Rising Star Julius Cho On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry
An Interview With Guernslye Honoré
Find people who can mentor you. I think there are so many unspoken rules or expectations that a little help goes a long way. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for the guidance of a few peers that I look up to.
As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Julius Cho.
Julius Cho is a Toronto, Canada based actor who can be currently be seen as Chase in Cartoon Network’s ‘Total Drama Island:Reboot’, Jean-Luc in The CW’s new comedy ‘Children Ruin Everything’, and as Tumble, the awesome pink wind dragon, in Hasbro’s ‘My Little Pony: Make Your Mark’.
Since his days in high school, actor Julius Cho knew he wanted to perform. Despite apprehension from his traditionalist family and even his university professors in regards to pursuing performance as a career, Julius’ desire to break barriers on-screen and tell stories for those who look like him and come from similar backgrounds kept his passion to perform alive.
Since beginning his career, Julius has worked on numerous shows including CBS’ ‘Ghosts’, FX’s ‘What We Do In the Shadows’, The CW’s ‘In the Dark’, and CBC’s ‘Kim’s Convenience’, Netflix’s ‘Wedding Season’. As an accomplished voice actor, Julius is most known for his work on Bakugan: Battle Planet and Paw Patrol: Ready Set Rescue, and Ubisoft’s Hyper Space.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?
Hey Guernslye! Thank you so much for having me!
My family emigrated from Hong Kong to Canada in the 90s and I grew up in Markham, Ontario. It was a small town at the time, and I was the only east asian kid in the neighborhood. I was raised mostly by my grandmother while my folks were working, and so to this day she’s one of my best friends and someone who I can talk to about anything.
Funny enough, she still doesn’t really understand what I do for a living, but is still incredibly supportive of me. I would show her a new cartoon I’m in and she’d ask in Chinese “The pink dragon is you?…How?”
I’m the youngest of two, so naturally, I enjoyed being the family clown much to the embarrassment of my older sister. I think this upbringing made me fall in love with acting at a very young age. I would often do school plays and found myself happier in general whenever I was in drama class.
Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?
I have to always credit my grade twelve drama teacher, Ms.Kate Greenway, for steering me towards the path to acting. At the time I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I had loved doing school plays, but never thought this would be a realistic option for me. This is especially evident since as a first generation Chinese Canadian, my folks were expecting me to have a safer profession like doctor or lawyer.
I had done a career testing website where they would quiz you on your aptitude for different things like if you like public speaking, if you were an auditory learner, or how well you handled yourself in stressful situations. My test results were: magician, sign maker, and priest. Basically the components to a joke… maybe not a very funny joke.
So I had told my teacher about this and she posed to me a question I’ve never forgotten,
“Why not acting?” It was a question I needed to hear, and it was the first step to my acting career. I figured if my future was condemned to a life of magic or faith, I should at least try to do the thing I love.
Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I think the most interesting thing for me so far is getting to work on the Netflix film Wedding Season with Suraj Sharma from Life of Pi and How I Met Your Father fame. I had gotten the audition to play the role of his best friend, Yoshi. For some reason I decided I should eat chicken wings in every scene. This might have been the lockdown madness but somehow that got me the job.
Next thing I know I’m working with Tom Dey who has directed films like Shanghai Noon, Failure to Launch, and Showtime. I kept asking myself “what was a little fat asian boy from Markham doing on set with proper people in the industry?” I think the greatest thing was how down to earth everyone was and how the industry as a whole isn’t that mystical impossible place everyone thinks at first.
It has been said that mistakes can be our greatest teachers. 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?
Oh no. The biggest mistake that my girlfriend and I still laugh about was when I had this animation audition during lockdown. Since the pandemic closed most film and theatre productions, voiceover was the only thing still being produced, so everyone was hungry for work. There was an audition for this old asian man called Mr. Tanaka, who would talk lovingly about this bird and he’d imitate the bird by going “Hoot Hoot Coo. Hoot Hoot Coo.”
I was so desperate to get that one line perfect that I spent hours in the recording booth recording and rerecording that line until I basically lost all sense of myself.
The best lesson I got from this was that everyone gets in their own way sometimes. The pressure and expectations we place on ourselves never really lead to good work. Rather it’s important to find the proper flow and know when you’re just hitting a wall. I think that one audition really changed how I approach the work, and it clearly helped me find more ease in my craft. Now if I ever overthink an audition, my girlfriend will just say “Hoot Hoot Coo” and suddenly I back off.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
I’m right now just finishing the season 3 finale on CTV’s & CW’s Children Ruin Everything where I play Meagan Rath’s boss, Jean-Luc. I am also in the new series Total Drama Island 2023 as a new contestant Chase: the lovable influencer with a very dim wit. Last but not least my debut as the awesome pink dragon Tumble on My Little Pony: Make Your Mark is out now on Netflix.
As a rising star, you’ve likely faced challenges along the way. How do you stay motivated and overcome obstacles in your career?
I honestly think the best way to stay motivated is to accept that it isn’t always an upward trajectory. I find myself often anxious, especially with what’s happening with the commercial lockout in Canada right now and the strikes in the states this year. But oddly I keep thinking back to my grade twelve teacher asking me
“Why not acting?”
It reminds me to find peace in myself. I think having a mantra or a motif helps me stay curious in the absurd quest for authenticity in my work.
We are very interested in diversity in the entertainment industry. Can you share three reasons with our readers about why you think it’s important to have diversity represented in film and television? How can that potentially affect our culture?
