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‘Glee’ alum Harry Shum, Jr. on his new lead role in ‘All My Life’ and being married to a Filipina-American
Los Angeles -— Don’t look now but Harry Shum, Jr., who portrayed the dancer-teenager Mike Chang in Ryan Murphy’s TV hit musical comedy-drama, “Glee,” is now joining the ranks of Henry Golding, Steven Yeun and other Asian actors doing leading roles in mainstream Hollywood.
The 38-year-old actor-dancer-singer-choreographer is the leading man in the romantic drama film, “All My Life,” by Marc Meyers.
It is based on a true story of Solomon Chau (Shum) and Jennifer Carter (portrayed by Jessica Rothe), a young couple who falls in love but suddenly is faced with a challenge when one of them is diagnosed with liver cancer.
Shum, whom we met and talked to several times when he was in “Glee,” was excited to talk to us and reminisce those “Glee” days, his journey to lead role in “All My Life,” meeting his Filipina-American wife actress-dancer Shelby Rabara (the voice of Peridot in “Steven Universe” and “Steven Universe Future”), having a mother-in-law from Binalonan, Pangasinan, and being a father to his one-year-and-nine-month-old daughter Xia.
Below are excerpts of our conversation with the charming and humble actor:
We just interviewed Ryan Murphy recently and I just thought of you too, because you had been on “Glee.” Talk about that journey from “Glee” to now your lead role in this movie, “All My Life.”
A lot of things change in 11 years and also, a lot of it hasn’t. Since that, I still love doing what I do and being able to play these characters, small, big, there’s no small parts right? There’s only small actors.
I remember talking to you on the panels about the impact that “Glee” had and it’s just these stories that are impactful in a lot of ways and talking about what a lot of people are going through that maybe don’t get, that perspective doesn’t get seen in a lot of ways.
I think this movie definitely does that. There’s a different perspective than usually what you have seen in movies that talk about this subject. But I’m just grateful to be here and talk to you Janet, it’s been a while and I’m glad to get to do it in front of you, and whether it’s through a screen or not, this is wonderful.
It's been a long road. It sometimes feels like it happened in a flash. And then there's times where you think about all those little moments and the hardships of getting to that place where you get to play roles that have a little more significance to the story.
So ‘Glee,” I was just this wide-eyed kid who loved to dance and wanted to pursue acting as well. It was just the perfect combination to be on a show that I can sing, dance and act. And I learned so much from, not just being on set, but just being around incredibly talented people from all walks of life.
From then on, getting to do really interesting roles, going to work with Michelle Yeoh and Donnie Yen on “Crouching Tiger,” playing this iconic character on “Shadowhunters,” Magnus Bane, who, to me, had so much insight on the LGBTQ community to portray a bisexual character that really defied stereotypes and really was just a unique being and unapologetic of who he was.
So, to be able to play that really signified that I was headed towards the right direction of being able to play these characters that I admired. And, coming to this and “All My Life,” having to play someone who exists in real life, and to, not just be inspired by him, but to also have the responsibility of carrying their message across, and this love story that was just so beautiful and also so tragic in so many ways. But finding the complexity of not just the relationship, but of the things that was going on in Sol's head.
This movie is based on a true story. Tell us what you learned about the life of Solomon Chau in talking to his wife, Jennifer Carter. I know Jessica Rothe was able to talk to Jennifer.
Yes. Jen, I didn’t get to actually sit and talk to her probably kind of like a week or two into shooting. I got a lot of my information from the stuff that she sent through, visually, and her conversations with Jessica. But that was really helpful, to have her be able to give us these tools. Even what I was able to draw from the stories and pictures and videos, I think says so much about a person and how you can see how they interact. Like little nuances and little gestures and reactions.
But what was really a gift to us as performers is Jen being so brave and understanding to know that the best way to carry that message across for her was to not have to mimic them or impersonate them. It was more about how we can connect with each other to best tell the story and provide this chemistry that they had, and for us as actors to be able to portray that.
