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ATHLEISURE MAG #99 MAR ISSUE | DISCIPLINE & DRIVE Brandon Soo Hoo
We took some time to sit down with Brandon Soo Hoo who is actor in film, TV, anime, and is passionate about food as well as Martial Arts! In speaking with him, we understand why he's been acting for most of his life with Tropic Thunder as one of our first memories for him. Since then there have been an array of projects, noticeably his recent work in Paramount+'s The Tiger's Apprentice and Netflix's Mech Cadets! We talked about how he got into the industry, his passion and familial connection to it, Martial Arts, the importance of representation, and smash burgers in Cambodia!
ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you first fall in love with just movies in general? Do you remember your favorite film or the first film that you ever saw?
BRANDON SOO HOO: Well you know, my parents used to drive a Honda Pilot and we would always visit my cousins and take 50 minute drives to my cousins crib live every week! So every time, we’d put in a DVD so the earliest movies that I could remember in that DVD player were like, Shrek and The Sound of Music! This one Pokémon movie called Pokémon 4ever and it wasn’t even one of the better Pokémon movies. It was just the DVD that my family had so those were some of the earliest movies that I remember.
In terms of when I started to really appreciate movies and cinema, I would say that I really started watching movies when my dad would put in Martial Arts movies. I think that that was the first things that I fell in love with like, Kung Fu Hustle, Enter the Dragon and stuff like that.
AM: That’s amazing!
BSH: It started with action movies.
AM: What point did you realize that you wanted to be an actor?
BSH: Well for me, Hollywood and entertainment has been a family trade! So as long as I could remember, it has always
been part of the conversation. So yeah, I just learned this recently, but I think that in the Guangdong Province which is in Southern China, the village that my family is from is one of the earliest villages that actually was involved in film production in China.
AM: Oh wow!
BSH: Yeah! So I didn’t even realize that until I was like 20 years old and I visited China and they said, down the street, there is a film studio and up there is a production house. They told me that it was one of the earliest movie industry cities in the country, in China! So, my family, the Soo Hoo’s – I’m pretty sure that they are from that city and coming here, my grandpa was an actor, his brothers and sisters were actors, and my dad, he did a bunch of industry work as well. So as a young kid, they were like, we’re so familiar with this industry and you seem like a pretty outgoing kid – why don’t you go ahead and give it a try? So when I was really little like 10 years old, that’s when my parents started introducing the idea to me and I just kind of stuck with it and rolled it with it and I have been super grateful ever since!
AM: You’ve been in the industry for awhile, your first feature at a young age being Tropic Thunder, and then you have done a number of roles since then! How do you approach playing your characters and what’s your process?
BSH: How do I approach playing my characters? Pretty straight forward. I will just try to understand the character as deeply as possible and to do as much research as I can and depending on where the person is from and what kind of upbringing that they have, I’ll just do a lot of research and just sit with that as much time as I’m allowed. For my character, Tom in The Tiger's Apprentice for example, he is someone who grew up as an Asian American in an American in an American
high school and he lives with his grandmother. So I kind of pulled upon my own experiences growing up in Chinatown and spending a lot of time in LA Chinatown and I drew up from my own experiences with my relationship with my mom, and whatever experiences I conjured up with me really feeling the pressures of being young and trying to step into my own responsibility and trying to find who I want to become and all of that stuff. I just try to find the reality of all of those things.
AM: Do you find it to be a difference in terms of preparation when you’re doing film/TV versus doing voice work because your credits really have a great balance between the two. Is the preparation any different between when we’re physically seeing you or when we’re just hearing your voice?
BSH: A couple of things that I would say is that the preparation that I do for animation is that I watch a bunch of cartoons to get inspiration for sure! I grew up on cartoons, so I just spend more than a few hours just scouring all of my favorite shows and movies. Then after that, I drink a lot of Honey Lemon Tea so that my throat doesn’t close. That and Throat Coat Tea are my lifeline and lifesavers when I am in the studio.
AM: You’re also in Mech Cadets which is on Netflix, what drew you to this and can you tell us a little bit about it?
