Justin Chon from Oahu directs and stars in “Blue Bayou”

Justin Chon was born in Southern California, grew up in Irvine, California and studied business administration at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

He broke out as an actor in 2006 as Peter Wu in “Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior” on the Disney Channel and then as Tony Lee on the Nickelodeon sitcom “Just Jordan.” In 2008 he became part of the “Twilight” universe as Eric Yorkie, one of the secondary human characters.

In 2012, Chon teamed up with Kevin Wu (aka KevJumba on YouTube) and Hawaiian film director Ryan Kawamoto to create “Hang Loose,” a comedy set filmed in Aloha State. Chon has teamed up with Wu again to write, direct, executive-produce, and co-star the 2015 film Man Up, a contemporary comedy also filmed in Hawaii.

In 2017 he wrote, directed and starred in Gook, a dark drama about the experiences of two Korean American shopkeepers in the early days of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.

Chon took his career in an entirely different direction when he joined Hilo-born YouTube personality Ryan Higa and three other Asian-American actors and appeared as the K-pop boy band parody group Boys General Asian (aka BgA); Chon’s stage name was J-Lite. They looked like the real thing.

Chon, 40, who moved to Oahu with his wife and daughter earlier this year, celebrates the release of Blue Bayou, another powerful, critically acclaimed dramatic film that he wrote, directed, and starred in .

The film follows the experiences of the Korean born Antonio LeBlanc (Chon), who was adopted by Americans at the age of 3 and grew up in Louisiana. Married, with a stepdaughter who adores him and a baby on the way, Antonio discovers that the government is planning to deport him. The film is now in theaters.

We met Chon by phone on Tuesday when he was in Los Angeles promoting the film.

You are an American citizen by birth. What made you decide to create “Blue Bayou”?

I’m friends with people (in this situation), and I’ve heard that people brought to this country as young children – who the government had recognized were legally adopted by U.S. citizens – 20 or 30 or 40 Years later had to be deported. I just found it absolutely shocking and horrific; I don’t know how this is possible and my heart was only bleeding for the community. I thought it was my job to shed some light on this subject.

I think I can say, without spoiling anything, that the story is totally unpredictable in terms of how the characters will behave. Do you have them from the experiences of people you know?

That’s storytelling, that’s creative. … This has been happening since the Clinton administration. I’m not trying to make someone bad or that someone is to blame. I say, “Let’s look at the situation honestly and fix it.” That is my main stance on it. When you tell a human story, it has to be three-dimensional, and every character in it has to be three-dimensional. Everyone needs to feel justified in what they do. These are the things in the story that make the story feel tangible and real instead of feeling like an agenda movie.

Somewhat back in time, what happens to BgA? I loved the “Who’s It Gonna Be” video. Do you do any more videos?

I did that for fun with Ryan (Higa). He’s a great friend of mine. It’s something he really wanted to do. I enjoyed making these videos a lot.

What stands out most about being part of the Twilight universe?

It was a really interesting experience for me. Before “Twilight” I didn’t really know where my career was going, I just knew that I wanted to act. After “Twilight” I could see what was important to me, what was important to me with my art and what I wanted to stand for and do. Watching what (the stars) were going through at arm’s length didn’t really feel like something I wanted to be a part of. It really made it clear what I stood for and what I wanted to do.

What brought you back to Hawaii to live?

When I was a little kid, my family went there every year for Memorial Day – it was always a place of joy and, most importantly, of healing. Hawaii has such a beautiful spirit and the people there are so beautiful and welcoming, and since we are Asian-American, for any Asian-American it is mainly us. I feel accepted. I can walk around and don’t have the feeling that I am “the other”. As a parent, I want my child to be confident – she’s a Hapa baby – and I want them to grow up in a place where they can feel confident, safe and become a loving person.

In 2016, you wrote an article about skipping an audition for a role that required a stereotypical Asian accent. It reminded me of a conversation I had with James Hong about the roles that had preoccupied him since 1954 and a play about Asian actors in Hollywood that was staged here in 1997, Philip Kan Gotanda’s “Yankee Dawg You Die” . You wrote that your solution was to create. Is that getting easier for Asian actors and filmmakers?

I think it’s gotten a little easier since I started acting, but we still have a long way to go. There are still gatekeepers. We have to get into a position where we are the decision makers. As an independent filmmaker, I don’t have a Masters. I can do what I want without worrying about being censored and I can tell the story as I see fit from my personal authentic experience.

What’s next for you

I just made a movie on Oahu. It’s about an Indonesian father and son. The son is a rapper and is about to explode, he is recording a new album in Hawaii. His father is his manager, he just fired his father and got a new record label. When I finish this press tour I will go back to edit it.