One thing that I did that I've never done, was I had a couple of pictures of Sol and I just had a conversation. I don't know if it was happening in my head or what it was, but I did feel a certain connection of something steering me towards a place that I never knew that I could go within a particular role. So, there was something happening that was very out of body experience. I think it was a combination of everything that Jessica, as an actress, was doing, and the stories that Jen would share with me when we had dinner, and also the presence of, I think, Sol.
What was the nationality of Solomon Chau?
He is Vietnamese and Cambodian.
Solomon also proposed to Jennifer in an unusual way. Talk about your proposal to your wife, who is of Filipino descent.
Yes! You know, it's funny, because I think with all couples, you know, you go through ups and downs in your relationships, and she recently, at that time, had lost her father, and I had this plan that was going, and I was like, "I don't know if it's the right time to do that."
I wanted to respect the emotions that have to be processed for anyone going through something like that, especially someone who I love dearly. But we went to Hawaii. I had a film festival that I had to go to, so it was a perfect situation, where it wasn't like, "Why are you taking me to Hawaii?" So, I had that little [plan] and I got to fake out.
We rode scooters around — what I love about Shelby is she's just so down to earth, down for anything. We scooted around. It was kind of raining and a little dangerous. I was like, "Oh my Gosh. I'm really putting her through this ringer to propose to her."
Then we finally landed on this beautiful beach, and the sun started coming up. It was just the perfect situation. But I had to navigate that, because when I wanted to propose, I had the ring out, and she had her back turned to me; there was a man who was half naked with his belly out trying to fish. I was like, "Oh, that's not a good scene. But I can still propose."
So, I kind of shuffled her along further down to a beach that was a little more private and intimate. I didn't expect it, but I was just super emotional. She turned around, I already had tears in my eyes. She was just wondering what was wrong. I got down on one knee, and it was just this moment that I'll never forget. I knew that this was special before, but in that moment, it was something that I knew was a very special, small, intimate moment that I think the gesture, for me, in my heart was really great.
And your mother-in-law is from Binalonan, Pangasinan, Philippines. Has she been making you test any Filipino food? Have you been to the Philippines, and are you planning to teach your daughter Tagalog?
Yes. You know, she's from Pangasinan. I got to visit Pangasinan and see how life was lived there. It was just incredible. It was just so calming and chill. And also, just went back to the way of that village, how you had to pump water and then you had to have the chickens that are roaming around that was going to be possibly dinner. And you had the rice fields.
It was just beautiful to see that, for me to appreciate, not just where Shelby's ancestors are from and her mom is from, but just a respect for the culture, of Filipino culture. And it was so funny, because Shelby got put in this situation where she wasn't expecting it, but the whole community, they would have these dances where other younger folks had to come in and kind of meet the villagers, and her mom just pushed her to perform. So, she had to improvise a dance and do this whole thing that she wasn't expecting, and just free-styling it. She's a beautiful dancer, wonderful dancer, but her biggest fear is actually improving dance. But it was just awesome.
What I love about Filipino culture is just the sense of community, because you also have the uncle that's singing karaoke while everyone's gathering and cooking food and just talking. And that's just a normal day. But I'm learning how to cook [Filipino food], so every time my mother-in-law, Tessie, comes, she's always asking for that.
I love this jumping shrimp recipe that I’m trying to make too, that it's made with like vinegar. And the way that it's eaten. You curl the tail and the head and then you dip the body. It was just a cool experience. And I'm still learning. I've just gotten this wok, and it's super high heat and I can't wait to cook different dishes, and for her to comment.
And now that my daughter is really being introduced to solid foods, definitely I want to introduce her to both our cultures, but specifically I think my mother-in-law has definitely talked to her in Tagalog and Ilocano. So, you know, hopefully, she absorbs that as much as possible.
Have you learned how to eat with your hands in the boodle fight?
Oh, boodle fight. Yes. I need to talk about that. That is my favorite thing. When we go, my mother-in-law's sister, she would come, and the boodle fight with the banana leaves, they would come, and my sister-in-law, she just gets it from her backyard, the banana leaves, cuts it down and lays it across.