The first reason is an exposure to diversity teaches viewers the idea that we all go through the same things. We want love, we want security, we want to survive and prosper. We can suddenly empathize with characters from completely different backgrounds because we can connect to their humanity. Diversity in our media is so essential for any of us to understand others on a fundamental basis.
My second reason is that diversity in our film and tv breaks old biases and preconceived notions of stereotypes. When I was younger I saw Eiji Okada in Hirosima Mon Amour, he played the romantic lead charming the pants off his french counterpart Emmanuelle Riva. As a little boy, it blew my tiny mind that Asian men could have romantic relationships outside of his race. By being exposed at such a young age that love transcends race, I found myself yearning for more stories like that.
The third reason is that it creates healthier competition. Rather than having the work always go to our white counterparts, the doors are open to any artist to bring their interpretation of the character. By doing this, our culture will create stronger and stronger artists no matter what background we hail from. If anything, our diversity is now our asset rather than an obstacle in film and tv. We have better chances to grow and be one of the greats.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why?
1 . Audition like you date. I used to be gutted whenever I didn’t book a role. Every time I didn’t get a callback l when I started out, I felt like I failed. Meanwhile when I dated, I knew that most of my dates weren’t going to succeed. In my head I understood that I couldn’t be everyone’s cup of romantic tea. If I had realized that auditions and dating were quite similar, I might have learned earlier to not get too hard on myself or overly critical when at the end of the day sometimes it just doesn’t work in your favor.
2 . Agents work for you. I experienced gatekeeping for a long time and I found myself frustrated and almost giving up on myself because my former agents didn’t believe or fight for me. Actors are already going off on their own, they need a team that is hungry and helps them be confident.
3 . Diversify. I had gone into voice acting at first because I felt like I didn’t have a future in theatre. I was very lucky that I was already established in the animation world when the pandemic happened. Since then I have worked in film, tv, commercials, and video games because I know it’s better to be multidisciplinary rather than just a specific specialist.
4 . Find people who can mentor you. I think there are so many unspoken rules or expectations that a little help goes a long way. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for the guidance of a few peers that I look up to.
5 . Watch out for the Kool-Aid. There are way too many acting teachers/ coaches who claim to have the solution. They will make you believe in yourself so long as you take their full course load and empty your savings account. Be wary always. You are the artist and you take what you need and walk away when you see red flags.
Which tips would you recommend to your colleagues in your industry to help them to thrive and not “burn out”?
Stop thinking about acting. Talk to your acting friends about literally anything else and see how long it takes before it gets back to acting. Seek out hobbies that aren’t just another addition to the special skills in your resume. The more normal we can be about this strange absurd profession we do, the better.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire 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. :-)
I think I would invest my time in promoting the men’s mental health movement. I genuinely think most boys grow up without the necessary tools to handle their emotions, and struggle with communication with other men and women. I think a lot of people are misguided, and if there is a way to break the stigma of male vulnerability equals weakness then all the better.
Also I’d want to start a movement where it’s mandatory that all boys would need to watch a “girly” cartoon growing up. There is a huge element of empathy a child should feel for a character no matter what gender or background. I am so thankful to my sister for making me watch Sailor Moon as a kid and normalizing that it’s okay to enjoy a diversity of characters and stories.
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 definitely have to thank my romantic partner Tavia Pereira for all that she does for me. I think a lot of my success stems from getting my ego checked so that I don’t “Hoot Hoot Coo” the work too much.
I think a great story is when we first started working together, we had this heated argument where I was upset she wasn’t anticipating what I needed for my scene. She sternly said “This is your audition, you have to take control of the space and ask for what you need.” It was such a profound moment where I had been always reactionary to the work rather than a driving force. It snapped me out of my childish behavior and it made me take more responsibility with my work.
From then on, I felt myself taking more and more creative control and abating the fear I used to have of getting the audition “right” thanks to her.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
If Life is the Pursuit of Meaning. Then choose the absurd choice.
I find myself often realizing how absurd it is that I voice dragons, chameleons, and sometimes scorpion sandwich samurais named Sammy Rye. If I were to explain my life to others they would laugh and then realize I was being serious. It’s a random life, full of unpredictable changes. As an actor, this helps me embrace that chaos in a calm manner.
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 just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)
Oh man Tony Leung. That conversation that would make me so much cooler in my dad’s eyes. I would probably talk his ear off about how much In The Mood for Love is one of my all time favorite films. I would nerd out on how his inner life is so transparent in his work. I’d also love to know what he does outside of the work, what gives him joy. I’d definitely be curious what he thought of my work and what he would tell me the next step would be.
How can our readers follow you online?
You can find me on instagram at @chojuliuscho where I post new gigs when they release!
This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!
Thank you and all the best!
About the interviewer: Guernslye Honoré, affectionately known as “Gee-Gee”, is an amalgamation of creativity, vision, and endless enthusiasm. She has elegantly twined the worlds of writing, acting, and digital marketing into an inspiring tapestry of achievement. As the creative genius at the heart of Esma Marketing & Publishing, she leads her team to unprecedented heights with her comprehensive understanding of the industry and her innate flair for innovation. Her boundless passion and sense of purpose radiate from every endeavor she undertakes, turning ideas into reality and creating a realm of infinite possibilities. A true dynamo, Gee-Gee’s name has become synonymous with inspirational leadership and the art of creating success.
