June Angela’s Maverick Performance Legacy Links to an Inspiring Historic Trail in Vital Representation

Mixed Asian Media - March 18, 2022

By Stacey Kumagai

The coined “multi-hyphenate” terminology in the entertainment industry usually refers to the context of being a triple threat or wearing a few creative hats. For native New Yorker performing artist June Angela, her multi-hyphenate links within entertainment highlight multimedia achievements, which are more than just hats of her craft.  Her hyphens symbolize a purposeful and significant performance legacy from opening doors to paving the way in historic representation.

June Angela is a dancer-singer-actress-model-voiceover artist-Grammy award winner-Emmy award winner-groundbreaking entertainment history-maker with top-billing as the very first American-born Asian nominated for a Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical (Shogun). She holds the prestigious title of the youngest-ever Tuptim in the Broadway production of The King & I with a three and a half year run totaling over 1,300 live performances. Making the youngest soprano debut with the New York City Opera at age 10 adds an exclamation mark to her multi-hyphenate maverick status as a performing artist in the grandest proportion. While her career continues to break ground in an industry that is still attempting to catch up to representation being a work-in-progress, June Angela has shined a light on what is possible.

As a young child June had a twinkle in her eye, many songs in her heart, and a spring in her step just waiting to burst out onto the stage. She considered her American-Asian self, half culturally inhibited and reserved, and the other half brazenly bold with a New York state of mind as an East Coaster.

In the attempt to straighten out her pigeon-toed feet, she was first-assigned to ballet lessons by her parents. They didn’t intend for these corrected feet to walk a historic groundbreaking entertainment road to being a child star and icon. With determination to endure in the industry by simply doing what she loved, her internal theme song of “Don’t Rain On My Parade” pushed her forward at the beginning of her career. Plowing a trail beyond her early beginnings of ballet, jazz, and tap in the aforementioned arena of being a multi-hyphenate, multimedia artist, she unknowingly created history with her performance passion all while adhering to household parameters.      

“My parents were not stage parents. They were very supportive of me working in this industry. I always knew this is what I wanted to do. However, they did have rules. I had to do well with my school work. There was no room to be a show biz brat, or I would be out,” affirms June, whose long and demanding career also involved intensive academic studies.

Never seated in typical “production set classrooms,” June’s journey entailed going to Catholic school Cathedral High and graduating from St. Patrick’s Cathedral before advancing her studies and graduating from SUNY Empire State College at the age of 18. She executed a forward-thinking effort progressing her mind in her academic endeavors. However, it was her heart, dedication, and the hard work which she had applied to her show business craft that had her juggling a very busy and full life before becoming an adult.

“Working since the age of 5, I just focused on what was in front of me. I didn’t think too much about my aspirations. There were no Asian-American role models specific to my being initially inspired to map out a plan. Although, as a child, I was the live version of the [Remco] Asian toy doll “Jan Doll.” The doll would raise her hand to wave hi. I did the commercial, and I was the girl who was Jan. So, I guess you could say I was the one representing Asian girls. I didn’t think so much at that age about who I was as I entered the field. I did look up to Julie Andrews. I loved the way she sang. I wanted to sing like her.”

With much of June’s early childhood career spent raising her hand like that Jan doll, willingly showing up for her early days on her chosen path, her work life was peppered with modeling opportunities and commercials. Suddenly, her big break came in 1971 on PBS.  

Thanks to her very progressive-minded agent’s “let’s see” attitude, June was submitted for a casting call for The Electric Company. Here, June’s talents in singing, acting, and performing could hold their own to create a role for herself, even though the original casting call initially only called for Black and Caucasian actors to fulfill spots on the TV show. Taking on her Short Circus character, “Julie,” which June named herself paying homage to Julie Andrews, she would start on the pilot episode and see through a commitment to the entire run of 720 episodes, ending in 1977.

While kid audiences everywhere were learning to read, the show was implanting within children something about representation without realizing it. June’s child star show business beginnings gave her the chance to work with other groundbreaking multi-hyphenates Rita Moreno and Morgan Freeman, while everyone was finding a place to showcase their talents. As a cast, these appearances were historical in their collective production, with The Electric Company being a single program that was walking, dancing, and singing “the talk” of diversity and representation of multiple marginalized groups. In present-day television, film, and award recognition, this is something the entertainment industry is still struggling to create. Yet the original wheel was invented over four and a half decades ago. 

