Actress or Activist?: Keiko Agena Fights Racial Stereotyping On And Off Screen

By Sara Stokoe

Five foot one inch Japanese-American actress Keiko Agena is not one to underestimate. In addition to her recurring role as Lane Kim, Rory's best friend on the WB's "Gilmore Girls," Agena is also somewhat of an activist, and is very involved in the Asian-American community.

When she is not filming episodes of the hit television series, Agena spends her weekends traveling to Asian festivals around Los Angeles with Blacklava clothing company; a grassroots organization whose mission is to raise questions as to how Asian-Americans are viewed in today's society. Their t-shirts contain clever counter-stereotypical slogans such as, "I suck at math" and "Asian is not oriental."

Although she is no longer with them, Agena once belonged to an Asian-American theater company called hereandnow. She performed at colleges and festivals around the country with the theater group, performing interwoven stories from an Asian-American perspective, many of which were taken directly from the lives of the performers themselves. Even though she has successfully moved on from hereandnow Agena continues to support their cause, and Blacklava sponsors them.

Her activism against racial stereotyping also plays a major role in her career as an actress. "As an actor, you have certain responsibilities to choose roles that will be positive images. I wouldn't do anything that was stereotypical or demeaning." In a recent interview with APA, Keiko commented on how she chooses the roles that she will play and the ones that she will pass up. "I call up my friends and ask them, 'What do you think, should I do it? Is it really cheesy? Is it really stereotypical?'" But she notes that it is very difficult in choosing which roles to let slide because "there are not many roles out there."

But because of this lack of desirable, un-stereotypical roles in Hollywood for Asian Americans, Keiko appears to be reluctantly accepting of some of the stereotypes, and acknowledges that some may criticize her for her stance. She commented on how she believes that what Lucy Liu is doing for Asian American actors is great, because "if you prove that you are marketable, and people will pay money to go see you then that will give you some amount of power, and then you can go on to the things you want to do" She notes that while Asian-Americans do not want to be "pigeon holed in just one area…it is really an important first step."

So, while Keiko fights to promote greater racial understanding and end stereotyping, she also has to work with what is out there, and hope that for her, being a high profile success doesn't mean being restricted by her ethnicity.

July 2, 2003