During pilot season in New York— January through March—multitalented actor Austin Ku ’03 might survive three or four auditions per day. Persistence has its rewards: Ku is making his mark on the small screen, including recent roles in “The Affair” (Showtime) and “Younger” (TV Land); and on the big screen, where he can be seen in the films Sleeping with Other People and Creative Control.
He also has his eye on the upcoming return to Broadway of “Miss Saigon,” for which he played the character Thuy in several previous productions.
“I’d love to be up for that role,” he says. “There’s just a handful of Asian- American actors with experience in the show who are competing for parts.” In addition to “Miss Saigon,” his stage credits include touring productions of “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Chinglish,” and off-Broadway roles in “Hello, Dolly!”, “Tokio Confidential,” and “Iphigenia in Aulis.”
Ku continued to act in the Bay Area while earning his JD, then took a position as a trademark associate in a Berkeley-based entertainment company before deciding to pursue acting full time. He later earned a theater degree from the Boston Conservatory to complement his undergraduate training at Rice University in voice and opera.
“I’m grateful for my time at Berkeley Law,” he says. “It gave me confidence in my ability to do hard work. After that, I felt like I could handle pretty much anything.”
—KC Trommer