As a professional who kept the candlelight burning on both ends even with The Electric Company’s light present, June found herself gravitating to a different light of trusting what was happening as it was happening. Just living her intended purpose, she kept her nose to the grindstone. Meanwhile, a legacy took shape of colossal proportions. Staying in the present moment and adhering to her parent’s rules of doing well in school kept her from getting wrapped up in the fame, even though she won an Emmy and a Grammy for her time on this TV series.

“Everyone watched this TV show, as it was required education for learning in the school system. First was Sesame Street as part of the Children’s Television Workshop. The Electric Company followed for the next learning level. I didn’t think about how many people were watching it as I was working and getting my own homework done. I just enjoyed my time. People would sing The Electric Company song when they would see me or shout, “Hey, you Guys!!!” from the show. It’s fun to look at now, with many adults sharing their thoughts about what they remember or learned watching it as kids. They say it was an important part of their childhood. Looking back, I also see how it was such an important part of mine, too. This is the show that opened doors for me and my career.”

June’s career launched from this groundbreaking show featuring a diverse cast of adults and children with a purposeful intent to move the literacy needle forward. The ripple effect of her time on this show as a child star actually put her on a road where she remarkably did not face as many obstacles in casting. 

In 1976, she was cast as Pat Morita’s daughter, “Sachi” in Mr. T. & Tina, which aired on ABC.  It would be here she would also be part of a monumental moment in broadcasting, being part of the very first Asian-American Primetime TV sitcom in the history of television.

When asked about this pioneering feat, June admits she is embracing her place in history now with much reflection. While working “in real time” doing the show, the show’s impact remained  to be seen. Being so young, she was not included in any of the adult’s behind-the-scenes studio banter or water cooler talk about this show being “the first of its kind on the air.” She was just happy to be a working actor.  

“You know it is funny that as I found myself just doing the work, I was not putting myself in the space of awareness of creating history at the time we were making it. I look back now and can only imagine just how much pressure was on Pat Morita’s shoulders, knowing he was daring to do something that hadn’t been done on television before and the responsibility he had in representation. Today, I am lucky that I not only can look back at this time to see this now, but I get to hear from fellow actors like Randall Park and Ken Jeong just how much his work meant. Randall had shared that Pat was such an inspiration. So many in the field feel this way about him and his work having opened doors. Fred Silverman was the one who saw Pat had what it took to break out.” 

June acknowledges all of what Pat Morita dared to do pursuing his career, seeing it through after experiencing the U.S. Japanese Internment Camps, a time when it would be challenging to think of pursuing one’s dreams. Sitting gracefully in a chair of gratitude and humbleness, she continues appreciating the opportunity she had to work with him while simultaneously leaving behind a historic milestone. 

When asked about the gap of time between her groundbreaking show Mr. T & Tina in 1976; to Margaret Cho’s All-American Girl in the mid-90s; to Fresh off the Boat and Dr. Ken in 2015 — all of which were aired on ABC, she offered some thoughts on the other mainstream networks’ primetime focus and why perhaps they didn’t do all Asian-American cast programming.

“During the 70s, James Komack didn’t just have Mr. T & Tina, there was also Chico and the Man (NBC) and Welcome Back Kotter, with diversity and representation happening (for other marginalized groups) in primetime. The other networks were addressing audiences with shows like The Jeffersons (CBS). I think over time networks were starting to see TV is for everyone as an audience, not just the specific targeted group based on the cast direction. However, it takes time and sometimes a commercial hit to make that clear. In film, we got to see that happen with Crazy Rich Asians, where audiences loved it, giving it exposure and making it mainstream. It wasn’t just Asian audiences who loved the film. I know for me, I cried when I saw it, as it made me think… and think again. This kind of work can affect you, for me, deep down, I felt seen.” 

With many of her own firsts on television and on stage, she hopes for all those who aspire to work in the entertainment arts to keep the focus in order to be seen.  The fact she never had to take on a side-hustle” to support her passion in what is a feast-or-famine business is proof of her work ethic and commitment at a time when opportunities were limited.  She also believes it is time for more voices.  

When she worked on Fresh Off The Boat as Madame Xing, she was amazed to discover she had been a representative voice, as people remembered her from The Electric Company. Seeing representation on set was a surreal experience as she looked around seeing both cast and crew this time. It felt very different to be in and around this representation, knowing their ripple effect will continue as all others work together in the business this way. 

With no map, charted course or anyone else’s footsteps to follow, as a child performer June Angela never had any envelope-pushing discussion strategies with her agent.  She trusted the course of doing what she loved, becoming a fearless trailblazer which she attributes to her East Coast roots and “toughness,” not putting herself into any labeled box in order to create opportunities, not obstacles.

