Interview - Diana Weng

Diana Weng was born in Taiwan and moved to the San Francisco’s Castro District with her family when she was 5 years old. Her family owned a restaurant and she recalls many memories of working in the restaurant during her childhood and teenage years. Ms. Weng majored in English Literature at UC Berkeley and remembers being drawn to a specific theater class during her time, which would lead her to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. She talks about landing her first job as a dialogue coach and her interesting interview process with Jackie Chan, whom she would later work for through many movies. Ms. Weng also details the arduous process of being a dialogue coach and correcting the English of Mr. Chan through all his movies, starting with Rush Hour. She also describes working with Keanu Reeves, Chris Tucker, and other actors throughout her experiences with acting. Additionally, she mentions balancing her work and family life as a working mom and having her children with her on filming sets. Ms. Weng suggests for families to be supportive of whatever their children want to pursue in life as Asians are underrepresented in her field.

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