Through his 55 years of experience in the entertainment industry in Hollywood, Aki Leonard Gonzales Aleong has noticed Asian Americans are underrepresented in motion pictures and has taken the initiative to speak to Sacramento State students about the issue.

Aleong, an actor, singer, writer, producer and activist, started his career in 1954 in Hollywood and has been in 15 movies and more than 200 television shows.

He will share his expertise in the entertainment industry with Sac State students from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday at the Multi-Cultural Center.

“The students can ask anything about producing, directing, which I’ve done, to being in the movies, acting and being a singer,” he said.Jorge Santana, a retired Sac State professor of Spanish and travel study coordinator, said Aleong portrays a positive Asian American image by taking on roles that do not follow a negative connotation.Aleong said he also wants to talk to the campus community regarding how the Hollywood industry has continued to under-represent Asian Americans by portraying them in stereotypical roles.

“Why would an Asian woman go after a geeky looking and short Asian guy when the women have good-looking Black, Mexican and White guys and we don’t see any good-looking Asian men,” Aleong said. “There are no Asian young men to greenlight or star in any projects. That’s why our women are being stolen because we’re not represented equally.”

He said he also hopes to unite the Asian American community by helping them recognize that they need to have a strong leader to help bring change in Hollywood.

“We don’t riot, we don’t burn, we don’t do anything, so we’re put on the back burner,” he said. “What we need to try to do is unite and have one voice. We don’t have a Martin Luther King, a Mother Theresa, Gandhi, a Cesar Chavez or anybody that will come out of the ranks and stand up.”

Aleong also intends to diversify the characters in Hollywood by informing Sac State about his recent film, “I am somebody: No Chance in Hell,” a Western and spiritual-based film that depicts the mistreatment of Chinese, Mexican and Blacks in the 1870s. His goal is to show how all races can unite through this film.

It will be shown Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Sacramento Film Festival at the California State Rail Road Museum in Old Town Sacramento.His intentions with this movie were to reveal to the public that we do not live in a black and white society, but that other races exist in the United States.

“I’m hoping my film will motivate people to write about the American experience and include us all,” he said. “Not everyone’s going to like my film, come on board or be an activist, but as long as I can leave this world a little better than I found it, that’s all that I care about at this point.”

Santana said Aleong’s film is important because it is showing that different races can collaborate to support each other.

“(Aleong) himself wants all the races to come together by showing that they can work together and help one another,” he said. “His film shows the injustices that have been committed by many whites in the U.S. but along the line, they unite even with differences. In his film, he tries to get out the message that there can be peace and harmony.”

Aleong’s career in the entertainment business has been difficult at times because of the discrimination he has faced in Hollywood, and he hopes to release what he felt into this film.

“In my 55 years in the Hollywood entertainment industry, I have never kissed a girl, I’m a fairly good-looking guy,” he said. “I’ve faced personal hardships of racism, denial of my human rights and civil rights and I took all that pain and suffering and transposed it into what the Chinese faced through film.”

In the film, Reggie Lee plays the character “Sing” as the younger version of Aleong, and Aleong plays the older version of himself as “Leongsing.”

He also said he is taking the right step to bring the races together but we still have a long way to go.

“There’s still room for improvement. Whether you’re tall, short, fat, yellow, black, brown, white, disabled, you are somebody, stand up and be counted and say, “Look, I am somebody,'” he said.

John Saelee can be reached at [email protected]