Actress Lauren Tom Is Feeling Lucky

Tom Talks About 'Catfish In Black Bean Sauce,' New NBC Sitcom

My Houston or West Palm Beach, Fla., readers may have been lucky enough to attend the 32nd Annual Worldfest-Houston International Film Festival and the Florida Film Festival last year.

If you did, you surely saw the film that won both the Grand Prize for Best Feature and Audience Award categories in 1999. The film, which opened to limited release on June 9, is "Catfish in Black Bean Sauce," and co-stars one of my favorite actresses: the beautiful Lauren Tom.

Good-Luck Charm
Lauren Tom's sweet laugh is contagious. It's not a laugh, really; it's more like a rapid-fire giggle. Whatever it is, it's absolutely charming. And so is she.

The actress who dazzled us in "The Joy Luck Club," "When a Man Loves a Woman" and "Mr. Jones" spoke with me last week about her unbelievable journey from shy young girl to respected and successful Hollywood actress.

Tom is quite candid about her "right place at the right time" rise to fame, which she herself calls "wacky."

"I'm from Highland Park, Illinois. It's one of the northern suburbs and 99 percent Jewish," she says. And being the only Chinese-American family in the community often was not easy.

"I was pretty shy when I was young, because I didn't feel like I fit in," Tom says. "I was interested in dance, so I poured everything into dance lessons."

After years of hard work, Tom got a break that would change her life forever.

"The show 'A Chorus Line' came into (Chicago)," she says. "I was really shy, but a couple of dancer friends said 'Just go to the audition.'"

And even though Tom danced well, she admittedly did not sing or act. But when the producers met her, they did the unexpected.

"(The producers) took me on the road for six months and waited until I turned 18 and gave me singing lessons and acting coaching, and I did it on Broadway for a year and a half," Tom says. "I thought, 'Oh, my God, I can't believe this is happening.'"

How did she make the transition into television?

"My friends in 'Chorus Line' told me that I should really study acting, or else I'd be done by 35 (because of the physical demands of dance), and that was really good advice," Tom says.

L.A. Story
After a few more non-dancing roles on Broadway, Tom landed a small role in the Robin Williams feature "Cadillac Man." It wasn't a huge part, but her performance caught the eye of the producers of "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson.

"(The producers) thought I was actually that character, like they didn't realize I was an actress," Tom says. "They thought they had found this Chinese waitress and just put her in a movie. So they brought me out to L.A. to be on the ('Tonight') show."

And fate was about to deliver an even bigger break.

"I got bumped (from the show lineup) because Bill Cosby was on, and he was talking too long and you really can't tell Bill Cosby that his time is up,"she says. "So they asked if I could stay a couple of weeks to reschedule me, which I did. And it went really well."

Tom's appearance went so well, in fact, that the producers asked her to stay another month in Los Angeles so they could schedule her again.

But that isn't the end of the story. Not even close.

Watching her on the "Tonight Show" among millions of others was funny man Cheech Marin. Marin contacted Tom and asked her if she would like to co-star in his new Fox sitcom. She happily accepted. And while the sitcom didn't last, Tom did.

Tom Cat
"I thought it really came out well," Tom says. "It made me laugh, and I actually cried too. I think it's an unusual story and I don't think we've seen this yet."

Tom is talking about one of her latest endeavors, a feature film called "Catfish in Black Bean Sauce."

"Catfish" tells the story of an African-American couple (Mary Alice and Oscar-nominated actor Paul Winfield) who adopt two Vietnamese children (Tom and Chi Muoi Lo). OK, stay with me on this.

Tom's character, Mai, subsequently finds her birth mother, played by "Joy Luck Club's" Kieu Chinh. The ensuing conflict is a dynamic and universal look at familial relationships.

The film is the directorial debut of Chi Muoi Lo (Chee Moy Low), who also wrote and acted in the production. Known mainly for his acting roles ("The Relic," "Indecent Proposal," "Buffy: The Vampire Slayer"), Lo has made a first-rate picture.

"I was in Vienna doing a play with Peter Sellers at the time," Tom says. "(Lo) kept calling me in Vienna. Honest to God, he's the most persistent person I've ever met. I just adore him."

