Creative Leaders - An Interview with Ines Laimins

“With education you can create a life and there are endless possibilities. I see that discipline and mentality with many families here in Hong Kong.”

Ines Laimins 

During this period, we would like to share with you a series of interviews from our leaders, other creative members in our community and behind the scene glimpses of our youth theatre.

Ines Laimins is a professional actress who has performed in numerous film and television shows in the US and Asia. Highlights include the critically acclaimed The Farewell, recent release Go Back to China and numerous Chinese series such as Forever Young (不老奇事), Dream on this side of the Sea (梦在海这边), Diplomatic Situation (外交风云) and Wait in Beijing (我在北京等你). She is also a photographer who has shot many of our promotional photos for our productions in the past few years. In this interview, we will focus on her film and television career.

A Quick Introduction

I’ve been in the creative industry ever since I could remember. I was a ballet dancer and when I was at Northwestern University, I ended up being very involved with the theatre community there. I moved to Asia where I continue to work in the creative field. As an actor, I’ve worked in China a lot as well as all over Asia in TV and film. I’m also still hired to do a lot of commercial work. I feel very fortunate to be working as an actor and actively working. 

Acting with Lee Pace (The Hobbit trilogy) in the tv series Flying Tiger

A Balletic Beginning

Ballet was what drew me into performing, and it was what I did all through my high school years. I enjoyed it as a form of expression. I went to the ballet studio six times a week but I had to do well at school. I didn’t really have much of a social life. Because I had all these rules and boundaries set by my parents, I just decided to do well at school and then that’s how I could do all the things I loved to do. I learnt to manage my time and decided that maybe socialising isn’t as important. As a result, all during high school I didn’t go out!

At the premiere of Go Back to China with famed HK actor Richard Ng,
Faust Alumni Aviva Wang and cast and crew

Interest in China

I studied Mandarin and when I lived in Taiwan, I worked as a tour guide at the museum there, which is where I learned more about Chinese culture. I even took a five month long course about Chinese history and cultural arts! I always want to keep learning regardless of where I am. But when I was in Taiwan, I really missed theatre and performing, so I would read books, think of stories to write, watch movies, and go to the theatre as much as possible. 

I really identify with many of the Asian traditions and cultures, although I’m a first generation American – I never felt like I fit in as an American. My parents are from Latvia and because they had to escape from their country and make a new life, they really wanted to make sure that we were educated. That was the most important thing to my parents because with education you can create a life and there are endless possibilities. I see that discipline and mentality with many families here in Hong Kong. 

Scars of Nanking for the History Channel

A Working Actress

As a mother of three wonderful children, I was a full-time mother for almost 18 years, but I’ve always wanted to be an actress! When my girls grew older, I had more time and opportunities to start getting involved with the theatre and film work here again. I even started my own photography studio. 

In Hong Kong there are not a lot of acting work opportunities with film or TV, but there is plenty of commercial work, which was where I started with when I moved to Hong Kong. 

The first movie that I worked in was a mainland Chinese movie called Dear Enemy (亲密敌人). My scene was only a one-day shoot, but it allowed me to meet various people from the Chinese film industry. There are agents in Hong Kong who put you forward for different roles, but there aren’t many film roles unless you speak Cantonese.

Acting with Keanu Reeves in the film Man of Tai Chi

Overcoming Challenges

My first great disappointment came when I was cast in Man of Tai Chi with Keanu Reeves. I spent 5 days out filming and I was so excited to be in a film with Keanu Reeves, but the scene was cut. That was the first moment in my life where I felt I had totally failed. The same thing happened in the movie Farewell. My scene was cut.

Nevertheless, I felt very privileged to have met and work with these creative people, and then you create the connections. So you just keep going. The longer you stay, the opportunities will come to you.

Behind the Scenes photo from The Farewell with leading actress Awkwafina 

Now I have a movie coming out when the theatres open in China called Forever Young. I’ve also acted in a TV drama which is airing soon, which I’m really happy about because it’s been two years in post production. I play the landlord of the main character. 

Wait in Beijing (我在北京等你) with Actor Evan Yi Feng Lee

Preparing as a Professional Actor

There are two sides of being an actor and working in the industry. One is working on your craft and the other is working on the business side. The craft is the technique of acting, preparing for auditions, working on monologues, working with your acting coach.

The business side is the stuff that you need to have prepared to send in to a talent agent or for a casting. This includes headshots, a resume or a website. You also need a reel, a compilation of all of the film work you have done. When you’re beginning as an actor, you don’t have a lot of film work you can put together for a reel, so it’s completely fine to have some of your theatre works put together in a short film. That at least shows that you’ve been doing something and you’re not making it up, that you’re actually passionate and inspired and working on your craft. Those are things you can work on continuously and keep updating as you go along in your career. 

Filming Take Point directed by Byung-woo Kim with Jung-woo Ha

Website: www.ineslaimins.net

Instagram: ines.laimins

IMDb Profile: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4050933/