#018 - Acting With Purpose | Augusta Xu-Holland

This week's guest is Augusta Xu-Holland. Augusta is from New Zealand, and she came to China originally to be involved in the renewable energy sector here. And like many foreigners before her, she found herself presented with opportunities to appear in film and television. But unlike most of the others, Augusta found success attaining larger and larger roles fairly early into her career here, and she is now a very busy professional actress. She also continues her work in the energy field and can increasingly use her growing profile in the arts to serve as an ambassador for her scientific interests.

This was a particularly enjoyable conversation for me on many levels. Regular listeners to the show know that I have a lot of friends and connections to New Zealand, so discovering NZ overlap between Augusta and I was a treat. But speaking strictly in a professional context, Augusta has a real insider's view of well the film and TV industry works here from an actor's perspective, so hearing her take on the ins and outs of the business was very enlightening for me and I think it will be interesting for you as well. As a special treat, Augusta runs through a handy check list of tips, tricks, and advice for people looking to work as talent in China and discusses some of the resources one needs to be familiar with to do so. But even if you're listening to this episode from a couch in Birmingham, Alabama, there's a lot to relate to, so I hope you enjoy it!