Money Makes Her Smile

Christmas tree: whats a weird Christmas tradition your family has

hot chocolate: do you like festive themed drinks? if so whats your favorite?

tinsel: whats your earliest Christmas memory?

bauble: favorite Christmas food?

carol: whats your favorite Christmas song?

eggnog: whats something you dislike about the festive season?

snow: do you have snow where you live?

jolly: whats your favorite thing about Christmas?

santa: when did you find out that santa wasn’t real?

gifts: whats the best gift you’ve ever gotten?

I. Hi! We’re happy to have you with us. First thing’s first, can you slate for us please?

“Hi, I’m Evelyn Liu and I’m thirty-eight years old –she/her pronouns– and I’m a talent agent I guess if I have to compare myself to someone it would be Olivia Munn.”

II. It’s great to meet you. So you have to know that everyone’s been curious about you, why don’t we start with where you’re from? Tell us where you grew up and what your childhood and family were like.

“My Hometown, well, to me that would be here, but I’ve never really had just one place I called home. My father is from Shanghai and still conducts most of his business there so I’d spent many years there as a child, but we also lived in Manhattan, New York a while since my mother is American and went back and forth. She couldn’t really adapt to a foreign country full-time so my father did what he could to make it work for everybody. Because of that fact my brother and I were home schooled since it was too much to be plucked in and out of schools all the time, so we were a little on the sheltered side growing up. We made friends through other activities but it was more so that we were put in there with the hope of becoming prodigies in some way. It was only as I reached high school that I was send to a private school in the Upper East Side to finish my education.”

III. Well, they say our upbringing molds who we become. I’m sure that you got your reputation for being independent,driven,witty; high strung, demanding, bossy from that.

“Is that what people have been saying about me? God, I had no idea. I’m not offended by it,of course – I’m not in the business of changing minds, so as long as I’m getting the job down right and showcasing talent I guess it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks.”   

IV. And what about that lead you to your current career? How did that impact you enough to want to do what you do now?

“ What started me down my path was an aspiring actress friend of mine.  We’d bonded in our senior year of high school and while he parents were against the idea she really wanted nothing more than to be an actress. She’d gone to a few open casting calls but pretty much new nothing about getting past that. My mother was, for a good while, a model, and as a kid I’d done some modeling myself in Shanghai so I knew a few things. I helped her take some headshots and I gave her some advice on when to talk and when not to , what to say , etc, and she couldn’t stop thanking me when she got her first role in a commercial. Her parents were furious with us and about her  lying about her age,but she used some of the money to buy me lunch and I got a taste for being an agent. We were both bound for Brown though, so there were less chanced for her to get roles than there were in the city, but she still kept me on all through college, and while I was a business major I took some courses on the side just in case.  By the time I graduated I found myself taking a page from her book and lying to my parents.  I wanted to just see what would happen for once, not plan so much,so I moved out to L.A. with her under the guise that I was going to be an intern at a company , the lie was that the company was a fortune 500 type when it was a talent firm.”

V. That’s awesome. I’m sure our readers will love to hear that. So you knew you had a calling, what came next? How did you get yourself to Hollywood? What was your first job?

“Well I got to Hollywood with a plane ticket and a lot of luggage. We weren’t the multi millionaire next door but my father had a lot of money from his trading business and it was more than enough to set his daughter up with a small apartment in L.A. I’d always been pretty independent so I didn’t want to mooch off of him while following my dream so in spite of him paying first and last month for us as a deposit, my roommate and I agreed that we would budget and pay for everything ourselves. It was harder than we thought, especially without her having a steady job but it wasn’t long before she agreed to work part time to bring in a little extra money and not long after that the powers that be realized I was overqualified to be getting them coffee and put me at a desk. I was managing little things here and there but it wasn’t quite where I wanted to be yet. I was still more than willing to work my ass off to get there though.”

VI. Of course, but we all know there’s a sea of faces out here trying to get famous as well, right? It must have been hard, the first few rejections or being told something wasn’t good enough. What was the most difficult thing you faced on your journey?

“Well that was the plan, kind of. We’d get her noticed and make her the star she wanted to be and I would take my cut, maybe get another client or two and build from there, but I was already twenty-six and still parked at a desk and only managing to get her small roles, which I get it, you know? She wanted more. It wasn’t so much that we had a falling out that it was her flat out dropping me as her agent, not her friend. I couldn’t really get her a place in the company I was working for when I hadn’t gotten a promotion in a year and a half and so she went with somebody else. We stayed roommates for a while but she eventually went on her own path and while it’s not my place to say what became of her for legal reasons, it wasn’t as great as what happened to me. I met a man and it wasn’t a fling but a genuine conversation and after I told him my dream and my story, I guess it moved him because within a few days I got a call from Elite telling me they wanted to see me. I was pushing thirty but it finally happened.  Of course my parents were aware by then what I’d really been doing but they supported me, even if it wasn’t what they hoped, so they were thrilled when I told them I was now a talent scout. I did a brief stint as a casting director but I was finally going places. I didn’t hold the same title for longer than six months before a promotion and then I got the big call. I was officially an agent.”

VII. So then what was the moment that you realized you made it? Or are you still waiting for that moment?

“The moment I realize I made it came when I was about thirty. I had been working hard over the last six or seven years and I can’t say I saw no results, but the clients being given to me were small change in a big money world and of course I wasn’t going to complain, but I wanted to be that person who discovered the new Leo or Brad, not the person wrangling Disney Channel stars and girls who were stretching out their post-reality television debut fifteen minutes longer than they should have. I thought I was stuck where I was and then the scandal hit. I mean it’s no secret now but my boss’ son was quite the ladies man spite of having a wife and kids at home. It was for the integrity of the company that he step away from his position and while of course I didn’t have my eye on it, the woman who did take over was very much about girl power and making a change in the industry and she combed through every employee I guess and decided that I was working hard enough to get bigger clients. There were a few things that were set in motion but I got bigger actors and I knew I hard to prove myself worthy of keeping them. I worked my ass off with their teams to get them the best gigs and keep their images spotless and let me tell you,it took a lot of fruit baskets and ass kissing to do it, but eventually I earned their trust and the trust of the industry and now here I am. (5 - The A-List)

VIII. It’s amazing when you make it far enough in this town when so many people end up giving up and going home, isn’t it? So now that you’re here, what’s next for you?

"There future, wow… You know it’s funny to hear you say that when all my life this was the future. I guess…I mean I’m doing what I love right now and it’s amazing,who would want to give that up right? I mean my personal life took a hit while I was working hard but that doesn’t mean I’m unhappy or anything. I’m at the height of my career, I don’t think there’s anywhere else I can go. Maybe my future will possibly have a stable relationship in it, possibly a family, but that’s not even that important. I’m living my dream. I’m totally good. Totally good.”

IX.  Now we know it’s personal but we have to ask,  do you have any comment about the rumors going around about you?

“Rumors about me? I wasn’t aware that there were any rumors about me besides the standard ’ she slept her way to the top’ that all women get when they reach a level past secretary or assistant. Untrue, of course, as it often is. I would like to set the record straight about our company though. There have been many reports about sexual harassment and that some of the executives who stepped down from their positions were forced down due to accusations and that some jobs were given because of nepotism and this hurtful accusations are meant to slander the name of the company. I think it’s just horrible and…and for any further comments, speak to our publicist. Thank you.”

X. Thank you so much for talking to us today. Lastly, is there anything you want our readers to know about you?