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CAST |
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HOGOZ |
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Cast |
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Keye Chen plays Calvin “Coolidge” Asaho a 15 year-old Nisei (second generation) who has been sent to Hogoz for resisting authority and attempting multiple escapes from Manzanar concentration camp in central California. Keye attended UCLA with a degree in Psychobiology and now pursuing a career in comedic acting. Check out www.imdb.me/keychen and www.youtube/iamkeye |
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Lisa Cullen plays Sachi “Babydoll” Sakata a voluptuous 17 year-old Nisei and shunned daughter of a Baptist minister from Oahu, Hawaii, sent to Hogoz for cutting off the penis of a sailor who tried to assault her. Lisa has been in numerous shorts, non-union features, booked a series regular on a pilot, and is the hostess for www.eerietube.com. |
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Matthew Groves plays Yehudi “Yerry” Garcia, a 15 year-old with an ethnic mix of Mexican and Russian Jew who followed Coolidge first to Manzanar and now Hogoz because he did not want to see his friend sent off alone.
Matthew attends East Los Angeles College, where he is currently performing in various productions and is also a musician playing with several groups. |
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VyVy Nguyen plays Keiko “KC” Chang a 16 year-old of Chinese and Japanese parents who came to Hogoz because she burned down her barracks at the concentration camp in Rohwer, Arkansas.
VyVy completed a degree in Theatre from USC and recently wrapped filming the movie 51, a horror/suspense feature about Area 51. |
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Paul Linke plays Way Boylin the camp Project Director accused of but never charged with inappropriate behavior with his wards and for selling their food rations on the black market.
Paul has been a professional actor for 40 years, and he is best know as Artie Grossman on the NBC-TV series CHiPs and the creator of his celebrated Times Flies When You’re Alive, which was later filmed as an HBO Showcase special and nominated for a Cable Ace Award. E-mail: linkelink1948@aol.com |
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Cortney Lee plays Elizabeth “Lizzy” Emi, a precocious 14 year-old of Japanese and English parents who was send to Hogoz because authorities think she is too smart to be anything but a sleeper agent.
Cortney has been seen as “Tia” in Disney’s Get Connected spots (2008 and 2009) and has been a gold medal champion the U.S. Tae Kwon Do Junior Olympics. See more at cortneylee.com. |
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Patrick Scott Lewis plays Adolph Nagel a comically sadistic guard and would-be actor who blames these kids for missing his big break in Hollywood.
Patrick attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and, after appearing in numerous theatre productions in New York, moved to Los Angeles where he has worked in various feature films. |
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Lawrence Kao plays Toru “Tex” Ohka, a saxophone-playing, 16 year-old Nisei who was sent to Hogoz after blowing the whistle on camp administrators at Gila, Arizona, for stealing the inmates’ food rations.
Lawrence is Drama graduate of UC Irvine and has danced with “Kaba Modern,” which led to his participation in MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew (2008). |
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Christian Mante plays Gojiro “George” Ohara a 16 year-old Nisei who was sent to Hogoz from the Heart Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming because authorities suspected his super patriotism as a front.
Christian graduated from UC San Diego in Mammalian Physiology/ Neuroscience and, after various career experiences, is now pursuing acting and hip hop dance. |
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Grace Park plays Gail “Taki” Tanaka a chatty 15 year-old Nisei whose loose lips unwittingly exposed a group of government collaborators at the concentration camp Tule Lake in northern California.
Grace is a Junior in high school and is known to be a talkative and super out-going person. |
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Cindy Shields plays Bridget “Biddy” Putzkammer who came to Hogoz as an administrative assistant because she and her husband lost their jobs in Chicago.
Cindy is an actress with more than 30 years of credits, including television, commercials, voice-overs, stage, and, her recent venture, stand-up comedy. |
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William Wu plays Haru “Marx” Maeda a 17 year-old Kibei (born in USA and educated in Japan) who was sent to Hogoz for organizing kids into the Communist Party at Minidoka, the concentration camp in Idaho.
William is a USC Biomedical Engineering graduate who has turned actor. |
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Jani Wang plays “Princess” Jenny Ono, a 16 year-old with Japanese and Chinese parents who was sent to Hogoz after an emotional breakdown due to the loss of the camp beauty pageant at Manzanar.
Jani is UCLA graduate in Business Economics and Accounting. She has recently starred in a film for the Shanghai World Expo and is represented by Studio Talent Group. |
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Perry Shields plays Carl Putzkammer who came to Hogoz as a teacher having been fired soon after Pearl Harbor for his role as a leader in the American First Committee (a pro-German antiwar group.)
Perry has more than 90 productions to his credit as actor, musician, and director. Video credits include Real Hollywood Meeting, A Tribute to Lon Chaney, and the title character in Jack Pierce: The Man Behind the Monsters. |
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Ann Song plays Michiko “Mimi” Fukahara a 17 year-old with Japanese and Swedish parents who was sent to Hogoz because her mother was prostituting her at Topaz concentration camp in Utah.
Ann is graduate in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University and is now pursing acting. She can also be seen as the Foreigner in the web series “Miss Casting”. |
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Simon Twu plays Osama “Sam-Sam” Usami a 17 year-old Nisei sent to Hogoz for embezzling from the inmates’ store at Poston, another concentration camp in Arizona, in order buy materials to stage a musical.
Simon is a professional singer having performed extensively in both Taiwan and the United States. He has also performed in film and television.
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Kimmy Shields plays Allison “Ally” Putzkammer a 15 year-old with German and Scotch-Irish parents who has been forced to come to Hogoz because her parents cannot get work anywhere else.
Kimmy is a Senior in high school and has been acting for nearly 10 years. |
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Teenagers. Hormones. Barbed wire...It’s going to be a long war! |
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Hi, all! Take a few minutes to view this video of many of our cast members when they gathered together for the first time as a group.
We were honored to have Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga speak to us about her experiences as a teenager, a newly-wed, and about to be young mom when she was an inmate in these prisons. Also, Aiko talked to the cast about her experiences after war and her striving to find out what was the truth of the whole matter.
For each of our cast members, it was an amazing experience to meet and speak with someone who was both part of this unjust history and who fought tirelessly for redress of these wrongful actions.
Then please explore our cast members below! |
