Kicking off 2023 with ‘The Wrap On’ Mabel Li
Mabel (She/They) was recently nominated for a Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Supporting Actress and won an Asian Academy award for Best Supporting Actress for work in ‘New Gold Mountain’, ( Goalpost Picture’s, dir. Corrie Chen) on SBS. Mabels shared stories of gorgeous family, professional career to date and future hopes. The lessons of resilience and claiming identity are applicable to us all.
Few things to note :
Mabel graduated from NIDA, BFA(Acting) in 2019.
Television debut was in 2021 AACTA award winning SBS series, The Tailings (dir. Stevie Cruz-Martin)
Recently Wrapped: Starring in Kindling Picture’s, Safe Home.
Her work in film also includes AACTA nominated short, Voice Activated, and art installation Trechikoff’s Chinese Girl.
Her recent theatre credits include Never Closer (Downstairs Belvoir, dir. Hannah Goodwin), Delilah by the Hour (dir. Claudia Osbourne).
Mabel is also the recipient of the 2019/2020 BBM Youth Award Scholarship for Drama , was a 2021 Finalist for the Heath Ledger Scholarship and the recipient of the CGA Rising Star Award ( 2022).
Thanks to Weare8, a version of this conversation is now on youtube.
“We’ve had a lot of breakthroughs with Asian Australian representation on screen. It’s given us more permission to explore characters and themes where race isn’t necessarily at the centre of the story, which is exciting!“ - Mabel Li
Welcome Mabel!
What are you glad is becoming more ‘mainstream’ in our industry ?
The conversations around consent and safety becoming mainstream is necessary and exciting. The fact that intimacy coordinators are now a non negotiable on set and in rehearsal rooms are so important.
Lots of important conversations were broken open in 2020, but systemic change is slow. I think conversations around anti racism are still being normalised. I want to see more diversity reflected not just in front of the camera but behind.
Where did young Mabel grow up?
I grew up all over the place! I was born to New Zealand, but we moved to Australia when I was 3 and my brother was 1. My parents moved every couple of years, each time to a slightly better home. When we first came to Australia we lived in Hurstville, Allawah, Bexley and Carlton where there were many other immigrants, especially Chinese Immigrant families.
When I was in year two me and my brother also lived with my Por Por (maternal grandmother) in Auckland for a year whilst my parents worked to save up some money. I loved;
Ripstiking (I had a knock off from China) and scootering around the neighbourhood.
Drawing — would make my own comic books. NERD.
And my parents, I looked up to their work ethic, their tenacity, their resilience.
I remember in year 4 my teacher asking us what we wanted to be when we grew up . I panicked and blurted out lawyer, because I heard that was a stable job. But, I didn’t really know what I wanted to be. The only thing I thought I wanted was a job that could provide me with financial stability because of my upbringing… Oh well to that!
Fun fact: Creative Arts brings in more to Australian economy than most industries. It adds 14.7 billion per year (GDP) and employs 193,600 Australians. That’s more than the Coal Mining Industry…
With your parents commitment to bettering their families access to opportunities…
How did they respond to you wanting to become an actor?
My Mum always said to me the reason they sacrificed so much to come to Australia was so that she could support me and my brother’s dreams.She told me that she would support me no matter what I wanted to do, as long I worked hard at it.
It took my Dad a little bit of time to process that I wanted to become an actor. He would gently drop in conversation the salary of an orthodontist (which is quite impressive) every now and again, but he is now 100% onboard.
Do you still feel a pressure to succeed ?
All the time! If I feel like I’m being unreasonably hard on myself I try to remind myself to replace the pressure of #modelminority for #modelmediocrity. It can be hard to do , but I try to to give myself the grace and compassion to be messy, to try and to fail.
When did you decide it was no longer only a passion, but a career for you?
In High School it was was something that completely melted away the social anxiety I felt in year 8.
I kept doing it because it felt so freeing. I discovered that people found me funny and I felt like I could take up space.
I only decided I wanted to act, or gave myself the permission to dream about becoming an actor, after I graduated. I auditioned for drama school and got The Call - I was accepted.
Walk us through what the audition process was like for you.
