Actress Wen Yann Shih: "Stuck on You" star

Arts & Sciences Arts & Entertainment
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US-born actress Wen Yann Shih, who was Matt Damon’s love interest in the Farrelly brother’s PG comedy “Stuck on You” star – with Cher also – is Taiwanese, I just found out. Parents came from Taiwan, emigrated to USA, father was some kind of military guy, settled in Maryland, went to John Hopkins Medical School and won a beauty pageant and that’s how she got into movie stuff. Anybody see her in that movie?

wenyannshih.com/

In an interview she said: explaining that the original role was for a white girl, but later the producers decided to GO ASIAN, whatever that means:

Q: Did going Asian change anything?

SHIH: It revamped the character a lot. We actually shot the film with and without an accent.

They were vacillating on whether or not to use an accent. They allowed me to take liberties with the character and add Chinese and fun things all over the place. In one scene I actually taught Matt Damon a little Chinese, and he picked it up really quickly. We spoke to each other back and forth a little bit. (in the movie they do speak a very very little Chinese, like “tzai chien” and "shieh shieh.)…

I wonder if this actress will make it big in Hollywood culture, like maybe Lucy Liu, or are the doors still closed more or less for Asian looking superstars in USA film world and TV?

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I think there may be potential if she lands a few more roles to get her more exposure and experience. JMO, I thought her acting could have been better in some places of “Stuck on You”. In American popular culture and mass media, the doors have always been open for Asian females. The closed doors have traditionally always been for Asian males.

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I think there may be potential if she lands a few more roles to get her more exposure and experience. JMO, I thought the acting could have been better in some places of “Stuck on You”. In American popular culture and mass media, the doors have always been open for Asian females. The closed doors have traditinally always been for Asian males.[/quote]

Ben, you are right, women have had it easier. Let’s see what other roles she gets.

it’s interesting that the movie STUCK ON YOU – and I agree, it was kinda lame, i give it a 3 out of 10, but Miss Shih I give a 9 – was shot in two modes: one using her speaking with a thick Chinese accent and poor grammar, and a normal mode. They fortunately used the normal mode. Good on ya, Hollywood.

I wonder if the Taiwan media has written much about her. Even though she was born in USA and is US citizen, it’s an interesting Taiwan story, too – immigrants’ daughter makes it big in Hollywood. Well, not big, but makes it period. Not easy to get in there. For anybody.

I wonder how she got there. Some websites say after she won a beauty contest at college, she found a manager who persuaded her to try Hollywood. I wonder who that person was, and how the entire Hollywood deal came about. Because the odds are way against anyone getting in… and especially Asians. But Lucy Liu did it, and now Miss Shih has a chance. When I saw her in the movie, I couldn’t tell if she was from China, HK, Singapore or Taiwan or the USA. I initially thought mainland China, southern part of country. Her skin is dark bronze, almost looks as she has Aboriginal ancestry too.

Somehow, i don’t thinks he is going to ever become a MAJOR MAJOR star, it seems like this whole thing is just a lucky and interesting, to her, diversion in her life…

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I guessed that she was Taiwanese in descent from the spelling of her last name. If from China, HK, or Singapore, it would most likely have been spelled differently.

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But in the actual credits on the film, her name was not spelled SHIH, a dead give away for Taiwan name. It was spelled Suh or something like that, so I thought HK maybe.

rottentomatoes.com/m/Stuckon … t_crew.php

amaZinG, ben, look here CLICK and see, her name is not even mentioned as a member of the cast for the DVD review. Says alot.

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But in the actual credits on the film, her name was not spelled SHIH, a dead give away for Taiwan name. It was spelled Suh or something like that, so I thought HK maybe.[/quote]

Oh, haha, I looked it up on IMDB, not from the credits.

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I just scanned about 50 of the reviews of the film, Ben, and not one review says anything good or bad about Miss Shih. The reviews just mention her name and the role, “newcomer Wen Yann Shih plays May Wong,” but not one reviewer in the entire USA gave her any props. Strange. She was basically invisible it seems. Yet, Eva Mendes, who was basically just a tit girl, gets mentioned in every review. And the beat goes on…Oh, yeh, CHER was in the movie, too and Meryl Streep too.

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Hahaha, well, yeah, of course the tit girl is going to get a lot of attention, and not for her outstanding role or acting either. :laughing: That’s part of the American entertainment culture.

On a more serious note though, when I saw that the leading lady character was Asian, I thought it might become another one of those movies that caters to Asian sterotypes in American popular culture, but was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t make that a big theme in the story.

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Hahaha, well, yeah, of course the tit girl is going to get a lot of attention, and not for her outstanding role or acting either. :laughing: That’s part of the American entertainment culture.

On a more serious note though, when I saw that the leading lady character was Asian, I thought it might become another one of those movies that caters to Asian sterotypes in American popular culture, but was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t make that a big theme in the story.[/quote]

Yeh, Ben, you are 100% correct on that, the film did not play into Suzy Wong stereotypes of Asians or Asian women at all, and i agree, that was a nice part of the story. The character Miss Shih plays is just a woman, period, a pretty woman, who loves Matt Damon’s character and their relationship was portrayed very nicely, in complete decency and with no stereotyping. America is growing up, alas!