Jodi Long Rides her Rich Cultural Past in One Woman Show – Surfing DNA

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Before Jodi Long landed the role of OK Cha on the TBS comedy, Sullivan and Son, she had a pretty good resume. She debuted on Broadway at the age of seven and had numerous TV appearances on shows like Roseanne, the Cosby Show, House and Law & Order. On film, Robocop 3, the Hot Chick and Striking Distance round out her IMDB page. But as the series grind has hit hiatus, she is reviving, Surfing DNA. A one woman show that explores her Chinese/Japanese/Scottish background, and the manner in which it unknowingly affected her life. Still, why not just take a break.

"Because I’m crazy," Long joked.

On the other hand, she's sane enough to reflect on how her mixed heritage gave rise to who she really is. "Surfing DNA is about the imprints that we have - and not just through our DNA. But our cultural and emotional imprint as we go through our lives. I’m Chinese, Japanese and Scottish, but when your a kid, you’re an American. Then when all your stuff begins to happen, it starts revealing itself. Why is your life like this? I started to think, God it would be sort of interesting to explore that and see what the things are that really resonate with you that you don’t even know about," Long said.

The unlikely mix began when her Scottish great grandmother moved to Australia in the late 1800s and married a Chinese man. "How radical is that," Long beamed.

But the actress didn't know much about her great grandmother until she visited one of her aunts in Hawaii, and the accounting was a revelation. "She told me all about my family, and that we were Campbell’s – a Scottish clan. I suddenly realized that all my boyfriends had been Campbell’s. It was just so weird so you start to think, how does that happen? Does your DNA start jumping up and down - attracting similar DNA that you never even think of," Long pondered.

Her parents DNA had to jump the China Sea to attract, though. After her Japanese mother was interred during WWII, she met Long's father on the Chop Suey Circuit at the China Doll in NYC. "It was a name given to a bunch of nightclubs in San Francisco and New York that were run by Chinese. I wouldn’t say they were Broadway, but more like the Copacabana where people would go see variety acts," Long remembered.

Unfortunately, her parents could not overcome the historical forces that have long separated the two peoples. "There was a lot of tension between my mother and father. They ended up getting divorced, and it definitely affected me – especially after what happened during the war. You didn’t marry a Japanese woman, and even though my family was in Australia, they were like what is he doing," she queried.

But just because her Dad was sort of left out in the cold, doesn't mean he let the problems trickle down to his daughter. "My dad was very encouraging. He just told me to go do what you love," said Long.

The pushback came instead from the other side. "My mother was more practical, because she saw how hard show busines was," said Long.

So does the ricochet make it hard for her to work and play well with others. "Yeah, I’m just such a bitch," she joked.

But the one woman show has her taking on the voices that once ruled her head. "I play my mother, my father, all the characters and the narrator," she said.

First taking shape around 2004 and going into production in 2006, the retelling continues to be a work in progress. "I’ve changed so much of it that I’ve had to unlearn all the stuff that I learned the last time, which sometimes is even harder," she said.

On the other hand, the changeup shouldn't deter viewers from digesting the true take away. "I hope they start to think about their own family history. For instance, one woman came up to me after the show and said, 'I started to think about my own life,' conveyed Long. "And that’s really the point. That everyone should sort out their own DNA."

As for Sullivan and Son, overcoming the diverse DNA doesn't play into her method. "I’m Steve’s mom, and I’m all Korean. So I have one point of view," Long informed.

That obstacle belongs to Steve, who’s half Korean, half Irish. "It's the running joke that keeps coming up," she said. "But it’s an incredible joy to work on the show because we have a great cast, great producers and great writers. I mean, I get to make people laugh – what could be better than that."

They don't have to wait either to know whether the jokes pass the muster, and not everything is at stake in case the beat goes flat. "We don’t usually do it on the first go around, because that’s just a straight pass - sort of to get the audience reaction. But the second time, we do the show with another audience. We do lots of passes, lots of takes or do different angles," Long revealed. "Then what happens, they’ll also rewrite on the spot. So if that joke didn’t go so well, they’ll do a couple of alternatives so you really have to be on your toes and familiarize yourself with the new lines."

She keeps it real, though, when it comes to the accent. "I feel like I’m doing it authentically from some of my friend’s parents, and people say that you sound just like my mother or father. In fact, they told me to tone it down. But I was like, really, because that’s the way people speak it," Long concluded. "So whatever – I think we found a good balance."

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