Yul Kwon Puts Pressure On for ‘I Do’
When Yul Kwon won Survivor: Cook Islands in 2006, he became the newest 30-something money purse to peruse the San Francisco nightclubs, from Suede to Whisper and Element parties at the grand Westin St. Francis ballroom.
Although friends were wary of cosmopolitan gold diggers, Kwon stayed level-headed and ditched a beauty queen for lovable girlfriend, and now fiancee, Sophie Tan — who’s been seen everywhere with Kwon in 2007, from the AZN Asian Excellence Awards in May to the Reality TV Awards in October (where he almost got dibs on Jonny Fairplay’s face before Donny Bonaduce did). You’ll be seeing her again soon, only this time … wearing white! Find out how Kwon proposed to Tan on AsianWeek’s Yin Yang blog: yinyang.asianweek.com.
Aaron Yoo: I Waited Three Years to be ‘21’
Don’t let those six lines fool you — Aaron Yoo waited forever to be cast for 21, the cinematic adaptation of the great MIT blackjack heist of the century. In an interview with UCLA’s Asia Pacific Arts, Yoo told his manager, “This is another one of my long shots, but if this ever comes around … I mean, it’s MIT. There’s gotta be Asian heads in there somewhere.” Ahem, make that head, singular. Nevertheless, Yoo almost missed his chance when he got the phone call at Sundance 2007, while promoting Bottle Rocket, and nearly got arrested when an impromptu taping in a hotel room ended up being too loud for hotel staff and security. “They probably thought we were making some sort of snuff film,” Yoo told SheKnows.com.
Collin Chou Plays Clown at Sneak Preview
Collin Chou was somber and gun-shy during all-day press interviews in San Francisco, but came alive later that evening at Japantown’s Sundance Kabuki Theatre during a special sneak preview of Rob Minkoff and John Fusco’s The Forbidden Kingdom. For Chou, who stars opposite both Jackie Chan and Jet Li for the first time (ever), the real exciting part was working with his Matrix choreographer, Woo-ping Yuen. “Whenever I’m with Woo-ping, I know it’s going to be challenging!” Chou said. The training’s paying off: Chou leapt right on stage that night to charm the crowd.
SCENE AND HEARD
“[B.D. Wong] plays a forensic psychiatrist that is … a forensic psychiatrist, and so there! And you can’t deny that he’s Asian American, but that’s not the crux of his role, as opposed to Lucy Liu in Cashmere Mafia. I couldn’t watch that.”
— Hollywood Chinese director Arthur Dong tells Mother Jones the real reason he boycotts Lucy Liu’s new show on ABC.
Correction: An item in The Yin Yang posted on AsianWeek.com on April 11 said that Lee Hom Wang has repeatedly been noted in the media as a Juilliard graduate. Wang’s official biography states that he is a graduate of Williams College and Berklee School of Music.