Smooth operator: talking action flicks with actor Ian Anthony Dale

By creammagazine, August 12, 2014

Primetime actor Ian Anthony Dale possesses a name as Anglo as a British knight’s, but his mixed heritage of Japanese, French and English oddly saw him born and raised in far-flung Middle America.

“Actually, I grew up very Midwestern,” tells the Minnesota native, “and was one of only five Asian-Americans in a school of about 2,000 people. I certainly enjoyed being part of the multicultural melting pot that existed there.”

Indeed, far from experiencing any form of racism, Dale got along famously with all the other students, who were only too happy to celebrate his top ranking on the college baseball team, a position that saw him winning the title of state champion.

Upon graduation, and forsaking a promising career in baseball, Dale eventually fell into the world of theatre and today boasts one of the most impressive lists of television and film credits. He has appeared in at least 30 primetime TV shows including regular roles in ‘The Event’, ‘Hawaii Five-O’, and brand new series ‘Murder In The First’, plus he’s appeared in a host of blockbuster films, from ‘The Bucket List’ (playing Jack Nicholson’s high-flying motivator) to ‘The Hangover’ (as Mr Chow’s mean sidekick).

Heck, the guy has even lent his voice to the world of video gaming, and can be heard calling the shots in ‘Call Of Duty’ and ‘Sleeping Dogs’.

Antonino Tati gets the man of many talents on the phone to talk action roles, blessed genes, and the benefits and downside to constant travel.

Photography by Gabriel Goldberg

 

 

Hi Ian. You’re very prolific on primetime TV. I think I counted something like 30 shows that you’ve appeared in.

Yeah, I’ve been doing this now for about 14 years and I guess the credits just add up!

 

Whether you’re guest-starring in a show for two or ten minutes, do you need to go back and view episodes of each series to see which characters you’ll be interacting with?

That’s one thing you can do in terms of preparation. Media is so accessible now – what with the internet – and so I used to DVR at least one episode of every new show that came out so that I could watch it and get a feel for what the show is about, the tone of it, who the characters were, so that if I ever got an audition for a particular show I’d have a good idea of how to prepare. So any time I’ve done a guest-star, I try to familiarise myself with whatever show I’m on as much as possible in the limited time I get. Sometimes you get booked to guest-star on a Thursday and they want you to work on a Friday; it all happens very quickly.

 

I’m wondering, do you ever have projects happening simultaneously? You know, finishing one show in the morning and heading off to the set of another show in the afternoon?

I don’t think I’ve ever been quite that busy. That would be a whole new experience for me, but a challenge that I wouldn’t mind taking on at some point! I have ended one job and jumped into another within the same week.

 

Have you ever gotten confused and thought you were still in the previous character’s shoes?

[Laughs]. That’s a good question, but I can’t say I’ve ever gotten my roles confused. Preparation is a very important part of the process for me, and I pride myself on coming to sets having done my homework.

 

I’m sure you’re the consummate professional. We’ll get to talking about your new show ‘Murder In The First’, but first I wanted to talk a bit about your work in ‘Hawaii Five-O’. Shooting that series, did you remain in Hawaii for the most part, or travel back and forth from LA?

I had the best of both worlds. I got to fly back and forth. I love Hawaii; it’s one of my favourite places in the world. It’s such a beautiful state and I hike and surf as much as I possibly can when I’m there. So every time I’ve guested on ‘Hawaii Five-O’ I’ve essentially gotten a free trip to paradise. I would go there sometimes for a couple of days, and sometimes for up to a month. And I try to soak it in as much as possible. Travelling is certainly one of the perks of what we actors do.

 

Most recently you’ve been travelling to and fro San Francisco to shoot ‘Murder In The First’. Does all that travelling sometimes have its downside?

Any time you’re away from your family and loved ones, it can put a strain on things and it can be challenging. Separation can be really difficult. Fortunately, there’s Skype and Facetime and different ways of communicating. I’ve been fortunate, too, that the last few series I’ve done – with the exception of Hawaii Five-O – most of them have been shot in Los Angeles. In fact, even ‘Murder In The First’ is shot in Los Angeles, and we just make trips to San Francisco to get all the exterior stuff. So I haven’t been torn away from my family and loved ones too much in the last few years. Still, I’d imagine it would be quite strenuous.

 

What do you do to break away from the acting work? I know you mentioned earlier you like to hike and surf.

I just love nature; I love being outside and getting as far away from industry-related things as I possibly can. You know, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the difficulties of life and planning for the future, but when you’re out on a surf, or hanging from a 5,000 foot cliff, you really can’t think of anything but being in the moment. And when you’re out on the surf, for example, you can’t possibly think of anything else but trying to stay alive and not getting beat up by Mother Nature. It makes you very present, and I love doing activities that make me need to be 100% present.

 

You’re pretty active on-set, too. In playing the role of the head of the Homicide Unit in ‘Murder In The First’, your work certainly looks cut out for you.

Well it doesn’t necessarily bring more challenges, but it does provide an opportunity to really dig deeper into that specific character. When you’re playing a character for – in this case – 10 episodes, and hopefully more, you really get to develop that character over time. You really get to think about what makes him tick, and about his relationship to everything and everyone around him. As an actor, you appreciate those opportunities to go deeper. With guest-star work, you have such a limited window of time to prepare and to execute, but with a series-regular recurring character, you really get to dive in and figure out the psychology of this person.

