The good news about Olivia

SINGAPORE — HBO’s Newsroom actress Olivia Munn said that she makes the effort to reflect her Asian cultural background in her roles.

“I’m half-Chinese, my mom is of full Chinese blood. She was born and raised in Vietnam. She came to America the day the War ended. I was in a military family and (I grew up) in Japan mostly. It’s kind of all over the place — my Asian background,” said the 33-year-old L.A.-based actress/comedienne during a roundtable interview that followed a presscon at the Four Seasons Hotel to promote the Season 2 of Newsroom.

Set at a fictional cable news show grappling with identity and ratings issues, the political drama created by Oscar-winning Aaron Sorkin and topbilled by Jeff Daniels as news anchor Will McAvoy makes its return on Asian television on Aug. 5 at 9 p.m. on HBO/HBO HD.

In the series, Olivia (whose mixed looks are also courtesy of her German-Irish father) plays Sloan Sabbith, a socially-awkward but brilliant financial news analyst who, like her real-life persona, can speak Japanese, as showcased in one shining scene in the first season wherein she sparred with a Japanese interpreter for giving inaccurate translations.       

“It’s funny because people are surprised I’m half and that my mom is full Chinese. Even if I don’t look as much Asian (as I want to) for some reason, I identify with it so much. I connect mostly with Asian people, whom I feel more comfortable with. That’s a huge part of who I am. I think of myself as an Asian-American,” said Olivia, who would prove this later on when she readily gave in to requests for photo-ops from invited journalists from all over Southeast Asia.    

Her mixed ethnicity posed a challenge early in her career though. Olivia shared that she had trouble securing projects “before when I was starting out (because) I was too ethnic for the white girl roles or I wasn’t white enough for the white girl roles.”

Nevertheless, things have obviously changed for the better for the actress who starred in Magic Mike and Iron Man 2.

“As your career goes on, and you get more success, they build (characters) around you, as opposed to fitting (you) into the mold,” Olivia, whose breakout movie was the 2007 Rob Schneider comedy Big Stan, said. 

The part of her being Asian that she brings to her roles and projects is that sense of respect. “I find it interesting when I watch other actors, who I work with in other shows and movies, they can’t wait for that moment where they have to scream, cry or yell, and a lot of times, they forget their place, whom they’re talking to, become disrespectful...”

She recalled the scene from the previous season wherein her character Sloan had a confrontation of sorts with TV boss Charlie Skinner (played by Sam Waterston) as precipitated by her shifting to Japanese live on American television.

“So, when he (Charlie Skinner) came out of the newsroom, yelling at me, there were a lot of things I wanted to bring to it and a lot of it, I think, came from my Asian cultural background. I had to understand where he was coming from, why was he mad at me, at the same time, I had to explain to him the importance of what I had to talk about, then there was the embarrassment of him yelling at me in front of all my co-workers, yet, (I) still (needed to be) respectful to him.

“I think a lot of times there’s an inner strength that you see amongst all Asian people, like there’s pride at the same time respect for other people. When you look at that scene, you’ll see a lot of the things that I learned from being Asian, from my family about how to carry oneself in moments of crisis,” explained Olivia.

She also shared anecdotes about her mother who never thought Olivia, who has a journalism degree, would become an actress.

“She always likes to say that she never thought I could do this. When I could finally buy her, like furniture, she goes, ‘Oh you finally make it, you buy Mommy furniture.’ Her daughter, being in Hollywood, is like a dream of hers that she never thought she’d be allowed to dream.”

Meanwhile, Olivia — who wore striking print dresses by Fil-Am designer Monique Lhuillier throughout her interviews (she also has a closer Pinoy connection as told to TV Patrol’s Ginger Conejero in an interview: “My first boyfriend was Filipino”) — doesn’t really mind being regarded as a “sex symbol.”

“I think I’m okay objectifying myself as long as it’s my choice. It’s different when you embrace it and it’s your decision,” she said.

Saying that she grew up in a world wherein the standards of beauty are the blonde-blue-eyed types, she appreciates the fact that the definitions of beauty are now expanding.

She said, “If there are more people who embrace those who look like me — this Asian girl, who’s barely 5’4” and eats carbs (laughs) — and are saying that, that is sexy and beautiful, it’s so nice that the landscape of beauty is rounding out to include more than just the tall and blonde.”

But don’t expect Olivia, who’s always in the top-tier of many a men’s magazine’s hottest list, to trumpet her looks as her best asset.

“I think my best asset is the ability to make a joke out of any situation, like literally, anything can happen, and I’ll find a way to make an inappropriate joke,” she said.