Actress, Director, and VO Talent Cici Lau
A frequent guest talent at The MIX is Cici Lau. She mostly does TV, film, and commercials, but enjoys working as a Voice Talent and gets called for both Mandarin and Cantonese. Cici is a native Cantonese speaker from Hong Kong. In Cici’s words: “No makeup or hot lights, No wardrobe, and best of all; Not as much waiting around for your cue! ” Cici just wrapped the play “Joy Luck Club” at East West Players, and before that; wrote, directed and starred in the play “Hearts of Gold”. Over Memorial Day she directed the Mandarin play “Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter” and filled the 408 seat Performing Arts Center in Baldwin Park for 5 performances. There were kids acting in the play as well, which leads us back to casting kids for MCKVT spots in LA.
Tristan and Andy auditioning for a State Farm Radio Spot
Cici: “When you call on me to cast a 3 to 6 year fluent in Cantonese, I have to think twice. It’s quite a challenge, because a traditional casting with a big pool of actors won’t do. When the mom or guardian says they are fluent, often they are not. So I go to the nursery schools, and Community After School centers. Of course I know the owners. That level of trust is necessary to gain access. I myself have to first screen the kids, to get a feel for their level of language proficiency, and acting ability. Some of the kids are too bashful. And young kids cannot read copy, so I train them first. They are all little geniuses, and can memorize the lines fast, especially as a group. Last time, it was inconvenient for the kids to go to Santa Monica to record their casting, so it was great that Ted came to meet and record on location their voices. A couple of the kids didn’t work out.
Tristan, Andy, Sidney auditioning with Cici
One little boy who could speak both Mandarin and Cantonese seemed perfect, but would start speaking Cantonese with kind of a Mandarin accent. Then, the 3 year old I had been prepping was ready to go, but the minute you came in the classroom with your microphone she just stared at you, then her eyes swelled up with tears, and she couldn’t say a word. I think you scared her, but you’re such a gentle man. She hadn’t met anyone as tall as you, and she probably hadn’t been in the company of a Caucasian in such close quarters. But certainly it could have been much worse it this hadn’t been seen, and were to happen at your studio in front of all those clients.
Tristan, Andy, and Sidney: "Peace"
Casting as a group seems to work the best. The kids learn from each other. And they challenge each other, besting the others performance. And the remote recording equipment you bring to the casting sounds so good, it hardly seems necessary to have a final recording session.”
Yvonne Chan and Ada Lin at The MIX in April: Cantonese BofA Radio Spot
Ted: “In the end, our client chose one of the small boys we had auditioned with one of the “Dads” the day before at another child care center. Kaison did an amazing job at the session, performing in front of many new faces. I attribute this to the coaching he received from Cici during the session, and her coaching and training during the audition 2 weeks previous. I have worked with Cici for 6 years, and enjoy her unorthodox casting methods. She gets the job done, and it is always a lot of fun.
Cici with husband David Lau, a Montery Park City Council Member
Next MIX:
Bing Bing starts a Voice School for Mandarin speaking children, making available Professional Mandarin Child VO Talent. Her company StarZone also specializes in Mandarin VO casting, Chinese PR, and Concert Promotion. Thanks for reading!
Warm Regards;
Ted Lobinger
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