Dom Magwili, Author

I am a Filipino American. I’m an OLD Filipino American. Born in Oakland, California in 1949. I was a child of television. Black & white television. My heroes did not wear capes. They wore cowboy hats. They filled my heart with wonder and amazement. I realized that all the American heroes – movie stars – looked like them. They didn’t look like me. And for a long time, I thought that’s just the way it was. I was thinking that way when I became a professional actor and I came down to LA in 1974 – The meaningful Asian American roles were few and far between. And if it were a meaningful role, it might not even go to an Asian person. For example, the TV show KUNG FU, the lead was white actor David Carradine.

But as Maya Angelou observed, “When you know better, you’ll do better.”

Two important elements came into my life early on that changed my point of view. I discovered THE EAST WEST PLAYERS. THE EAST WEST PLAYERS are the first and oldest Asian American theatre company in America. This is their 60th Anniversary. The second element that changed my mind was Asian American Studies.

THE LESSON OF THE EAST WEST PLAYERS is that If your story doesn’t exist, write it yourself. If the roles don’t fit, create your own stage. And if no one sees you, put a spotlight on yourself. Finally, DO NOT WAIT FOR PERMISSION. And so I started writing: stage plays, screenplays, I was acting, directing, and producing projects about people who looked like me.

And what fed my creativity is what I learned from Asian American Studies.

THE LESSON OF ASIAN AMERICAN STUDIES was that there is a wealth of historical data that exists on people of color, in general, and Asian Americans, in particular, that paints a very different picture of America. The country is actually diverse.
“When you know better, you’ll do better.”

So, my secret agenda is to seize more representation through my creativity, one book at a time.