Jodi Long, First Asian-American Actress To Win Emmy, Performing 'American Jade' At Bucks County Playhouse
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Here at CBS3, we're continuing to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Chandler Lutz is introducing us to the first Asian-American actress to win an Emmy. She's now performing the play "American Jade," which is showing in our area.
A sneak peek of "American Jade" is now playing at Bucks County Playhouse in New Hope.
Actress and writer Jodi Long created the one woman show based on her life.
"I get to play these great characters. One is my Scottish great-grandmother. And I always thought it'd be sort of funny to like, have a face like me speak with a Scottish accent," Long said. "It started because I felt that there were certain stories of my family, my mother and my father and others that I needed to get down because if I didn't, they were so unique in my mind, that they would be lost."
Long's parents met at a New York nightclub. Her mother was a Japanese-American showgirl and her father was a Chinese-Australian tap dancer.
"My mother, six years after she got out of an internment camp, she was dancing on the Ed Sullivan show with my dad. I had two parents that didn't have a lot of Asian culture. So the culture I really grew up in was showbusiness," Long said.
By the age of seven, Long performed in her first Broadway show, and by college, she was a professionally trained actress.
"Going from vaudeville to Shakespeare," Long said.
In 2021, Long won an Emmy for her role in the Netflix show "Dash and Lily."
"I'm the first Asian-American actor or actress in daytime or primetime to win an Emmy," she said.
Breaking a barrier of her own, which is the theme of her play.
"It's really about imprints -- the imprints that we get from our parents, the emotional imprints. At the heart of it, it's really about everybody's family story," Long said.
Long says that by the end of the play you will understand its name. "American Jade" is at Bucks County Playhouse now through June 11.
