Fala Chen completes degree, considering comeback to acting
HONG KONG: After four years Fala Chen has finally completed her Master of Fine Arts in Drama ( MFA) degree at Juilliard School in New York.
With school done now, Fala will readjust her focus to her career and will be dedicating herself to work again. Currently, she is considering several Mainland China, Hong Kong, and American filming projects. When asked what types of roles she hopes to challenge, Fala said that Juilliard provided her with the opportunity to portray a variety of roles in these past four years, including an 80-year- old grandma.
“In these four years, I have tackled a lot of different roles and alleviated my acting cravings. I portrayed many roles that are completely opposite and different from myself, so I hope to play roles that are more similar to myself and more down-to- earth. I think these are more challenging at this point.”
It seems as if there is no shortage of opportunities for Fala. With TVB’s current shortage of artistes, has the company reached out to her yet? Fala shook her head, “They haven’t talked to me yet. Right now, I’m also considering a movie script.”
If Fala is hoping to break into the film industry, is she setting her sights on Hollywood? Fala responded, “The US film market is changing really fast these past two years. There are more Asian faces onscreen. There are more controversial female characters too. I think there is hope. But I won’t set a limit to restrict myself. I don’t want to give people the sense that Asian actresses can only go the route of sexiness, be a martial artist, or speak broken English. I hope there will be change.”
Despite being done with school now, Fala is still keeping her permanent residence in the United States. On whether she will move back home to Hong Kong, she said, “Let’s see where my work will be. If I come back to Hong Kong for work, then I will move back. My boyfriend ( Emmanuel Straschnov) works in the United States. He is supportive of my career. Right now, I want to focus on work. There are a lot of different opportunities right now. If I have time, I definitely want to see my boyfriend more. He would fly here to see me.”