On the ABC comedy “Single Parents,” Jake Choi plays Miggy, the youngest and least experienced member of his group of parent-friends. “He’s not the brightest,” Choi said, “and he might not know what’s going on, but he thinks he’s got everything figured out.”
The show, which co-stars Taran Killam and Leighton Meester, was just renewed for a second season. Until then, Choi can be seen in the film adaptation of the YA novel “The Sun is Also a Star” playing “a totally different kind of guy” than the sincere and endearing Miggy.
“Man, if people are ‘Single Parents’ fans and they see this movie, they’re going to be traumatized!” he joked. In the film he plays the older brother to one of the protagonists. “He’s everything that Miggy isn’t — he’s way smarter, way more sarcastic and has different methods of getting what he wants. And he can be a (jerk). He definitely can be a (jerk). And it’s always nice when a role is not defined by the ethnicity or the culture but that it’s used to give three-dimensions to the character — and I feel like with this role, it was important to get a Korean American actor, because the actors playing the parents are Korean too and there’s this unspoken thing between Korean Americans where I can bring up an idea and they’ll be like, ‘Right.’ And we would add those details and pepper them in because they’re real.”
All acting careers, no matter how successful, also include embarrassing or awkward or strange moments. When asked to share one, Choi said: “I don’t think I’ve ever told this story to anyone. I think I just pushed it way, way down in my memory.”
My worst moment …
“When I first started out acting, I was very enthusiastic and a little zealous — especially if it was an audition for a TV show or a big film, I always wanted to go the extra mile for the audition. And there was one role where the character was a complete slacker, he was a slob and all he did was eat chips and play video games. This was for a film, I can’t remember what it was. I want to say I was 26 or 27 at the time. The casting director was a pretty big casting director in New York.
“So I was like, OK: The character’s a slacker, I’m not going to shower the night before, I’m going to really try to live in his shoes! But I didn’t do anything extreme, nothing crazy. So I go in, I have all my lines pretty much memorized and I’m really nervous but I’m excited to be auditioning. And the casting director is giving me some notes before I begin, and I realized — and this is a little TMI but — every morning I (use the bathroom) after I drink my coffee. I’m not the only one, right? Coffee’s a great laxative. But I didn’t take my morning (bathroom break) that day because all I did was concentrate on that audition the whole morning.
“So flash forward to the audition, I’m about to start and I decide that maybe I’ll burp during the scene because that would be really in-character since he’s such a slob.
“I start the scene and I’ve pinpointed a moment where I want to do the burp, so I’m saying the lines and I let out this huge burp — but I also farted at the same time. And it was a very loud fart. And there was this split-second moment of silence where I looked over to the casting director to see if she clocked it and I don’t know if she did, but she was just staring at me and glaring at me.
“It was one of those weird moments where I hoped the sound of my burp eclipsed the sound of my fart but I don’t think it did, you know? So I kept going with the scene, but by this point I can smell it because the room is not that big and I’m pretty sure the casting director and the assistant can smell it.
“So I finish the scene and there was another scene that I had prepared, but the casting director said, ‘That will be all.’ And I said, ‘You don’t me to read the other scene?’ And she said, ‘No. Thank you for coming in.’
“I went home and I didn’t cry, but I laid down on my bed for a good 30 minutes and I might have rubbed my temples a little bit. I took a little mental break. And no, I did not get the role!”
The last thing an actor wants is a casting director to associate them with an unpleasant memory.
“I remember thinking to myself: Just finish the scene the best you can, just get through the scene. Just do such a good job that she’ll forgive what happened!
“Because when you’re starting out, every audition is the end all, be all. You’re like, this is the one that I’m going to book and it’s going to get me the next big movie and then I’m going to be a star and win awards and do a play on Broadway — that’s how your mind works.
“And when I left the casting office, I really beat myself up. Well, first I found a bathroom in the building and used it. But then I was sort of rehashing what happened and I was like: How could you do that, Jake? You couldn’t hold it?
“Now it’s so funny. And you know what? The casting director called me back to her office a few times after that, so I didn’t get blacklisted.”
The takeaway …
“(Laughs) A few things. When you gotta release, you gotta release — you can’t hold it in. Bodies are so unpredictable (laughs).
“But also, there will be other auditions. That’s easier said than done but it’s important to have fun while you’re auditioning and to learn to let these experiences go once they’re done, so you can get ready for the next one. Because most actors, 90% of our careers are auditioning.
“I held onto that terrible feeling until the next time she called me into her office, so it was maybe a year or two later. It was a long time. But going in that next time gave me a sense of renewal and hope — that what had happened wasn’t so dire.
“We’re our own worst critics and it’s easy to fall into this weird mental state where we think everything is so magnified. But it’s never as bad as you think. And over the years I’ve talked to casting directors and there are even crazier stories than what I did!”
nmetz@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @Nina_Metz
