Inspirational Women In Hollywood: How Actress Jodi Long Aims To Inspire People To Have More Compassion For Our Earth

The movement would be to raise the consciousness of the humans on this planet. Educate, uplift and have compassion for our Earth. Start with the soil, the land to fight climate change. Plant trees. Clean up the plastic in our oceans so fish and whales no longer die from malnutrition with stomachs full of garbage. Temperatures are off the chart, our planet is burning and there are still climate deniers in Washington? Really?! We need to rise up together and save our home before it is too late. Not the Green New Deal, but the Green Now Deal. Which is why it is so important to Vote!

As a part of our interview series with the rising stars in pop culture, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jodi Long.

A veteran of stage, film and television, Jodi made her Broadway debut at age 7 in Nowhere To Go But Up directed by Sidney Lumet, the first of five Broadway shows she would go on to appear in as an adult: Loose Ends with Kevin Kline, The Bacchae with Irene Papas, Stephen Sondheim’s Getting Away with Murder and the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song, for which she won an Ovation Award at The Mark Taper in Los Angeles. Film work includes The Tale with Laura Dern (HBO), Beginners with Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer, Paul Schrader’s Patty Hearst, Mike Newell’s Sour Sweet, Striking Distance, Rollover and The Hot Chick. As a television series regular, “Okcha” on Sullivan and Son, Margaret Cho’s mother in All American Girl, and Cafe Americain with Valerie Bertinelli. Fall 2020 she will be seen on Netflix’s new series DASH AND LILY.

Thank you so much for joining us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

I grew up backstage watching my parents perform their variety act, Larry and Trudie Leung, in night clubs in and around NYC and San Francisco. They started out in vaudeville, played The Palace and also The Ed Sullivan Show. So being a performer was a very natural thing for me.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started this career?

Five years ago, an acting colleague wanted to nominate me into the Actor’s Branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Yes, The Academy that presents the Oscars. I thought he had lost his mind. He explained to me that The Academy was looking to be more inclusive in expanding their membership. “I’m not a movie star I exclaimed!” He shot back “With your body of work, you’re a perfect candidate.” Even though I felt it was a long shot, I allowed him to nominate me and promptly forgot about it. Months later… I was invited in. I couldn’t believe it, “how did I get here?”, to quote a David Byrne song. The next year I was invited to serve on the Actor’s Branch Executive Committee. I was surrounded by an impressive group of actors headed by Tom Hanks who was Governor at the time. It was heady stuff and a bit daunting as everyone there had either won or been nominated for an Oscar. I felt like an imposter that day but I made my contribution to the issues at hand and left. The next day I caught myself crying in the bathroom mirror, wondering if anyone else thought me to be the imposter I felt I was. I looked myself square in the eye and asked, “If you were on a movie set with any of those wonderful actors, could you honestly go toe to toe with them in a scene?” “Yes”, I thought, “and the only thing separating you from them has been the opportunity for that one great role that has yet to set you apart.” That was the end of my feeling like an imposter.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I did my first Broadway show when I was 7 and started dance lessons when I was 5. The day before my first dance recital I was so nervous I got hives and missed dress rehearsal. My mother put me in a bath with corn starch and the next day I was fine. The recital started and I danced on stage with all the other girls, When the time to dance with my partner came, the girl who had been my partner for weeks of rehearsals, because I missed the dress rehearsal, was now dancing with someone else! I stood there with no partner for what seemed like an eternity. Then I marched over and wrested the girl away and the audience broke into laughter. I learned two lessons that day: Don’t miss dress rehearsal and if you stay in the moment, you’ll inevitably get the laugh. ☺

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

Premiering in November is Netflix’s DASH AND LILY, based on the novel DASH AND LILY’S BOOK OF DARES. I play Lily’s eccentric Great Aunt Mrs. Basil E. My one woman show, SURFING DNA, which is about the imprints we have, from our parents, from society and from our own DNA, will be produced as a streamed event by Laguna Playhouse, dates to be announced shortly.

Who are some of the most interesting people you have interacted with? What was that like? Do you have any stories?

I once auditioned for Sydney Poitier for a movie he was directing. He was so elegant and kind and warm that he put me totally at ease. I didn’t get the part but I’ll never forget that meeting.

Working with Kevin Kline on Broadway in Michael Weller’s play LOOSE ENDS, 8 shows a week, we had the scene in the play right before intermission. Every night during intermission we would go over what we had just done, did it work, what could we do better, could we get a bigger laugh? Kevin is a consummate comedic actor and it was great training for a young actress who was just starting.

Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?

