Lao Voices

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The Man on a Mission: Ova Saopeng, by Meiling Arounnarath

He landed the role of one of the main Asian pirates in the third movie of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” He’s the guy with the port-wine stain birthmark on his face, whose straw hat flew off in one of the scenes on the ship.

But to Ova Saopeng, 33, an actor who lives in Los Angeles, getting that role was not the most rewarding part of the experience. He took away something even more meaningful: for the first time, he met another Laotian actor while auditioning for a movie.

Saopeng had to go through a long, grueling series of auditions because the casting crew was holding auditions for both the second and third “Pirates” movies. So, he was auditioning for roles as well as auditioning as an extra. One of the auditions he went through was as one of the cannibal extras in the second movie.

And they were told they had to make up their own “cannibal language” on the spot.

“And I thought, ‘Alright, I’m not going to have to do that – I’m just going to speak Lao. These guys won’t understand it anyway,’” he said. “And I was going to be comfortable speaking Lao.”

Then, he heard another actor in the room who had the same idea he did.

“And I was like, ‘Wait a minute!’”

During a break, Saopeng walked over to the other actor, Lidet Viravong, and asked him what his ethnicity was. The young man told Saopeng he was Laotian. What about him? Saopeng said he was kohn Lao, too.

“Then, we started busting out in Lao to each other!” He could no longer concentrate on the audition. “I was only focused on talking to this other Lao guy. I didn’t really care about the audition because it was just for an extra part. I was just stoked to meet Lidet!”

“What fascinated me was the fact that it took me this long to meet another Lao person,” said Saopeng, who had been acting in theater since he was in eighth grade in Hawaii.

Viravong, who is in his late 20s, said he grew up in Oklahoma. Saopeng told him he was from Hawaii. Here they were, two Laotian men under 40 auditioning for movie roles, roles rarely created just for Asians. They were from two entirely different states so far apart in distance and in culture. Yet Saopeng wasn’t surprised at that fact

“It’s indicative of kohn Lao, our community. We’re spread out everywhere now,” he said. “There aren’t many ‘Laotowns’ or ‘Little Vientianes.” We’re not like other communities, who are more cohesive.”

Saopeng ended up getting a bigger role than he expected, but he was happiest just to have met a comrade.

Now, they’re good friends. At the time of the “Pirates” auditions, Viravong had only been acting for two years. Eventually, he moved to L.A., too, and has become like a little brother to Saopeng. They call each other up and hang out. Saopeng even recruited Viravong to act with a theater company he works with.

Aside from his role in “Pirates,” Saopeng doesn’t have much experience in television or movies. But he knows theater.

“Unfortunately, TV and movies, that’s where the money’s at,” he said. “Theater doesn’t make [that good of] a living – it livens your soul, your spirit and your craft, really.”

….He can’t be a doctor or a lawyer, like his parents wanted. Because he simply doesn’t know how to do anything else. The way he sees it, acting and other nontraditional careers are not nurtured or “cultivated” in the Laotian community. And the doctor or lawyer routes are the practical, moneymaker occupations to parents who are educated or who center their households on education, he said.

Saopeng was born in southern Laos, in the Savannakhet province. When he was 5 or 6 years old, his family escaped to the Ubon Ratchathani refugee camp in Thailand. Then, they made it to Hawaii.

He moved to L.A. almost 14 years ago. L.A. has more opportunities for him as an actor. And though he loved growing up there, Hawaii was just too small for him.

…He also helps out at the theater company his wife works with, Teada Productions. His wife, Leilani Chan, is the artistic director of the company. Saopeng describes Teada as “a theater for people of color, to promote artists of color.” Currently, he and his wife are working on a play together called “Refugee Nation,” a collection of different oral stories from Laotian people, of different generations. (Please read the rest of this article at Laoroots Magazine, Issue 2, Pages 18-19)

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