Meet Mike Bow | Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mike Bow and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mike, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
“Optimism is a muscle that gets stronger with use.” This is hard to see because it’s you can’t flex it like bulging abs or veiny biceps. But the muscle is there. And the good news is the more you use it, the more good things happen. It’s the ultimate world building muscle! It’s the “Yes, and” muscle in improvisation. By using it you are telling the world, “I see the situation and I recognize what I can control and I will CHOOSE to make the best of it!”

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I first wanted to become an actor when I was 10. I saw the first Harry Potter movie and it was magical. It was the first time I saw kids my own age talk about being actors and I was like, “Wait, this is a job?!” I came up to my Mom and said, “Mom I want to do this.” Now at the time we only had one actor friend: a beautiful, blonde, blue-eyed caucasian girl. My mom said, “Michael, she struggles to be an actor and you see people like her on TV all the time. Do you see anyone who looks like you on TV?” This was my first time confronting my Asian-ness and being perceived as different as I am a 3rd generation Asian American raised on the same comic books, CW shows, and Disney movies like the rest of my American friends. However, I don’t know if it was my stubbornness or determination but I said, “Yea I want to do it anyway!” My thinking was, if the roles for people like me aren’t there, I will help create them! Fast forward to today, I just booked a guest spot on the new CW show Kung Fu where I play a kick-ass superhero warrior. My sister sent me a video of my mom watching me live on the CW, cheering at the screen. There’s at least one person on TV now who looks like me!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would find out what their favorite movies are (but let’s be real I’d know them already because we’re best friends), research where all the filming locations are (because lets be real most movies are filmed in LA) and we’d have a tour of LA through the lens of their movie. Let’s say it was 500 Day’s of Summer. We would oggle at the architecture of downtown LA, reenact the musical number by the fountain, and sit at Tom’s favorite bench while having a picnic. If it was Rush Hour we’d sing “War (What is it good for)” in Chinatown and prepare for the ransom stakeout at Foo-Chow restaurant while eating eel and camel hump. For a week with me you won’t only get to rewatch your favorite movies, you’ll get to star in them!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Wong Fu Productions for uplifting and believing in me, my roommate for always being my scene partner, and my mom because she’s probably reading this.

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