I think it is important to have a life outside of your work. Your partner, your family, your friends, your animals, that keep things in perspective and balance you when things are challenging. Also knowing what it is that keeps your light shining! Which means working on yourself, clearing the negative thoughts or old patterns that keep you from doing your best work, being your best self. I think it is important to keep creating and playing too. Whether it is surfing, tennis, gardening, knitting or playing the guitar, keeping your creative spark alive will keep you actively engaged and your light from “burning out”.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

I don’t ever think about failure. I think about what I want to do, what turns me on and I go for it. Yes, there are many wonderful actors out there but none of them can quite interpret a role, express it the way I do. I’m not saying that in an egotistical way, it’s just that my life force and experience in life is what makes me, uniquely me. I believed that when I was in High School, in the Drama Dept at the HS School of Performing Arts in NYC. And that belief has kept me going through all the ups and downs of any actor’s life. Sometimes it just takes time for people to catch up to what you are doing!

Can you share with our readers any self care routines, practices or treatments that you do to help your body, mind or heart to thrive? Kindly share a story or an example for each.

I do Kundalini Yoga and meditate every day. That keeps my body in shape, my mind sharp and my heart buoyant. It’s a good way to balance your nervous system too. A healthy nervous system is essential to withstand the stresses in life. Meditation deeply connects me not only to myself but to the Universal energy which keeps me in the flow. I do core and strength training in barre classes. I just bought a used electric Gibson Guitar right before the pandemic hit, so that keeps me creative and in good fun! I find a lot of joy in my life and avoid negative attitudes and thoughts as I am a firm believer in what you think and put into words you create. So why not be positive and create the life you want? ☺

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.

I wish someone told me to get out of my own way. Trust that if you really do the work, it will come to you without grasping for it. I had to learn that the hard way and maybe it is all the yoga I do too, but I have learned to relax, not sweat the small stuff and have faith that things will fall into place the way they were meant to be.

Secondly, not to worry about what you think people (directors, casting agents, producers) want from you. I have learned as an actor, it is always best to do what you want to do in the moment (without hurting someone or yourself of course) and what comes through will be most authentically you and as a storyteller that is what reaches hearts and minds most.

“You can do whatever you want to do in your life.” I grew up in an Asian family where words of encouragement were rare so that concept never even occurred to me. I was on the set of my first film, ROLLOVER that starred Jane Fonda and Kris Kristofferson. One day out of the blue Kris looked at me and said, ‘You’re really smart, smarter than me even. And whatever you want to do in your life, you can do.” That simple statement changed how I thought of myself and subsequently my life.

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.” I found that quote by Martha Graham in my last year of college and it reinforced what I already knew deep in my heart. I typed it up and it is still push pinned onto a wall in my closet.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

My favorite “Life Lesson Quote” is “Do what you love.” My father said that to me when I was deciding if I should go to Drama school and become an actor. My mother was against it. She had seen how hard it was for my father to be an Asian entertainer in show business. However, my father had a different point of view, he believed it was important to do what you love and learn the craft of whatever that was to support it. And so I did. I carry that with me today and am grateful to still be doing what I love.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have had many wonderful teachers and mentors along the way. Shelly Winters was someone I worked with on a movie and unbelievably she invited me to the class she taught at the Actor’s Studio. Exhilarating yet daunting! I was in her class for about 6 weeks and with her encouragement and exacting eye, I ended up booking my first television series as a regular.

In retrospect, I am also grateful to all the people who told me I’d never work as an actress in this business because I am Asian American. I knew what they said was not based on my talent but on their own limited belief system in what the world would accept. Their unconscious bias made me all the more focused and determined to do what I had to do, which was be the best actor I could be, to trailblaze in the theater and the industry to ultimately prove them wrong.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

The movement would be to raise the consciousness of the humans on this planet. Educate, uplift and have compassion for our Earth. Start with the soil, the land to fight climate change. Plant trees. Clean up the plastic in our oceans so fish and whales no longer die from malnutrition with stomachs full of garbage. Temperatures are off the chart, our planet is burning and there are still climate deniers in Washington? Really?! We need to rise up together and save our home before it is too late. Not the Green New Deal, but the Green Now Deal. Which is why it is so important to Vote!

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. :-)

At this odd moment in our history it is really up to the artists to affect change. Every time I walk on stage or on film, it is a political statement. At first people only see an Asian woman. But if I am really doing my job as an actor, in the end, they will see a woman who is going through a particular set of circumstances who is a human being just like them. That understanding and commonality is the key to acceptance and change for all people in the world. And the more diverse our storytellers and the more inclusive our stories, the faster change will happen.

I think Ava Du Vernay is doing some great work as a writer/producer/director/content maker on social justice themes. I’d love to sit down with her.

I saw David Byrne’s AMERICAN UTOPIA on Broadway last fall and was knocked out. I always loved his music, but this was a whole experience! The music, the execution, the themes of the show could not have been better set forth, and he was having fun! I would love to sit down with my fellow New Yorker to talk about creating content that makes us think and more importantly makes us feel.

How can our readers follow you online?

Twitter @xojodilong Instagram xojodilong

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational!