Sorry folks, there won't be a Filipino lead in 'The Cleaning Lady' TV series

FILIPINO AMERICAN actors, from top left, clockwise: Nicole Scherzinger, Nia Peebles, Ali Ewoldt, Tss Paras,
Eva Noblezada, Jaygee, MacaPugay, Lea Salonga, Vanessa Mannillo Latchsky and Shay Mitchell.

OH NO! The one time a Filipino American was going to be a lead actor in a US television production isn't going to happen.

The initial excitement at the prospect of seeing a Filipino in a dramatic series has gone in a poof. The script change in Fox's The Cleaning Lady is evidence of the compromises that have to be made in order for a Hollywood product get greenlit.

For some reason, Shannyn Sossamon, the original Filipino American actorpicked as the lead didn't survive the table read and the decision was made to seek a replacement.

So producers picked Elodie Yung, who is Cambodian French. Instead of insulting Filipino Americans by trying to pass a Cambodian French actress as a Filipino, the creators decided to rewrite the script to fit the actress.

It is not exactly a case of whitewashing ala Scarlett Johansson in The Ghost in the Shell, but for Filipinos, its just as bad. 

In the original script, Sossamon was cast as Reyna Salonga. With Yung's casting, the ethnicity of the Reyna character has been changed. The main character  now she will be Cambodian doctor married to a Filipino. and somehow, (don't ask me how) keep the "drama's focus on Philippine culture," according to Deadline.

The altered synopsis now reads (with my emphasis):

ELODIE YUNG

"Reyna is a whip-smart Cambodian doctor who was working in a top medical center in Manila, Philippines, where she met her Pilipino husband Marco Salonga. After their son was diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening immunodeficiency disorder, Reyna comes to the US for a medical treatment to save their ailing son. But when the system fails and pushes her into hiding, Reyna refuses to be beaten down and marginalized. Instead, she becomes an on-call cleaning lady for the mob, while keeping secrets from her undocumented Filipina sister-in-law Fiona Salonga (Ginger Gonzaga) and dodging the FBI. Willing to do anything to save her son, Reyna walks the tightrope of morality, breaking the law for all the right reasons — and eventually forges her own path in the criminal underworld as she starts playing the game by her own rules."

Gonzaga, thus, becomes the only Filipino actor in the main cast.

Yung is probably best known for her role as martial artist extraordinaire Elektra Natchios on Marvel’s Netflix series Daredevil and The Defenders.
How Yung was selected over other equally talented Filipino American actresses is something we'll probably never know. Creator and writer Miranda Kwok and Executive Producer Shay Mitchell, who is Filipino Canadian, haven't said anything about the casting news in their social media accounts.

Who could have played Reyna? First off, we eliminated Filipino Americans Hailee Steinfeld and Vanessa Hudgens because they're too young to play someone who went to college and four years of med school followed by a residency. Although the role plays against type, we're sure these two extremely talented actresses could have handled the acting responsibilities of the role. Their name recognition alone would probably break the series' budget. But still, too young.

The obvious choice would have been Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell herself. Maybe as an executive producers she'd agree to a lower salary scale to help her foray into producing.

Would Nicole Schersinger break away from her role as one of the judges in the popular The Masked Singer to delve into a dramatic role? Again, even though she's Filipino American, maybe there are budget restrictions.

Then there are four actresses that are in the right age-range and their salaries would probably be reasonable enough for a prospective series. These include Vanessa Minnillo Latchky, Sharon Leal, Lea Salonga and Nia Peebles.

Then there are the experienced actors who have been waiting for their "breakthrough role" on the Hollywood's fringes. This tier of actors include Eva Noblezada (Miss Saigon), Tess Paras, Ali Ewoldt (Phantom of the Opera), Jaygee Macapugay (Here Lies Love), Asia Jackson and a host of others doing student films, stagework and taking acting classes.

Unfortunately, The Cleaning Lady, like the resto of the projects in Hollywood are at a standstill as Tinseltown is also practicing self-isolation to avoid spreading the coronavirus.

Actress Shay Mitchell is a new mom

ASAM NEWS &

VIEWS FROM THE EDGE

“Never letting go.” With those three words, actress Shay Mitchell announced the birth of her new baby girl on Monday, Oct. 22.

From the moment her water broke, the Filipina Canadian actress began video taping her experience for her social media accounts.

Her labor lasted 33 hours and Mitchell's support team and boyfriend were taking photos and taping the entire event. Her social media team edited the video down to almost 12 minutes (See below).

YOUTUBE

'"Oh my god! My water's breaking," says Shay Mitchell

She posted a photo of her on Instagram holding her baby’s hand. The baby follows a miscarriage in 2018, a journey that the Filipino and Irish, Scottish actress from Canada has openly shared on social media.

Later, she posted a video on Youtube showing her with her newborn daughter.

Four months ago, her boyfriend Matte Babel posted on Instagram along with a photo of a very pregnant girl friend, “Watching the both of you grow over the past 6 months has been the most beautiful thing in the world.

The strength, vulnerability and grace you’ve had during this pregnancy has left me in awe, you’re going to be an incredible mom…We’re lucky to have you, love you.”

The Filipina Canadian actress says she has a name picked out, but has not disclosed it.

According to People Magazine, the Pretty Little Liars star does not plan on taking a maternity leave.

“My entire team knows that there’s no maternity leave for me,”she told the magazine last month. “I do a lot of my work on my phone and I have another company that I run. I love what I do, so for me it doesn’t feel like work.”

YOUTUBE

At last, Mitchell can hold her daughter as boyfriend Matte Babel comforts her and the newborn.

When asked by Buzzfeed how she felt about the experience altogether, despite the long labor, Mitchell surprisingly had nothing but positive things to say.

"[It was the] best experience of my life," she said. "Nothing can prepare you for the feeling you get when you hold your child for the first time."

"This is definitely the most intense experience of my life," she said afterwards. "Matte and I are parents. I can’t believe it."

Proving to still have her sense of humor, the new mother added: "I was 99% excited to meet her, and 1% excited to eat something."

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Shay Mitchell allows fans to follow her pregnancy

From the deepest of secrets, Shay Mitchell has done a 180-degree turn, by allowing the world follow her as her pregnancy on social media. 

The Filipina Canadian announced in late June on social media that she is expecting her first child with boyfriend Matte Babel. She kept it a secret from her fans as long as she could. Approaching her sixth month, she revealed her pregnancy on social media with a very tasteful topless photo.

"Does this mean I’m allowed to drive in the car pool lane at all times now?" she joked, captioning a topless maternity shot that showcased her growing baby bump.

Mitchell's pregnancy announcement came just five months after the actress revealed that she suffered a heartbreaking miscarriage.

In a YouTube video, titled "Guess Who's Preggers," the actress detailed the lengths she went to hide this pregnancy early on, describing it as a "really lonely journey." 

"When you're in the public eye, there are some things you want to just keep a secret until you feel ready," she said in the video, which gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at everything from an ultrasound appointment to her maternity photo shoot. 

Mitchell, whose breakthrough role was in the Pretty Little Liars series, said she was ready to announce her pregnancy when she "couldn't hide it anymore and was tired of wearing oversized sweatshirts."

Mitchell, 32, also announced her pregnancy via a teaser for her new bi-weekly YouTube Original Series, Almost Ready. The sneak peek shows her with her boyfriend, TV host Matte Babel, 38, at her pregnancy shoot. The two have reportedly been dating since 2017.

The new series documents Mitchell's pregnancy journey. New episodes will be released every other Wednesday beginning on Wednesday, July 17.
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It took a while, but 'Pretty Little Liars'' Shay Mitchell embraces her Filipina heritage

Shay Mitchell loves 'You,' her new TV seeries.

SELF-HATRED is a common malady for people of color who grow up in a white environment.

Even someone who seems to have everything,  seemingly in control, like actress Shay Mitchell, has fallen into that trap as she admits in her Youtube channel.

Her mother is a Filipina and her father is Irish. Growing up in Canada, she felt the pressure to fit in to the extent of bleaching her hair blonde at one point in your life.

Mitchell, who just wound up a seven-year stint as Emily Fields in Pretty Little Liars is keeping herself busy with projects lined up.

The 30-year-old actress is hard at work on her upcoming Lifetime series, You, and she exclusively dished all about the psychological thriller to ET.

“It’s juicy… It still has all those elements that PLL had with it being sort of a mystery, there’s a romance part to it and it’s just exciting,” Mitchell explains. “It’s definitely going to have those elements. I think it’s a little bit more mature… It deals with a lot of crazy things like PLL did, but it’s a different storyline. If you loved PLL, you’re going to absolutely love You."

RELATED: 'Pretty Little Liars' actress' tearful farewell 

Ýou is based on Caroline Kepnes’ best-selling novel of the same name, and Mitchell says following up her seven-season run on Freeform with another show based on a book is a major plus.

“I’ve had good luck with that in the past, and it’s just a show that I would be so excited to watch, whether I was on it or not,” she says. “It’s gonna stay fairly close (to the book) I'd say, the same way that we did with PLL. There’s a common thread from the book that goes into the show and I think the same is true for You.”
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Will your favorite AAPI actor be coming back on TV next season?

When 'Fresh Off the Boat introduced the Huang family three years ago, who knew it would become the longest running show featuring an Asian American theme.

LAST WEEK was a mixed bag of good-news, bad-news for AAPI TV fans and for the casts of these shows that star or feature AAPI actors.

GOOD NEWS: Fresh Off the Boat got renewed for a fourth season. Every year the sitcom is renewed it breaks a record for the longest-running TV show featuring an AAPI theme. We get to hang out with the Huang family as they continue to assimilate and at the same time retain their identity as an Asian/American family.

BAD NEWS: Dr. Ken, starring Ken Jeong and loosely based on his real life as a physician turned comedic actor, was cancelled after two seasons. 

GOOD NEWS: 2 Broke Girls, was finally cancelled after six seasons. The show featured one, Han Lee played by Matthew Moy, of the worst stereotypes of Asian/American men on TV today: sexually unappealing, effeminate, socially awkward, thick thick accent.

BAD NEWS: 2 Broke Girls will stick around for quite a while in reruns.

Matthew Moy tweeted out this picture of the cast in their final bow and a series of black hearts.

GOOD NEWS: Even though it receives one of he lowest ratings in the CW Network shows, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend got a third season. The romantic musical comedy co-stars Vincent Rodriguez III and ocassionally features his Filipino/American family and his hip Filipino/American priest will be around for another.

BAD NEWS: The Vanessa Hudgens vehicle Powerless, a midseason replacement sitcom for NBC, flamed out and won't be back next year.

GOOD NEWS: Priyanka Chopra, the lead in Quantico, will return as FBI agent Alex Parrish. There was some doubt if there would be a third season since the show's ratings dipped this year compared to its first year.

BAD NEWS: The TV version of Rush Hour couldn't match the Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker chemistry from the movies though Jon Foo and Justin Hines gave it their best shot, their onscreen chemistry fizzled.

GOOD NEWS: Elementary, the updated Sherlock Holmes detective series starring Lucy Liu as Dr. Watson was on the bubble all week. At the last minute, CBS renewed it for a sixth season.

BAD NEWS: Pretty Little Liars is in its seventh and final season. The gang will graduate from the long-running series. That means saying goodbye to Emily Fields played by Shay Mitchell. Watch her say her tearful farewell.

