Editor’s Note: “REEL AAPI” is our annual celebration of the talented Asian American Pacific Islanders in the worlds of advertising, film, TV, music, radio and media. Through their contributions and creativity they are making a difference on a daily basis. This list includes talented actors like Tohoru Masamune.
Tohoru Masamune’s parents emigrated from Japan where they were descendents of an old samurai-class family. In contrast to that, Tohoru was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Moving around as a child, he grew up in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and Boston, MA.
Torohu attended MIT grad. His father was a top research professor at MIT, and his grandfather too was a world-renowned scientist in Japan.
Tohoru’s first movie role was in Pacific Heights directed by the Oscar-winning director, John Schlesinger.
He currently recurs as Kevin Hall-Yoshida (Paxton’s Dad) on Never Have I Ever (Netflix). He played Shredder in Michael Bay’s 2014 get Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie. He played the starring role of Dr. MaK Lin in Artificial (2019 Emmy & Peabody Awards). Other credits include Inception (Christopher Nolan), Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and American Dad.
Tohoru has also played starring roles on major stages such as at the Goodman Theatre in Silk directed by Tony Award winner, Mary Zimmerman, and Far East written by Obie- winner/Pulitzer Prize finalist, A.R. Gurney at The Williamstown Theatre Festival directed by Tony-Award winner Daniel Sullivan. He has also worked on various projects with Emmy/Tony/Oscar-winning directors & writers, Michel Gondry, Zak Snyder, Jon Cassar and Irene Meechi.
He is currently developing a Hockey movie as well as a stage play, The Couple Next Door, written by one of his ancestors, Hakucho Masamune, who was a noted Japanese playwright in the ’20s.
Let’s meet Tohoru.
How did you get into the entertainment industry?
I was the artistic kid in a family of world-class scientists. In 4th grade, I wrote a play in which I cast myself as the lead. I recall it being a big hit at the school! Haha. While I loved science, space travel, astronomy, and math, I was appropriately put on an art track in 7th grade.
But, with my dad being a chair research professor at MIT and my Grandpa, also a well-known scientist/professor in Japan, I ended up going to MIT for college as a matter of course. I was always a very mischievous, creative kid and college was no exception.
One day, one of my fraternity brothers bought a video camera and he threw a bunch of us in front of the camera, and we made all these crazy films. Shortly after graduation, I worked as a guard/show installation crew member at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and was exposed to many great artists and got to work on the installation crews for Nam Jun Paik and Brian Eno.
Around this time, I became close to this girl (who later became, for a period of several years, a great love of my life, but that’s a whole other story!) She worked as a receptionist at a nearby talent agency in Boston. I would come by to the agency to visit, and we would always joke about my getting into show business. I’ve always said that great ideas always start off as jokes, so there you go…
I later immersed myself in theatre in San Francisco and spent the summer in London studying Shakespeare. I booked my first feature film PACIFIC HEIGHTS, directed by Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger. I moved to LA in the early 90s and never looked back.
Who were your mentors?
I have been truly blessed with great people lighting the way. After being inspired by a performance of the play Love Letters, I wrote a letter to the acclaimed playwright A.R. Gurney. He actually wrote back to me. We formed a bond and he eventually cast me in a play he had just written which debuted at the Williamstown Theater Festival. He became a mentor/friend for decades right up until his death in 2017.
My Dad taught me fearlessness, tenacity, an unparalleled work ethic, and a love for the never-ending search for truth. My Grandpa on my Mom’s side was equally passionate about his research, but he was much more of a social beast and taught me to never let go of a youthful outlook and embrace this life journey with all the friends/collaborators you make along the way.
My mom, also a social phenom, ended up befriending the conductor Seiji Ozawa and for many decades I was able to closely observe and occasionally participate in the lives and responsibilities of this great performing artist and all his remarkable circle of friends/collaborators (which included folks like James Taylor, Mitsuko Uchida, and YoYo Ma.) I’ve had amazing acting teachers Diana Castle, Second City, Jean Shelton, Michael & Helaine Lembeck.
My professors at MIT inspired me early on; in particular, the late, great physicist Dr. Philip Morrison. I am still close with one of my dad’s best friends/collaborators at MIT, K. Barry Sharpless who just won his 2nd Nobel Prize. He influenced me by always marching to the beat of his own drum.
Finally, I’ve had the great privilege of having life-changing experiences working with the most amazing film/theatre creatives: Tony Award winners, Mary Zimmerman & Daniel Sullivan, Michael Bay (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Christopher Nolan (Inception), Emmy-winner, Jon Cassar, the late Oscar winner, John Schlesinger. I even still recall a few brief, but memorable chats with Michel Gondry and Zack Snyder when I worked a few commercials they directed.
It’s been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a small mistake you made when you were first starting and the lesson you learned from it?
I had just moved to LA. A friend who worked at Sony invited me as her +1 to a premiere of some movie and got us into the VIP inner sanctum party. Ellen DeGeneres was there My friend, who was a big fan, seemed uncharacteristically star-struck. She really wanted an autograph from Ellen, but was nervous that it was inappropriate.
I got annoyed by my friend’s shyness and said I would get it for her. I went right up to Ellen DeGeneres. She was hanging out by this small dance floor. I vaguely recall she was chatting with Alan Cumming. The party lights were swirling about. I said ‘Excuse me..hi there!”
Given the relative intimacy and celebratory atmosphere of the venue, she returned the “hi” and beamed as if perhaps I may be someone she knew. When I asked her if she minded if I could get her autograph, she was momentarily taken a little aback, having realized I was actually a fan (even though I was in fact asking for a friend!) She had this imperceptively small, instinctive, “How did you get in here?” look on her face, but with savvy and grace, she quickly popped back into form, readjusted, and said, “Sure!”