 

You’ve certainly played a variety of personalities. Even the span of genres you’ve worked in is immense – from horror (‘American Horror Story’) and occult (‘Charmed’) through to countless crime dramas. Do you get real joy in branching out into various genres?  

I love to work and so long as the production is made up of quality individuals and is trying to tell an interesting story, I’m happy to be a part of it. There’s so much good television these days, it’s really a kind of new Golden Age for TV. I think there is something like 40 channels making original content now [in the US, at least] and as a result, television has gotten so rich. I’m just happy that any of these genres would have me. If I somehow start racking up credits on my resume that are specific to one genre or another – if at some point people start considering me a ‘sci-fi guy’ or a ‘cop-show guy’ – then, fine, I’ll take that.

 

You mentioned this being a new Golden Age in TV. Networks like HBO and Showcase have certainly opened the floodgates for storylines that go way off the map. Do you feel TV sometimes goes too far? That when you look at these shows – your ‘Dexter’s; your ‘Breaking Bad’s – and a dozen of different series you’ve been in with all their crime, murder and drug-dealing, is it turning society on to bad behaviour, or trying to teach it a lesson?

You are asking one great question there. You know, I was watching the sequel to ‘The Purge’ – I think it’s called ‘Purge: Anarchy’, and the premise of it is that one night out of the year everybody is free to commit as many crimes as they want, including murder. It has this completely outlandish, ridiculous plot and I’m watching this preview and I’m thinking to myself, ‘I wonder if this is contributing to all the gun violence that’s happening in our society? I wonder if these kids are watching movies like this, or if the video games that they’re playing, are somehow informing them that it’s okay to go out there and commit mass murder?’ I’m aware that media is a strong tool in influencing people, but I’ve never really looked at television as a means to influence negatively. But I guess maybe I should take a closer look at that. If film has the power to do so, and if video games have the power to do so, I would certainly think television does as well. That being said, you would hope that our society is raised with enough awareness to know that these are stories that we’re telling and that they should not be repeated in any realistic way that could harm people.

 

Even the news is over-the-top in its presentation these days…

Yeah, it’s hard to watch CNN night after night because all they report on are really horrible things that are happening around the world. But who do you blame? Film, TV, video gaming? It’s difficult to blame one thing.

 

Things start getting a bit blurred, too: I mean are these shows and games commenting on society or influencing society? It all becomes a bit chicken-and-egg, really.

It certainly does.

 

You’ve appeared in some blockbuster films including ‘The Bucket List’ and ‘The Hangover’. There’s a scene in ‘The Hangover’ where Mr Chow first meets the guys who are trying to buy their friend back, and you’re standing there, being one of his mean sidekicks. Do you prefer playing the bad guy or the good guy?

I like characters that are a combination of the two. For my character on ‘Hawaii Five-O’, he’s seemingly a bad guy. His father was the head of the Yakuza; he’s having to inherit this organised crime syndicate. He could easily be labelled as a bad boy, but he’s spent his entire arc on the show trying to win the approval of the law enforcement; of the Five-O. And I love that; I love playing characters that kind of straddle the line between bad boy and genuine good guy. There’s a grey area, and it’s much more interesting to play characters that are a little grey than ones that are either obviously bad or squeaky clean. I like that middle ground.

 

If we can go back to your early days, I hear you were big on sports in college; in fact, you almost had a career in baseball.

Yeah, I played baseball up until my freshman year at college. Here’s a tidbit of information for you: my father, two of my brothers, and myself all won state baseball championships at the same high-school. Many years apart, obviously, but still, it’s a nice little family legacy we have.

 

Very impressive. And your Dad was a semi-pro hockey player, too.

Yeah, he played for the United States Olympic team in 1968, and for two minor league hockey teams, before his career was cut short by a knee injury. Sports is very prevalent in my family. All my brother and sisters play it and at one point, yes, I aspired to be a professional baseball player but obviously that didn’t happen. I’m happy that it didn’t happen because I probably never would have discovered acting and theatre which I’m really passionate about.

 

That said, a lot of your acting work is of the action variety. I’m wondering if you feel the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree when it came to possessing an inclination to sport – considering especially that your father and all your siblings play sports?

Are you asking if athleticism is passed down genetically?

 

Pretty much so.

I think it’s a combination of genetics and then how hard you’re willing to work at improving. You know, some people just have that natural ability or talent while others have to work really hard for it. Something my father taught us was no matter how much talent you have, you can always get better and you should always work hard at getting better. And I think I’ve kind of taken that philosophy and applied to every aspect of my life.

 

‘Murder In The First’ will air on Australian television later in the year.

 

 

 

FILMS YOU’VE LIKELY SEEN IAN ANTHONY DALE IN…

THE BUCKET LIST (pictured above)

THE HANGOVER

MR. 3000

TEKKEN

 

AND HOW’S THIS FOR AN IMPRESSIVE LIST OF TV SHOWS?

AMERICAN HORROR STORY

ANGEL

BURN NOTICE

CHARMED

COLD CASE

CRIMINAL MINDS

CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION

CSI: MIAMI

CSI: NY

DAYBREAK

DOC McSTUFFINS

DOLLHOUSE

THE EVENT

FLYING LESSONS

HAWAII FIVE-O

JAG

LAS VEGAS

LOLLIPOPS

THE MENTALIST

MORTAL KOMBAT

MORTAL COMBAT: LEGACY

MORTAL KOMBAT: REBIRTH

MURDER IN THE FIRST (pictured above)

SECOND TIME AROUND

SURFACE

TRAUMA

24

WITHOUT A TRACE