San Jose actress breaks out in ‘Ms. Purple’
To a casual observer, there might seem to be little in common between mixed martial arts and acting for film and television.
Tiffany Chu knows better. Chu, who was raised in San Jose, is earning terrific reviews for her lead performance in the poignant character study “Ms. Purple.” It’s her first big-screen role, and it required her to play a financially strapped young woman named Kasie who has made extraordinary sacrifices to care for her dying father. The portrayal de
manded plenty of intense self-control, precision and dedication — all traits inherent in mixed martial arts.
“Staying true to her character took a lot of discipline. She’s such a heavy character,” says Chu, who in her spare time practices Muay Thai and jiu-jitsu.
“Mixed martial arts is all about the strengthening of mental and physical discipline, the chess game,” she adds. “It’s about your work ethic and seeing how you can apply what’s inside the ring to your daily life. And it also builds confidence.”
It was Chu’s work ethic that continually impressed Justin Chon, who co-wrote and directed “Ms. Purple,” a Sundance Film Festival selection. The film, which has a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, opened Friday at Embarcadero Cinemas in San Francisco, 3Below Theaters in San Jose and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.
“I respected her tenacity,” Chon says. “(The reviews) are a testament to how much hard work she put in.”
In “Ms. Purple,” Chu’s Kasie is a resident of Los Angeles’ Koreatown, where she tends to her comatose father. Kasie and her estranged brother, Carey (Teddy Lee), were abandoned by their mother at an early age, so Kasie is essentially going at it alone — refusing to heed a nurse’s advice to place her father in hospice.
To make ends meet, Kasie works nights as a karaoke hostess in clubs where she entertains rowdy and occasionally violent male clients while trying to suppress her sorrow. When her burden becomes too excruciating, she reconnects with her wayward brother, pleading for help. The reunion turns turbulent at times as the siblings struggle with the emotional wounds of the past.
Chon, who has a younger sister, says he yearned to do a film about a sibling relationship, one that also explored the deep sense of obligation to their elders that so many immigrant children grow up feeling.
“It’s kind of baked into their belief system — this filial piety — and many Koreans kind of take it to the max,” he says. “I’ve seen it with a lot of people and friends, and sometimes it can come at one’s own cost. … It can be toxic.”
To find his Kasie, Chon placed a casting notice on Facebook. Among the many responders was Chu, whose only prior screen credit was as a robot in the interactive series “Artificial” for Twitch, a gaming/streaming site.
Chon, who preferred to cast a fresh face in the role, was immediately intrigued.
“We had never met before,” he recalls. “She has a natural melancholy state to her. She really has a nice presence on screen. I felt like she was exactly what I was looking for.”
Chu was born in Taipei but grew up in San Jose, an only child of Taiwanese immigrants, who still live in the city. Her father supported the family as an IT professional, and Chu is fluent in English and Mandarin. Naturally, she was intrigued by Chon’s story because it followed the exploits of an immigrant family.
“But I also liked how it touched upon a lot of universal themes — relationships, the loss of a loved one, everyday struggles,” she says. “I think a lot of people can relate to how (Kasie) feels.”
Chu is still getting her feet wet as an actor. Although she long has had an interest in the entertainment business and performing, she never appeared in any productions while attending Independence High School in San Jose. Instead, she spent those formative years as a shy student trying to step out of her “comfort zone” by immersing herself in extracurricular activities, including badminton, volleyball, Key Club, speech and the debate team.
She also played piano and erhu (a two-stringed Chinese violin). In 2015, Chu was named “First Princess” in the Miss Taiwanese American Pageant and captured the award for best talent.
“I’ve always been interested in a lot of different things,” she says. “My dad used to tell me that when I take classes in something, observe other people and see what they’re doing. … I’m always trying to learn, and that makes me a curious person.”
After graduating from Independence in 2012, Chu took that curiosity to UC Irvine, where she majored in drama and film and media studies. It was in college that she began to catch the acting bug.
“In my second or third year, I decided I was going to try to focus on it and really go for it,” Chu says. “But even now, (acting) isn’t the only thing I want to do. I’m interested in everything about production, in general.”
Still, judging from the notices she’s getting, Chu might want to focus on the acting for a while, at least. And maybe, if she’s lucky, she can land a role that puts some of her martial arts experience to use.
“Whatever opportunity comes,” she says. “Some day, I would love to play a bad-ass assassin.”