I remember applying to audition for drama schools and looking through the alumni list, and at that point it was 95% white faces and immediately thought
“There is no way I’ll get in. I’m just going to enjoy this”.
Looking back, that was a little secret superpower of mine in a way.
Small cohort , 3 years and high pressure scenarios (mostly spent in black active wear… )
How did you keep sane in this often intense environment ?
In all honesty, it was hard to keep sane. I hadn’t experienced racism like that since primary school. I spoke out a lot about the injustices I saw and experienced and people didn’t like that. I was often threatened to be kicked out, told that if I kept speaking up it would tarnish the schools name and therefore my future career because my reputation was attached to the school and to suck it up until I got out because I was lucky BIPOC were “trendy” (VERBATIM). It was incredibly diminishing on many levels.
I wish it was something I didn’t have to experience, nor anyone. Sometimes I would just burst out into laughter and joke about how ridiculous it was with my peers, because, man, we really needed that.
Did you continue to notice difference and compare stories with your peers?
Something I've talked a lot about with my friends who are Asian Australian Actors is needing to translate scripts into another language, sometimes even pages of text. This is something I don't see my white peers being requested to do often.
I also reckon about half of the auditions I get, I’m asked to do them in 2 or 3 different dialects because they haven’t decided on the accent of the character yet. Now if I’ve gotten 2 scenes in the first round of auditioning, this means I need to submit 6 tapes in 3 different accents.
Anyone who understands what it's like to work in a dialect knows that you can’t just slap an accent on a text, things are usually intentionally written in the rhythm of an accent, so I’ve also spent lots of time tweaking the text so that the accent sits more naturally and feels justified.
I love accents and using the languages I speak, but I think it's important to highlight how much more work you're asking for free from mostly PoC actors (before the job is even booked!)
Of the roles you have played so far, is there a consistent element you find enjoyable to explore?
I love flawed characters and flawed people. People that you love and hate at the same time. I love exploring how people cope.
One of the most impactful roles is Cheung Lei from, New Gold Mountain. She’s extreme, ruthless, intelligent and she’s playful. She’s someone who has felt underestimated growing up. When I first read the scripts, I instantly felt for her. I felt excited about the journey she gets to go on throughout the show.
To be a part of a show that depicted the history of Chinese people in Australia was mind blowing and incredibly meaningful.
What stories would you like to see be made?
I want to see more queer Asian stories or queer BIPOC stories in general. I think we’ve had a lot of breakthroughs and firsts in the past couple of years with Asian Australian representation on screen and now I think it’s given us more permission to explore characters and themes where race isn’t necessarily at the centre of the story, which is exciting! Directors I would love to work with: Will Sharpe, Sophie Hyde, Lulu Wang.
Dream role - go!
I hope to continue being surprised, but… I think a rom com would be fun and challenging for me.
And before we let you go , talk to us about the ‘home’ you’ve found on Safe Home.
The Safe Home set was so nurturing to work on. This would be my second time working with Stevie Cruz-Martin, who is just the most incredibly empathetic, warm and collaborative director. I did my first television gig with her when I came out of drama school, and it was such a gift to reunite on such a different story and different character
Some of the wonderful crew on this project were the same people I worked with on New Gold Mountain as well, so it felt like coming home for me.
Mabel, Thank you for taking the time to share your adventure to date and allowing us to come along for the ride. You’re wrapped!
That’s The Wrap On Mabel Li folks! Keep up with Mabel on our screens, Theatres or Instagram ( @MabelLiii).
Mabel recommends:
I loved watching ‘This is Going to Hurt’ and ‘Dopesick’
Fave childhood movie is Ratatouille #Anyonecancook but now, Aftersun.
A couple theatre shows I’ve recently seen that have gone off:
- The Jungle and The Sea (Belvoir)
- End Of (Griffin)
- Lose to Win (Old Fitz).
- Blue’ at Belvoir St TheatreWhere’d you get your inspiration: Music is a big one for me.
-Shareena Clanton is someone I admire a lot.
Go to meal? God. Theres too many. I fuckin love; crispy Bánh xèo a bowl of refreshing cold Korean buckwheat noodles, a big vat of Gelato and My dad’s soup.
Cite: Global Entertainment & Media Outlook Perspectives Report