me (American accent), and then even less rarely, acted like me (outgoing). This meant there was going to be a lot less opportunities for me, and I would have to find my own way.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Right now, I’m in an amazing play called The Brothers Paranormal at East West Players in Los Angeles. It’s written by a Thai American writer, Prince Gomolvilas, and it’s the first Thai American piece ever produced on stage, film or TV. I know everyone loves Thai food, but I don’t think anyone really knows anything about Thai culture beyond Pad Thai.
We did the world premiere of Brothers Paranormal Off Broadway in 2019 at Pan Asian Reparatory in New York City, which was amazing, but this Los Angeles run feels different in 2022 after what we’ve been through as a country. The play is about ghosts, grieving, and family. I think it will resonate even more post-pandemic, because everyone’s experienced loss in some way. It feels deeper, but maybe it’s just me. We’ll see what audiences think.
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
For me personally, I see a trend of what people call “inclusiveness,” but in reality, what we are really talking about is “reflecting real life.” I have gravitated toward theater because of the depth of the characters I get to play within stories that feature 3-dimensional Asian American characters. I got to play a flawed Korean pastor in Anna Moench’s “Man of God” (at East West Players) and then this amazing Thai American character Visarut in “Brothers Paranormal,” and actually a medical student who is a Buffalo Bills fan in David MacMillan’s “Watching OJ.”
I see some of that in film and TV, but I don’t think it compares to what is going on in the theater. That doesn’t mean that the progress I’ve seen in TV and film isn’t needed and significant. For example, the “other Brother Paranormal,” David Huynh, plays an amazing romantic interest in USA’s The Sinner, for example. He’s awesome in it, check it out!
Pricing:
- Tickets for Brothers Paranormal can be found at https://eastwestplayers.org/paranormal/
- Discount code: SPOOKY2022
- Show runs November 17 through December 11th, Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 2pm and 8pm, Sundays 5pm, and Mondays 8pm
Contact Info:
- Website: https://eastwestplayers.org/paranormal/
- Instagram: @RoyVongtama @doctorroyV
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/roy.vongtama
- Twitter: @RoyV123
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/vongtama
Image Credits
Gavin D. Pak, Garland McLaurin, Idris Amedola, James Reese