BSH: Mech Cadets on Netflix is an anime made by Polygon Pictures and BOOM! Studios on Netflix and it’s these giant robots fighting aliens who are trying to invade Earth. Obviously, as a young kid, that totally speaks to my childhood! Why wouldn’t I want to be part of a show that has giant robots fighting aliens? It sounds so badass and the show really is! I think that it’s just an awesome story you know of coming of age and you get to see such beautiful artwork. As soon as I saw the project, I thought yeah I have to be part of this!
AM: We spoke on The Tiger Apprentice briefly, but that cast including yourself obviously has Bowen Yang (The Lost City, Fire Island, Saturday Night Live), Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Crazy Rich Asians, Everything Everywhere All At Once), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels franchise, Kill Bill franchise, Kung Fu Panda franchise), and Henry Goulding (Crazy Rich Asians, A Simple Favor, The Gentlemen)! That is insane! What was it like being with them on that and what drew you to wanting to be on this show as well?
BSH: I mean honestly, just seeing everyone that was involved reading the story and really getting to be part of this story that represents my culture and to be able to play someone that is such a positive role model of a character. All of those things were really really great! These are all really great reasons why I am stoked to be part of this project and what it’s like to work alongside such a star studded cast is really quite humbling.
I was nerding out about the cast sheets with my parents for hours! I called them as soon as I read who was part of it. I was like, “guys, look who is involved in this!” All the people that I grew up watching and some of those people are those that I really look up to and I got the chance to share the screen with them which is a huge privilege. At the same time, it’s humbling and It’s also really affirming to know that I’m standing amongst people that I really look up to.
AM: I think it’s also interesting in this time to have representation taking place in so many ways and levels. When you’re able to look out and see representation as it illustrates those who are Black, Asian, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ communities, those that are in the deaf community and other groups that haven’t in the past received the inclusion that is beginning to happen now. It's nice to see it when it is mainstream
spaces and not only is it great for you to see yourself and be part of that movement, but other people can look and say that they hadn’t previously been exposed to that and for them to want to see that as well whether they reflect those groups or not.
BSH: Yeah it absolutely is. I think that representation is kind of a renaissance right now for diversity projects – people of color led projects so I am really grateful to be in this era of filmmaking which is really exciting.
AM: Are there any upcoming series or films that you would like for us to know about that we can keep an eye out for because it seems like you are always very busy.
BSH: Well you know what? I have actually been traveling a lot really recently and so I’m just getting back and I’m ready to hop back into the circuit! I am going to keep promoting Tiger and Mech which is currently on streaming. I will go back to creating a lot more content, getting my social game back on and I have a lot of fun and exciting things coming up!
AM: You’re also on a mission to have more projects that are shot in Asia and to help aspiring Asian actors to have more success in the US. Is this going to be a business that you create or is that going to be an initiative that you do? How are you going to lend your voice to that effort and interest?
BSH: Absolutely! I’ve actually been talking to some production companies in SE Asia because I have some friends out there that we have been talking quite a bit about branching out and creating our own projects out there. I have some things in the works. We are working on a script and I am in the very rough pre-production phases for a project right now. I can’t say too much about it but, we have some projects that we’re doing overseas and bridging that Asia and American industry gap is just something that I have always wanted to do. So there's some stuff in the works as well.
AM: You’re a Master Martial Artist, you’re trained in a number of forms, and you have a Black Belt. Why do you love incorporating this into your lifestyle?
BSH: For me, Martial Arts is definitely one of the pillars of my life that keeps me ok it’s part of my self-care! It’s a little bit of what drives my life force and it keeps my fire burning! It’s something that I started practicing at a really young age. I actually tried to stop it when I was little because I felt that Martial Arts was hard and doing exercise in the backyard was difficult. But when I stepped away from it, I felt that it was something that I needed and it’s kind of what keeps me going! So I just found it to be a mind, body, and spirit practice that balances out all of those things. It’s not just a physical thing for me. If I don’t do it, I don’t feel ok. I have to do it, I have to train, I have to keep going.
AM: Well it’s amazing that you bring these forms as well as your knowledge of weaponry together on your social platforms. I’ve watched your IG videos and it’s definitely action packed!
Why did you want to present that and to share that with everyone?