And to eat with your hands, I think it's just so liberating. It's just so freeing. And there's this really beautiful gesture of just eating with what God gave you, you know, and putting that in your mouth. There's this connection that I think you miss that when you even use chopsticks or a fork or a spoon. And that's something I look forward to every time there's a boodle fight. I'm in there with elbows, like, "This is my space. I'm going to eat all my stuff."
You just mentioned your wife being a dancer. Both of you are dancers. Do you guys miss dancing?
We do. You know, but we've been bringing that back because my daughter pulls us, when we're sitting down, she pulls us to get up and dance with her, and she has this really unique rhythm that just gives us flashbacks to why we love dance, and just the simplicity of moving your body to whatever the beat tells you to do, is what we're seeing in her. And that's something that we get to do every single day.
So, I'm excited to teach her more of the stuff that we've learned. But also, I'm learning a lot of moves from her because she's creating moves that I've never seen someone do with their bodies. And that's really, really, really neat, as someone who used to dance for such a long time, to learn something new from this not even two-year-old that's coming up with these new moves. So, she might be dancing.
Would you allow your daughter to join show business, if she decides to do that?
If she wants to. You know, I think we gained a lot of experience and can give her a lot of advice on the things that we went through. I think it's just arming her with the knowledge, and if that tickles her and that's something that she wants to go down, then I think it's great that she has us as kind of like a book that she can kind of go to and ask questions. But if she doesn't, you know, I'm more than happy to see what she gravitates towards.
But right now, it's definitely performing. So, whether that's something she wants to do professionally, cool, but I think that personality alone is going to be great for whatever she decides she wants to do in the future.
So, are you going to be part of the “Crazy Rich Asians” sequel, and tell us more about it?
Yeah, I mean, I would like to think that I'm still part of it. I'm not sure what is the process of it right now, but I know with 2020, it's kind of put a spin on every project that was in development or whether it's script form.
But I was just so thrilled to be part of it. I had a relationship with Jon before and I kept calling him and calling him, writing emails, like, "Hey, how about this role? How about this role?" And him landing on Charlie Wu that we saw in the mid credit scene, I was just thankful to be part of it, to be around this Avengers type cast for this movie and how much excitement that it brought a lot of people, even to this day.
I know they've been showing it a lot on TV right now and then it was trending on Twitter recently. And so, I know the anticipation is real. I'm anticipating as well, as just a fan that is just so lucky to be part of the project. Hopefully we find out more information. I'm just the little guy that's along for the ride right now.
If you had to talk to your younger self, what would you tell your younger self?
I would say, to honor patience. I know I would stress myself out when I was younger on wanting whatever it was, I wanted right away.
My advice for my younger self is, things will take time, and you're going to be better for it that it did take time. I look back at my career and, you know, it's taken a lot longer than I thought it would, but I don't live with any regrets.
So, I think it's important to tell, not just my younger self, but younger people who are, whether they're going into this industry or pursuing something that they have a passion for, but not realizing that, you know, you have to lay the foundation now, and sometimes that takes a little longer.
How are you guys planning to celebrate the holidays with the lockdown and pandemic?
We have like five Christmas trees, like little ones, big ones, and some decorated, some not yet. And it's just a strange place to be in when you're in California and the sun is just shining and you're constantly adding water to the ... We have one real Christmas tree. The other ones are artificial. But you feel it, you feel it.
My daughter just loves the lights. So, I think it's just trying to create that environment for her to at least experience some sort of Christmas that she can recognize and smell and feel this energy.
And then my wife ... I was a little bit of a, I would say a little bit of a grouch with Christmas, because I'm like, "Oh, we got to put the lights up." And my wife really, really helped me get out of that by being excited about the holidays and just spreading that spirit of joy.
And we need that as much as possible, especially in the year that we've all been having. And trying to find food banks and trying to find ways to give back so my daughter doesn't recognize Christmas as just receiving gifts, but also giving gifts and helping others that are less fortunate.
— LA, GMA News