I handed her a piece of paper and a pen. Lo and behold my pen had run out of ink. After several tries, I could sense she was starting to get annoyed. But I refused to fail in my mission. It didn’t help that when I finally managed to find another pen and it didn’t work much better. She progressively got more annoyed as this episode did not seem to be coming to an end any time soon. With the last few drops of ink in the 2nd pen, I finally managed to get my friend a completely illegible autograph. I thanked Ms. DeGeneres and walked away. I won’t lie though. Those last few seconds were awfully uncomfortable!
I guess I learned that I should always be conscious of people’s time, and recognize their immediate circumstances. Also, I must test my equipment before I go on a mission!
Do you believe more Americans are now finding more acceptance for the AAPI community because of films, TV and other mediums? Do the arts play a role in acceptance and equity?
Absolutely. I think it’s natural that acceptance and perception evolve out of the massive exposure that media affords. Art is the great equalizer because when done properly, it’s solely about the human heart.
How would you improve AAPI visibility in your craft?
Thanks to the tireless effort of the grassroots AAPI movement, the future has never looked brighter. Now that the door’s been cracked open, I believe, especially with the awareness that there are actually people out there counting on me, it is essential for me to show up every day: Do my job at the highest level to which I am capable.
Live up to all these tremendous opportunities and blessings of my life. Help each and every project on which I work become a hit. Be a good human being. Be good to everyone I encounter. Do charity work, outreach, and give back. Keep perfecting my craft. Keep reconnecting with my true joy, humor, love. Stay positive and disciplined.
Constantly feed my soul, Do things that make me and those around me happy and inspired. Never be afraid to just be myself. All that stuff. As an artist and human being, I must truly embrace this moment in time.
People aren’t stupid. If through all of this, people of all races and ethnicities are able to find a bit of themselves in the roles I play, I will have done my job and people will tune in.
I’m very proud of the work I did on Mindy Kaling’s Never Have I Ever and the Emmy Award-winning Artificial on Twitch. I believe both projects, which happened to have AAPI-led casts, gained so much visibility not because of the casting (which was, of course, ground-breaking), but because of their humanity and because they were so damn good.
What’s one challenge you occasionally or regularly face in your job?
On occasion, I’ve had to remind myself that I belong in these moments. I’ve risked a great deal, worked my ass off to get here, and have become pretty darn good at what I do. I suppose it’s natural though. Just like when we fall in love, I think we tend to feel a little unworthy, even though we may in fact be generally looked upon as being a good match. I will say that in this regard, recently I’ve seemed to have somehow turned a corner. It’s a nice feeling.
How did your friends and family react when you chose your career path?
HAHA. General confusion. Years of difficult, but undeniably humorous conversations with my Dad, trying to convince him of the dubious merit of my decision. He once said, “You are walking away from…Well, you probably don’t even know what you’re walking away from!” Then he grumbled, “But you do seem happy…not sure why…but you do seem happy.”
He understood the power of devoting one’s life to what one truly loves regardless of what people are telling you. His confidence steadily increased as he started witnessing tangible evidence of progress in my career with appearances on screen/stage and in the press.
My Grandpa was ecstatic. I called him (for possibly my last conversation with him) over a long-distance phone call while he was visiting from Japan for a symposium in Vancouver Canada. He was beside himself with happiness and said “I heard the news! You are TOTALLY going down your own path!” Mom was also very thrown off and not at all happy about it at first, but I think she understood deep down and noticed and appreciated the fact that I developed a different relationship with her performer friends.
It was nice to see her visibly proud when she came to see me in a starring role at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. As for my sister, she always appreciated the bold move.
I had a high school friend find me on LinkedIn and he said, “I heard you had become an actor. It was unexpected, not surprising considering your personality.”
It always seemed to make sense to my college friends. I guess I had a reputation haha.
REELated:
What are the biggest questions you have been asked about your race or ethnicity?
I recalled once being asked about what it was like being raised with the unforgiving emphasis on grades, achievement, college, etc. that can often come with territory growing up AAPI. This person was questioning whether that was even a good approach.
My parents weren’t too bad to me, but the bar was unquestionably high. As a grown man, I appreciate that I now have the foundation to excel in all sorts of areas when it really counts. I got to have a fantastic college experience where I made lifelong friends. Even my obligatory 10 years of classical piano allow me to jam out the blues on my keyboards. The end effect was good.
But whatever pressure was there, and I suspect in combination with the whole institution of the AAPI inordinately high academic expectations did seem to do quite the number on my psychological well-being in my 20s.
Ironically this issue is addressed in the scene where my hippie dad character in NEVER HAVE I EVER, Kevin Hall-Yoshida (Paxton’s Dad) is first introduced. I
Me and my hippie wife (played by Kelly Sullivan) are having a talk over dinner with Paxton (played by Darren Barnet) about the fact that the revocation of his Stanford scholarship due to his broken hand put him in a difficult situation where his mediocre grades will not get him into a decent college. We believe in “Kindness over achievement.” I love my response to Paxton. I’m guessing I’m the first Asian dad in cinematic history to utter the phrase “If you don’t go to college, that’s totally OK.”
If you weren’t doing what you do now, what job would you like to have?
I’ve always wished we had 9 lives and I could live one entirely as a TOTAL nerd. Maybe a wacky math professor somewhere or a guy with a job where I found myself coding at a computer (or working on software designing things like superfast cars or ski equipment) with a lot of soda and slices of pizza well into the wee hours of the morning.
If in yet another life, being a rock star is one of the options, I will check that off as well.
What advice would you give to your younger self?
Don’t change a thing. Promise I won’t let you down. Trust me, it’s a crazy ride you won’t want to miss.
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