Emma Stone, playing the quarter-Chinese, quarter-Hawaiian, half-white Allison Ng. Really?

Half-White, Quarter-Chinese, Quarter-Islanders Exist: Why Didn’t I Get An Audition?

By ASTERIOS KOKKINOS

Plenty of digital ink has been spent discussing the “whitewashed” casting of Emma Stone as junior fighter pilot Allison Ng in Cameron Crowe’s film Aloha (2015). Groups like The Media Action Network for Asian Americans have rightfully raised the question: was it truly impossible to find a proper mixed-race actor to fill the role?

Well, I’m here to tell you: it wasn’t. I’m an actor who’s a real-life Allison Ng: I’m half-white, a quarter-Chinese, and a quarter-Islander. And I wasn’t even asked to audition.

I’m no stranger to Hollywood. I’ve been on national television. I starred in a global advertising campaign. I’ve even been on the front page of The Huffington Post. So why didn’t I get a phone call?

I know what you’re thinking: maybe Emma’s simply better looking. Well, here’s her headshot and my headshot, side by side.

Emma Stone (white actor) vs Asterios Kokkinos (quarter-Chinese, quarter-Islander, half-white actor).

You tell me: who looks more like someone named Allison Ng?

Just imagine: Bradley Cooper’s character Brian Gilcrest lands in Hawaii after his massive meltdown in Kabul. Who greets him on the tarmac? Me, Asterios Kokkinos, as Brian’s no-nonsense Air Force liaison, Allison Ng.

Bradley Cooper and Asterios Kokkinos as Brian Gilcrest and Allison Ng.

See how much more natural this looks? When you actually cast someone who’s a quarter-Chinese and a quarter-Islander, you really feel that spark of cross-cultural sexual tension. Oh no. Will I be able to protect my native land from the powerful magnetism of Brian Gilcrest’s cultural imperialism?

Allison Ng (actor Asterios Kokkinos), introducing Brian Gilcrest to her mixed-race family at Christmas.

When you see this picture above, you are immediately drawn into a believable love story set in a tropical land. You don’t even need to hear the character explain she is one-quarter Chinese and one-quarter Islander. It’s clear from her bright, luminous face.

Note that I would’ve been more than willing to dye my hair blond for the opportunity to play Allison Ng, in keeping with the Cameron Crowe tradition of blond leading ladies.

Moreover, when you see me, Asterios Kokkinos, relaxing in a traditional Island restaurant and breaking bread with an outsider, you realize how much more realistic Aloha could have been with an actual mixed-race actor.

I share the outrage of the media and the public that such a respected Hollywood director couldn’t have cast a wider net in his search for the perfect Allison Ng. Even my agent left me a message saying, “Stop calling me about that Allison part already. It’s weird.”

Sigh. When will Hollywood take the side of the underrepresented?

With additional writing by Justine Barron.

Asterios Kokkinos is an proud mixed-race actor and comedian. Read more about him at asterioskokkinos.com.

Justine Barron is a screenwriter, storyteller and improviser. Read more about her at www.justinebarroncomedy.com.

And to read more about Hollywood’s real (and not-as-humorous) continuing history of role segregation, role stratification, and role delimitation, you might check out Performing Difference: Representations of The Other in Film and Theatre.

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