“Singing on stage in the New York City Opera at the age of ten as ‘Flora’ in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw, I played an English girl. I didn’t think about myself as an Asian playing an English girl. I just did my job, no questions asked. The New York Times acknowledged my debut. The review about my performance didn’t reference race as the accomplishment, rather noting I was only ten. At seventeen, I wanted to audition for The King & I. I was told that they never used anyone in production who was under the age of twenty-three. The age thing was the first time I was presented with any kind of adversity obstacle. I took the time to study the production, focusing on doing my best. I had learned it really well then I asked to be submitted.

Generally speaking, I hadn’t dealt with any type casting issues as a child, except in auditioning for a Summer Stock production of The Sound of Music. I was told that because it involved a family, and I didn’t look like the others in it, I didn’t fit in. I understood it at the time and so I just went on to the next project.  I did become more aware of things as an adult, seeing where I did and didn’t fit in.” 

With each growth and learning opportunity, June turned rejections into perseverance. Walking a performance tightrope of both worlds is best described today by the song “Let It Go” from Frozen. When she wanted a role so badly and she needed inspiration to keep going, “Everything’s Alright” from Jesus Christ Superstar could be applied to living the process of her career. 

Opportunities in voice-overs offered June range — doing everything from British accents and Russian and Balinese to portraying children, animals, and even flowers. These days she enjoys doing audio books, where she can be anything just like she believed was “possible” when she was a child.  However, she clarifies that even without the labels from herself or the industry, one must do the harder work, the research for a role to give it the respect it fully deserves, no matter what the part.

Purposely not labeling herself equals not limiting herself. This belief propelled her from child star through a seamless transition into becoming an accomplished adult performing artist, a feat most child stars don’t find easy to do. Her “next chapter” belief in the risk-taking is simply “going for it.” It is here she finds that her breadth of experience can spark joy as a benefit to getting older in the arts.

“Theatre is where you can grow with every performance at any age. The audience is there. You can feel the energy when they are in it. From feeling the tension in the room, hearing the audience sniffle or getting emotional, or the silence to where you can hear a pin drop, just leaving the audience speechless, I love it all. I had the chance to play opposite Danny Glover in an East West Players production of Yohen. Both being in an established stage of our careers gave us more room as actors, especially in the dynamics of us playing an interracial couple. I got to play a complex, layered middle-aged woman where I could expand myself through every single emotion from humor to crying, screaming to feeling love all at once. Opportunity-wise, I think there is more room for those kinds of roles as you continue onward in your career. Aging doesn’t mean you always have to play a grandmother, just look at Judi Dench!” 

Her message to MAM readers about the scope of limited roles of Asian descent that are offered, she believes being highly respectful to the character’s background, culture, and doing the research is key as part of an actor’s responsibility in representing appropriately. Through this, the fundamentals are a basic commitment to quality work and work ethic.   

“Stay with it. Don’t burn out. Pace yourself and look at things based on reality. It is not an easy life. You make lots of sacrifices. For me, I worked, ate, slept and I did not l have much of a personal life or vacations. Going to great lengths means you are truly committed to do the work to get there. Love it fully and show up on your chosen path. If you aren’t sure, look to your life and know that if you are already creating a Plan B before you get started, you don’t love it enough to see it through. Persistence is the key to keep going, that’s my motto. Blindly go forward if this is your greatest passion instead of getting discouraged by rejections, knowing that in time, your time will come if you stay grounded. There will be times you will want to hit your head against the wall, but keep believing in yourself and your passion.”

Addressing the industry comes in stages. For June Angela, all the world's a stage. She has played many parts to earn her multi-hyphenate milestones and history-making career to create a stage for others. Allowing herself to embrace her own legacy via the Beatles classic resonance of “Let It Be,” also fuels her to do more with her acquired words of wisdom.

If she were to reprise her role as the family psychic on Fresh Off The Boat, she would follow Madame Xing’s voice: “June Angela, make sure you take care of yourself and others to open the door even wider.” To which she herself would reply, “Thank you for that. As upcoming artists follow in my footsteps, I encourage them to step right into the open door and shine.” 

June’s inspiring career may be represented by many songs and history-making moments. However The Electric Company theme song will most likely be the one that goes on “repeat,” with an infinite light bulb shining brightly and paving the way for others to shine. To that, we say thank you, June Angela!

Stacey Kumagai is an Internal & External transformational emotional intelligence communications thought leader transforming INTERNAL dialogue to create EXTERNAL change through Linkronicity™  As an independent Hollywood Publicist, Journalist and Producer for thirty-five years in entertainment media through Media Monster Communications, Inc., she has spent her career as a diversity and inclusion artist advocate to promote progress and create change through storytelling narratives.