Acting the part

Zach Ireland of the US recounts his journey from student to screen star in China

Zach Ireland, better known as Zuoyou (左右), has been acting in Chinese films and TV shows and appearing on Chinese talk shows for about three years. He was involved in providing commentary for the 2016 Rio Olympics, reaching audiences of more than 1 million. He recently sat down to discuss his career.

How did you get involved in acting in China?

It's actually a funny story. I was studying theater at Nebraska Wesleyan University in 2010 and needed to take a language course to make up the final part of my grade. I'd studied a few other languages and joked, ‘How about an easy language like Chinese?' We laughed about it, but my instructor really pushed me to study.

He pointed out that China is a growing market with over a billion people, and around the time I came to China, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton had been launching a program to have 100,000 American students study in China. This program covered some of my study costs.

I came here to study at Beijing Language and Culture University in 2013, which is when I got into acting.

What was you first project?

It was this job-hunting show Only You, where foreigners went and were grilled by high-profile company bosses. There was intense competition, and about 700 people were whittled down to 40 and then four, who went on the show. I'd seen the flyer at my university and a friend encouraged me to sign up. In the group there was a woman who'd lived in Beijing for 20 years, so was fluent, and another person studying advanced Chinese for a master's degree. So they were all much more advanced at the language than I was.

How did the judges react?

I was really nervous and at first they tore me to pieces. But there was this one judge, John, who ran an English training school. He asked me how long I'd been studying. Eighteen months, I told him. At that point, the tone changed. They'd assumed I'd been studying for a long time and was basically wasting their time. But then they understood that actually my Chinese was pretty good for the amount of study I'd done. At one point, they asked about my Chinese name, which means "left and right", and I took off my shoes and showed them the tattoos on each foot, which are the Chinese characters for left and right, and everyone was laughing.

How did that name come about?

I tell people that it's in case my feet fall off in an accident so the doctor knows which foot is the right and which is the left, though it's also a Dr Seuss poem, Oh the Places You'll Go, which includes the line, "Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left." It's a good reminder for me, and I find it helps me to stay grounded in certain situations.

Has the name ever caused any problems?

I was relaxing between takes (on 生死血符, a war-themed TV series filmed in Hubei) when I heard the director shout out "左右跑" (Zuoyou, run). I dropped my coffee and just started running onto the set. I didn't know what I was doing and while I was running I saw actors I'd met and recognized, but who weren't in any scenes with me, doing a take.

They looked at me, confused, and I looked confused at them, and the director shouted, "Zuoyou, what are you doing?" I replied, "You said ‘Zuoyou, run', so I am running. What do you want me to do?"

He and everyone else on set started laughing. Apparently he had told the actors on the set to run left and right.

What are some other memorable moments?

On that same set there was an occasion when we were rehearsing for a big scene. My character was getting ready to make his way home when the city came under a surprise attack, and there were going to be explosions everywhere.

The word for "rehearsal" (试拍, shìpāi) and "the real take" (实拍, shípāi) have a similar pronunciation, so when the director said it, I checked with other actors and the director that it was just a rehearsal, and everyone said yes, it was just a run-through. Then they yelled for the scene to begin and an explosion went off and I was terrified. I grabbed a little girl with one arm and started running.

Afterward, the director showed my face, my reaction to the explosion. There were people on set who managed the explosions and ensured it was safe. That's one thing I've found is the same in all cultures: The tech guys love their explosions.

You've appeared on many talk shows, one of which, Informal Talks (非正式会谈), had you discussing social issues. What was the most interesting experience on that show?

I remember one Christmas, I received a gift from an Iranian guy in China. He's a great friend, and on that day we were talking and they had surprised him by asking him about what he would say to his family if they were there. They had brought out his dad to meet him, and were asking what he would say to his mother. Then, I turned to one side and I saw his mother was there, too. The emotions were overwhelming. I burst into tears.

What advice would you give to other foreign actors wanting to make it in China?

The first thing would be to know your stuff. There are a few people who come here and are doing other things but move toward acting because there are opportunities. But properly trained actors are rare.

I'd say that attitude is also important. You have to be humble. On so many occasions I've seen people get fired from a set because they couldn't work with everyone else, they thought they were better than that.

A big part is also networking. But the thing is, a lot of people focus on actors as the way to network - they figure that actors are important and that's who they should try to hang out with. But they forget that actors are also their competition. Make friends with people in makeup, with other people on set. They work on lots of movies and if they find someone who really works for a role, then it's good for them, too.

Courtesy of The World of Chinese, www.theworldofchinese.com

The World of Chinese

(China Daily European Weekly 09/30/2016 page23)