BSH: I think that not only is it really cool and it’s really entertaining to watch, it’s something that I can share with the world, but I think that a lot of people actually get a lot out of it!
It inspires people to stay active and for me, it’s sharing a bit of what I’m passionate about, it’s sharing my culture, and I think that everyone should have some kind of of – I don’t know if everyone should – but I encourage people to pick up some kind of Martial Art practice because I think it’s really beautiful and it really benefits you so there is no reason to not pick up some kind of practice.
AM: Obviously, we know you do Martial Arts. Are there other things that you do to stay in shape as our readers are always interested in what routines they can include in their workout so that they can optimize themselves as well!
BSH: That’s right! Athleisure Mag! I do want to talk a bit more about Martial Arts because one of the other things that it has given me, and not even just a sense of security because it’s a practical skill, it’s given me discipline and the ability to push through discomfort and difficult situations because that’s a pretty primary part of Martial Arts. You just keep going, you go through the pain, you go through the hardship, you go through the hard stuff. I think that that is just applicable across so many dimensions in life. Not even just fighting against a person, or fighting against situations, but fighting against yourself. I think that in Martial Arts, yourself is the primary opponent that you want to get better than yourself, and you want to improve upon yourself.
While there are classes, groups, and teams – it is a very solitary type of sport because you are always the person that you are measuring yourself up against. I think that it is a really good way to stay focused and to stay consistently better in yourself. You can watch yourself grow and it really instills a sense of pride. Like, “wow, I really accomplished that! I’m really better than I was yesterday.” I feel like it’s a pretty rare thing that I think Martial Arts is particularly good at it.
AM: Now hearing you say that, I wouldn’t have thought about it like that, but I see how that’s true!
In researching you, I love that you have an array of interests! I want to know more about Staxs Burger as I know you are a foodie and an entrepreneur! Why did you want to be involved in this and what can we expect from it?
BSH: I mean food, food in general is just really big in my life! On top of acting, on
top of Martial Arts. Food has been a very core thing in my life. Going back to what you said earlier, things that I do to stay in shape, something that I am very conscious of is what I am putting into my body.
But not on that note, we have a burger restaurant, ha ha!
AM: Ha!
BSH: And it’s not always entirely aligned with my diet, but it is aligned with the fact that I love food and I can make up a really mean burger and so what happened with the burger place is that I actually, me and my friends made a burger for my friend in Cambodia. He liked it so much that he said we should start a business together. From that moment, we all just put our heads down and we had several months researching burgers and trying to concoct the best recipe and we flew back out to Cambodia and we ended up launching a restaurant. The whole process from ideation to when it launched, it took like 5 months.
AM: Wow, that’s fast!
BSH: Very rapid! We were like, let’s do it, we have the idea, let’s go – we want to do it.
AM: Are you thinking about franchising it or expanding it to other areas for those of us who may not be able to go to Cambodia to try it?
BSH: I mean, it’s a quick Uber drive over!
AM: But of course!
BSH: Yeah pop into Cambodia and we’ll hook you up!
AM: Right!
BSH: It’s definitely a goal in the future to expand. I'd love to have more loca -
tions in Asia first and to get more of a presence out there and to establish what we do. I’d love to come back out to the states and to share our food with the states because this is where my home is at and it’s definitely a goal! But yeah, I have always wanted a restaurant from a really young age! This opportunity presented itself in a really serendipitous way so I felt that the Universe was speaking to me right now when the opportunity came up.
AM: How do you take time for yourself when you’re not juggling the projects, preparing for a role, flying to Cambodia to enjoy those smash burgers? How do you take time for yourself just so that you can reset?
BSH: I don’t, I simply don’t! I’m just kidding! I think that having balance is crucial in order to keep operating at an optimal level. You have to have balance you have to have those things that offset all of the output. So I do things like I make myself good meals, I spend time with the people that I love. I will try to spend time in solitude because I’m always interacting with people so I will go to the park and take a really long walk and just contemplate where I’m at. I eat well because that is the fuel that keeps me going. So if I don’t eat well, I’m not going to operate well. Then I keep training and I keep it up because for me, training is what keeps me healthy, but it is also my self-care.
