Puppet Town

Found this hidden gem on my YouTube channel.

Presenting Puppet Town, a short film about a lonely girl who finds solace in a world of puppets, until one day…

This was the very first short I ever produced, and it was made possible in part by the 72 Hour Film Shootout. Thank you to everyone who helped out on it, especially my co-producers Edward Hong and Sheila Tejada, director/editor Rock Chang, cinematographer Steven Lam, writers Ivan Tsang and Andy Wise Lee, and sound mixer Andrew Furtado.

The Great Wall of Vicky Lynn

I played the lead in The Great Wall of Vicky Lynn, a film about a quirky, mischievous, uncoordinated high school student who dreams of joining the hip-hop dance team, if only her tiger mom would let her. She finds her own way to join, which results in catastrophe and confrontation. By the end of the film however, the mother and daughter form the closest bond they have ever had. It’s very funny yet moving. Enjoy these behind-the-scenes photos! 🙂

Also for your amusement, here are my audition videos 🙂

Scene 1: High five for top five!

Scene 2: Harvard say whaaat?

Bonus Feature: Sarah’s Hip Hop Dance Moves

Signed with DPN Talent and Houghton Talent for voiceover

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Although we live in challenging times, there is still much to be thankful for. I’m thankful for my voice, which I can use to bring awareness to causes I believe in. I’m thankful for my health, because without good health, nothing else matters. And I’m thankful for new voiceover representatives who believe in me, even though I’m very much new to the industry. 🙂

I’m so grateful to be represented by DPN Talent in Los Angeles and Houghton Talent in Atlanta for animation and commercial voiceover. Thanks for taking a chance on this little munchkin!

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New Commercial Voiceover Demo

Super excited to unveil my new commercial voiceover demo!

And here’s a Mandarin Zojirushi commercial I voiced 🙂

In other news, I just finished Animation 2 at Kalmenson & Kalmenson with Dino Andrade and learned so much about voiceover for video games and how realistic and understated you have to be. Additionally, I learned a bunch of different techniques for creating truthful characters, including visualization, layering and placing characters in different parts of your body. Excited to put my knowledge to use! 🙂

Guest Starred on Murder In The First

Watch me give the stinkiest of stink eyes to Taye Diggs in Season 3, Episode 9 (Rise of the Phoenix) on TNT’s Murder In The First!

I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to guest star on this awesome show! Thank you Monica Kelly for believing in me and calling me in countless times throughout the past few years – I’m so lucky to have someone like you helping me grow my career. Thank you to Taye Diggs for improvising with me and helping me get genuine tears flowing before each take. Thank you also to my director Allison Anders for giving me time to get there emotionally before each take. It was wonderful working with such kind and talented people and I’m so thankful for the experience.

One of the things I love about acting is that every experience, good or bad, can be applied to one’s performance. That’s the silver lining all us actors/writers/creators can enjoy; when something devastating happens, use it to make great art. For often times the best art is born of pain.

YOMYOMF Short Film

It’s been really cool to see everyone’s YOMYOMF Network Interpretations shorts! There’s so much talent in the Asian American community, and it’s awesome that we have this platform on which to showcase our own work.

One of the things I love about acting is that I get to live out so many different experiences I wouldn’t otherwise get to in my normal day-to-day life. Because I’ve played such a motley assortment of characters, my understanding of the human experience has deepened and become more rich and full. Although I hope I will never have to live through what my character did in this film, it was an enlightening and challenging experience to play a victim turned killer.

lol from francosis on Vimeo.

Fun fact: The other actress in the video is my high school friend Alice Wen, who, despite being the same age as me, has played my student in a pilot before 😛

Live Performance at UCB Sunset!

A couple weeks ago, I had the honor of performing in Yellow Fever Improv’s monthly super off Broadway show and showcase some of my original songs 🙂

Here’s an original love song I wrote in college:

This next song is very special to me because it represents my life’s motto: to pursue your dreams without fear. I wrote this song while sitting at my boring (but stable) desk job one day, feeling like my life had no meaning as every day was exactly the same as the one before that. After months of this drudgery, I realized that I could create meaning from within. The circumstances can be exactly the same, but a shift in perspective can catapult your life out of stagnation, out of fear, out of dreariness and then everything changes, slowly but surely. Slowly, my belief in myself pushed me to pursue acting and writing opportunities outside of work and I began to see progress.

Sometimes a friend can motivate the change in your life, but for me it came from within. I hope this song empowers you to break routine, take courage and go after the direction of your dreams – because we only get one beautiful life to live 🙂

Booked my first guest star!

Just when I feel like giving up, God sends me encouragement. 🙂 So grateful to have booked my first guest star! Thank you to everyone who has helped me get to this point in my career – coaches, friends, fellow actors, I owe it to you guys. And for my fellow actors, remember to stay in character and put your blinders on when you’re in the audition room. Nothing matters except the truth of the character.

Can’t reveal what it’s for yet, but here’s a photo from set!

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Tiger Moms!

As much as I hate to admit it, I credit so much of my success today to having a tiger mom. And though she’ll never admit it, my mom was a pretty ferocious tiger mom indeed. Ironically enough, nowadays she scolds me on working too hard 😛

Watch me on NBC Asian America & Jubilee Project’s special on tiger moms.

In all seriousness though, thank you Mom for giving me the opportunities you never had and pushing me to be the best that I can be. You’re my biggest inspiration.