But once she accepted the role, Tom didn't have much rehearsal time.

"The timing of it was such that I had a week to prep and learn Vietnamese," she says. "I'm Cantonese, I'm Chinese, and so I know that Vietnamese people say I have kind of a Cantonese accent when I'm speaking the Vietnamese, but hey, I did the best I could."

What is "Catfish's" message?

"Because the story is so specific and so detailed, it actually does hit chords about family and about trying to connect with family and how difficult it can be," Tom says.

And, Tom says, the film allowed her to play a character that was richly complicated: "In plays I've had some juicy parts. But in film ..."

Tom pauses and adds: "I feel very fortunate to be making a living at this and I feel very blessed, but at the same time it is hard for roles to come along for Asian women that are three-dimensional."

Prime For Prime Time
"It's called 'DAG' with David Alan Grier, it takes place in the White House, and Delta Burke is the first lady. I'm a con artist and a grifter and she met me at prison and thought it would be really good for the image of the White House to hire a reformed prisoner, so she hires me as her secretary."

Tom is talking about her new role on the show "DAG," which premieres next season on NBC. "It's a really colorful role and I'm really excited about it," she says. "We've got a great time slot: We're after 'Frasier' on Tuesday nights at 9:30 p.m."

Before we go, I ask her what she is most proud of.

Interestingly enough, Tom does not speak about her own success. Instead, she tells me a story about her grandmother.

"My grandmother is from China, and girls were not allowed to go to school," she says.

Tom tells me that when her grandmother came to the United States, she opened a little restaurant and every week would put away some money, $5 at a time.

Near the end of her life, she took the money (about $60,000) and built a school for boys and girls in her hometown in China.

Tom tells me that her proudest moment came in 1987, when she traveled with her grandmother to China for the opening of the school. She remembers watching her grandmother cut the red ribbon that stretched around the building. Children had made banners and were cheering. Tom held her grandmother's coat and watched in awe.

I tell her that success must be in her genes.

Again, that giggle.

The Buzz:

• Extra! Extra! Read All About It
  A little bird tells me that there are big doings at the entertainment show "Extra!" Reportedly, most of the top brass has been shown the door. The rumor is that host Maureen O'Boyle almost got the ax too. Apparently, Leeza Gibbons was offered the hosting spot but declined.

  But that's not the scoop. Get this: While O'Boyle is on vacation this week and next, producers are bringing new talent onto the set to audition. Hmm ...

• Father of the Year
  The Father's Day Council of Los Angeles held its awards dinner to honor its "Fathers of the Year 2000." Among the dads chosen: Beau Bridges, Terry Bradshaw, and television and radio personality Pepe Bareto.

• Fantasy Island
  So who hasn't been watching CBS mega-hit reality television show "Survivor?" Gossip maven Kitty Wibeaux called me this week to squawk that she hasn't found anyone to cheer for on the show.

  "What kind of show is this?" she asks. "I find myself not caring if any of them get off that smelly island. They're all starting to annoy me. And as for former navy SEAL Rudy, what has he done lately? I mean, what the heck kind of "navy" did he serve in, the Village People's?"

• Reach Out And Touch Someone
  That's what actor Elliott Gould and SAG's Karen Austin are doing this week when they meet with the president of AT&T in Chicago. They hope to convince him to support the SAG/AFTRA commercial strike by joining 1,500 other companies and advertising agencies that have signed interim agreements with the union.

  Actress Sally Kirkland opened the line of communication with AT&T last week when she dropped by with Gould. Kirkland has been instrumental in rallying the troops.

Star Grazing

• Joan "Hello, Darrrrling" Collins dishing at famed eatery Le Dome on Sunset Boulevard.

• Beauty Tyra Banks at chicken shack Koo Koo Roo in West Hollywood.

• Anne Heche and Ellen DeGeneres dining at Il Sole on Sunset in West Hollywood.

• Matthew Perry at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Beverly Hills.

Just Teasing:

• We went on the set with America's No. 1 and longest-running game show "The Price Is Right." Meet Emmy-winning host Bob Barker, Rod Roddy and the beautiful "Barker Beauties."
• Past On The Set columns

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