Center for Asian American Media
The Cast
Ling Li – Sasha
“The Princess of Nebraska” is 18-year-old Ling Li’s acting debut. Born in Liaoning, China and raised in Shanghai, she auspiciously studied modern dance at the same school as Ziyi Zhang. Ling immigrated to the United States just 4 years ago, and in her short time in San Francisco, learned Spanish quickly enough to tutor students in it. In June 2007, Ling graduated from John O’Connell High School as one of its top students. Ling has participated in and won prizes numerous Asian talent and beauty contests. This fall, Ling will begin her freshman year studying Animal Sciences at the University of California, Davis.
Pamelyn Chee – X
Pamelyn Chee is a Singaporean actress based in New York. She has a penchant for playing slightly off kilter, wayward characters. She is also completely fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. Her first major role was in Jerry Allen Davis’ “The Shanghai Hotel,” alongside Cheng Pei Pei, Eugenia Yuan and Hill Harper, where she plays a girl pretending to be a boy. Pamelyn can also be seen in Dolly Parton’s music video “Imagine,” a John Lennon cover, playing a young Yoko Ono.
Brian Danforth – Boshen
A high school teacher and native San Franciscan, Brian Danforth auditioned for the part of Boshen when he heard that Wayne Wang was searching for a 40-ish non-Asian who spoke Mandarin fluently. He learned Mandarin during college and mastered it while living in Taiwan, earning a Master’s Degree in Chinese, and working for several years in sales and marketing for a China-based manufacturer. Aside from his job teaching Mandarin at Lowell High School in San Francisco, he is an avid long-distance runner and competitive paddler and also serves as head coach of his school’s dragonboat paddling team. His entertainment background includes work in a few rock bands in which he sang and played both bass and rhythm guitar. “The Princess of Nebraska” is Brian’s first film.
Patrice Lukulu Binaisa – James
Patrice Binaisa was born 1961 in Kampala, UGANDA. He attended primary school in Uganda and Kenya from 1967 to 1973, and lived in the United Kingdom from 1974 to 1977. At the age of 16 he came to the U.S.A. where he attended high school and college. Patrice started acting in 2000 and was formally trained at the Berkeley Repertory School of Theatre. He last appeared on stage as Escalus in Impact Theatre’s production of William Shakespeare’s “Measure for Measure.” He lives in Berkeley, California.
