My chat with “Glee” star Harry Shum Jr. about the independent film “White Frog” to screen at Outfest

Frontiers Magazine asked me to interview Harry Shum Jr. about White Frog, the terrific movie he appears in that will screen at Outfest next month.

Here are a few excerpts:

n his parents’ eyes, [your character of] Chaz is the perfect kid. But they had no idea that he was gay, and we see in a video that he left behind, that this perfect kid considered himself to be a fraud and a coward.
In calling himself a fraud and a coward, it’s in parallel to what his brother should not be. Be truthful and be proud of who he is and what he is. Chaz’s brother is able to become almost like a man in the sense of making decisions and speaking up. That revelation was helped with Chaz coming out [in that video].

Will Glee fans like this movie?
I think so. It’s definitely a different tone, but there are some Glee episodes that have been a little more dramatic. This is about a kid who is a fish out of water, a kid who is not really accepted by his family and the world and trying to find truth in himself. Glee fans can relate to that.

Has being on Glee, which has several prominent LGBT characters and storylines, shaped your views in any way?
I was always in support of the community, but when you are involved more, people show you a different side. You get to hear different stories—it does shape you. You start to realize we have more similarities than differences. In my eyes, life is simple; people make it complicated. I never looked at the differences too much. I grew up in Costa Rica where I was the only Chinese kid in a Latin country, then I moved to San Francisco where I only knew Spanish and lived with Chinese kids. I was in a different world.

Go to the Frontiers site to see the entire interview.