Actors Lydia Look and Parry Shen of “General Hospital” shared the greatest lesson that the acting professional has taught them.
Look portrays mob boss Selina Wu on the ABC soap opera “General Hospital,” while Parry Shen plays Brad Cooper. Look is regarded as the “Femme Fatale” of the show, and rightfully so.
Both actors participated in a virtual fan event on June 4, produced by Coastal Entertainment, where they were joined by an intimate group of fans and followers. Ironically enough, Look and Parry both speak Cantonese.
Lydia Look
“Mine is very simple,” she said about the greatest lesson she learned from acting. “I come from this family that used to have a sign above the door, and that sign has to do with perfection in my family.”
“Anything less than an A+ is a failure, if you come home with an A- or a B+, you completely failed the assignment. I come from that sort of background. When I was in my 20s, I was very hard on myself, and now, looking back, I am lucky that I didn’t die. A lot of it had to do with my upbringing and a lot of it had to do with my race, being Asian, and coming from that environment,” she elaborated.
“I used to take every acting job (the ones I didn’t hit to the best of my ability), and I would kick myself a lot, and never saw any good in why that moment went wrong. Now, I think for me, the greatest acting lesson is anytime something goes wrong, it’s the greatest gift to me because that shows me that I’m not done in this game yet. I am still learning something,” she said.
“Now, the ability for me to step back, and look at it and reflect has made me a better actress, and my response to my recovery is a lot faster. I look at things differently now, and that has helped me a lot. I don’t’ criticize the moment anymore,” she added.
To learn more about Lydia Look, follow her on Instagram.
Parry Shen
On the greatest lesson that acting has taught him, Shen remarked, “My late acting coach told me that everybody has their story to tell, nobody thinks that they are the bad guy. Everybody can find a way to justify their behavior, and the things that they do. If it’s very two-dimensional on the surface, they have their reasons and you can tap into that and it becomes very universal.”
Shen noted that it is important to find the humanity in the characters, especially villains. “That has been a huge lesson from my acting instructor that has helped me out,” he admitted.
They also revealed which actors they would like to do more scenes with on the hit ABC daytime drama “General Hospital.” Shen selected Carolyn Hennesy while Look picked Maura West.
For more information on Parry Shen, follow him on Instagram.