Meet Daniel York Loh; Asians aren't a monolithic block, Racism as an actor, why the term ’Oriental’ isn’t okay!
Welcome to But Where Are You From?... A podcast by a late 20-something millennial learning about life as a British Born Chinese. I’m Viv, the host of the podcast. I talk about life as a British Born Chinese (BBC); from family life, to work, dating, relationships, food, racism, and general culture. This week, I had the most glorious time speaking to the award winning Actor, Director, Musician, Writer, Daniel York Loh. His passion and activism as a British East Asian actor is admirable. Basically, HE’S A PRETTY BIG DEAL in this world and has done/is doing incredible things to disrupt the narrative that British culture holds surrounding being East Asian. We talk about racism in the theatre world, how people view Asians as one monolithic block (hey, not ALL of us eat dogs, you know…wink), why the term ‘Oriental’ is not okay. My favourite part was right at the end when I asked Daniel about his proudest moment in his career. His response actually gave me goosebumps - it’s really lovely and shows his true integrity as a British East Asian actor. He is writing and producing a Zoom digital arts event called WeRNotVirus (the live show on 13th/14th June is sold out but will be available as a video afterwards). It will be a collective of leading actors, writers, directors and creatives of East and South East Asian heritage from the UK’s performing arts industry to present a new digital arts event. “This urgent artistic response aims to shine a light on the surge in hate crime directed towards the community during the Covid-19 crisis.” Enjoy!! Follow Daniel on Twitter/Instagram https://twitter.com/danielfyork https://www.instagram.com/danielyorkloh/ WeRNotVirus https://www.omnibus-clapham.org/oto-we-r-not-virus/ Orientalism by Edward Said https://www.amazon.co.uk/Orientalism-Edward-W-Said/dp/0141187425 Watch Daniel’s Play ‘Forgotten’ on Livr https://livr.co.uk/ Slide into my DMs and keep the conversation going! https://www.instagram.com/vivthediv/ Jingle by the talented John Clapper: https://www.instagram.com/john_clapper