Shay Mitchell

MORE GOOD NEWS:  

• Agents of SHIELD, starring Ming Na Wen and Chloe Bennet in two action-filled heroic roles;
• Hawaii 5-0 with Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park playing prominent members of the core group of actors, and a whole host of AAPI actors who play Hawaii residents. 
• Into the Badlands starring Daniel Wu as THE hero and Aramis Knight as his protege was confirmed for a third season by AMC; 
• Scorpion with Elyes Gabel and Jadyn Wong will be back for a fourth season on CBS.
• AMC's Humans which introduced us to the Gemma Chan, whose portrayal of a beautiful robot is anything but wooden,
• Designated Survivor, whose return was questionable, just made the cut, which is good news for fans of Maggie Q and Kal Penn. (Earlier versions of this blog misidentified Kal Penn. It has been corrected - editor.)
• Code Black, starring handsome leading man Reza Jaffrey, will be back to operate the L.A. emergency room,
• The Magicians with Arjun Gupta won't disappear. It will return to the Syfy channel for its third season,
• Superstore returns with the wonderful cast of off-beat store clerks including Nico Santos and Nicole Bloom along with regulars Kaliko Kauahi and Jon Miyahara.
• The Good Place gets a second season in which Manny Jacinto plays a Filipino who shatters Asian stereotypes,
• The OA, a surprise hit for Netflix, gives fans a chance to discover Jason Perea whose role should be expanded in the second season, 
• The Man in the High Castle, that tells an alternate history in which Germany and Japan won WWII, has a whole bunch of Asian/American cast members led by veteran actors Joel de la Fuente and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa,
• Riverdale loses breakout star Ross Butler, who played key character Reggie, but in its second season he'll be replaced by another Asian/American hunk Charles Melton,
• 13 Reasons Why will have a second season even though the 13 tapes have been heard. That will hopefull give us a chance to explore the back stories of the Asian/American characters played by Ross Butler and Michele Selene Ang.

Ross Butler leaves fictional Riverdale High for Liberty High in "13 Reasons Why."

The fate of a handful of other shows, ie. Aziz Ansari's and Alan Yang's Master of None, in what has become TV's second and third rounds of programs will be decided later this year. 

Some new shows will be introduced next fall with AAPI cast members. That's exciting. Watch out for my yearly preview of the coming season - as always, from an AAPI point of view.

Based on this list, it may appear that there are a lot of AAPI actors working but in reality, it's just a drop in the bucket. Minority actors are vastly underrepresented on in the entertainment industry that includes television, according to a UCLA report on diversity in Hollywood.

The report points out minorities make up 40 percent of the U.S. population but only 13.6 percent of lead actors in theatrical films and 10.1 percent of Hollywood directors.

Darnell Hunt, the report’s lead author  said, “At the heart of it is the fact that Hollywood is simply not structured to make the most of today’s market realities.”

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It's a wrap! Shay Mitchell's tearful farewell to "Pretty Little Liars"

Shay Mitchell gives a tearful goodbye to her fans and castmates.

YOU GOT to love a woman who in the middle of baring her soul plucks off her false eyelashes.

Warning: If you watch this video have some Kleenex nearby.

After seven seasons, Shay Mitchell, a Filipina/Canadian, is saying goodbye to her character on the hit show Pretty Little Liars.

Shay Mitchell, a serious fitness devotee, is on
this month's cover of 'Self.'

Though the finale won't be shown until 2017, Pretty Little Liars officially wrapped forever. 

"Please excuse my crying because this was a very emotional moment for me," she wrote to her fans. "I wanted to be able to share this moment with all of you, who have helped me get to where I am today. I am so thankful for all of the support that you guys have given me the past seven years, and I am excited to continue this journey with all of you."

Over the last week, the cast and crew have documented their celebrations, tears, and flashback moments from the show on social media, but none were as raw and deep as Shay Mitchell’s good-bye video she posted Tuesday, November 1, after the final scene of “PLL" wrapped.

With tears rolling down her face, the brunette stunner continues: "I don't know what my life would be like without Pretty Little Liars. It has changed me, in more ways than I could attempt to count. ... The best seven years of my life have gone by the quickest."

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard?" she says.
Pausing frequently to wipe away tears and catch her breath, Shay ends the message by thanking the fans."I am so thankful for all of the support that you guys have given me the past seven years, and I am excited to continue this journey with all of you.”

Watch the tearful good-bye below.

Watch the tearful good-bye below.

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