SPELLING BEE Star to Portray First Southern Asian-American on TV in HART OF DIXIE

The CW's "Hart of Dixie" returns this Monday after a six-week hiatus, and the latest episode "Heart to Hart" offers a whole new reason for fans to be excited. "Heart to Hart" draws particular focus to Korean-American actress Deborah S. Craig, whose outrageously funny performance as "Shelley Ng" provides the comedic relief to the tension surrounding "Zoe" (Rachel Bilson) and her father (Gary Cole). Though Craig has been seen before playing the quirky waitress that works in the Rammer Jammer, this episode really showcases Ms. Craig's landmark portrayal of TV's first Asian-American from the South.

Like her onscreen counterpart, Deborah S. Craig is an Asian American from the South. However, Shelley is a waitress and Deborah has non-regional diction with a career that stretches from Broadway all the way to the Internet. No stranger to the breaking of cultural barriers, Ms. Craig is also widely known for creating the first Korean-American character on Broadway, "Marcy Park", in the Tony Award-winning musical, THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE. She is also known for her viral videos like Yoga for Black People and many other of viral shorts and videos that have been featured on FunnyOrDie.com. Feature films include Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais and Just Wright with Queen Latifah. Stage work includes workshops of Tony Kushner's IHO at The Public Theater (dir. Michael Grief) with the core cast of the improv extravaganza Don't Quit Your Night Job, and Sung Rno's WaVe with Ma-Yi Theater Co/Dir. Will Pomerantz..

Though Ms. Craig has had a fairly successful career, two things are certain: she has represented her Korean community outright, and she is not done with being funny. "I feel like there are so few comedic Asian Americans featured on TV, especially comedic female Asian-Americans. Growing up I searched to see 'my face' on TV or on Broadway and having the opportunity to play these characters makes me feel like we are making progress about the perception of what it means to act, look, sound 'Asian'. I hope that it gives Asian-Americans hope in pursuing a career in the arts!"

Deborah S. Craig appears in the new episode of Hart of Dixie, "Heart to Hart" on the CW Network, MONDAY 9th APRIL (9:00-10:00 p.m. ET). For more information about Ms. Craig, please visit deborahscraig.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.