Alice Ko is an actress and singer. The Hong Kong-born American actress is known for her subtle dramatic roles in independent
films. She has starred in festival darlings that have screened at the New Orleans Film Festival, Denver Film Festival, Seattle Asian American Film Festival, RiverRun International Film Festival, and Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival among others. Her short film, “The Shuttle”, is part of Cannes Court Metrage 2018. Alice graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a degree in Chemical Engineering. She began to pursue her career in acting while working as a professional singer with San Francisco Symphony Chorus and a piano teacher. She has studied Meisner Technique at American Conservatory Theatre and Comedy Technique at Lesly Kahn & Company. In 2014, she landed a supporting role in TV movie “Exposed” directed by Patty Jenkins and has since worked on various film and TV projects, including HBO’s hit show “Silicon Valley”. She is a member of SAG-AFTRA and the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Alice shares how she was able to quit her full-time job in the tech industry to pursue a career in acting and singing even when she was offered $5000 more dollars from her boss. She shares how she was able to trust her innate self to do what she loves today.
Bio
Alice Ko is an actress and singer.
Cultural Background
Alice is of Chinese descent.
Favorite Self Confidence Quote
You are innately wise.
Definition of Self Confidence
Self confidence is having the courage to make decisions that you have absolutely no regrets about, living your best life! That is not to say that you become hard-headed and don’t listen to other people at all. It just means, knowing what you want so well and trusting that inner wisdom that you have no regrets on your decision, even though it might not be the most conventional decision out there.
Her Life Before the Discovery of Self Confidence
Alice would make her decision based on how people would perceived her or she was trying to please others, whether it’s a parent or a boss, a teacher or just random strangers who she didn’t even know but somehow she would think their opinions matter or they could somehow help her get to her goals. Thinking back, it’s rather silly that she would let random strangers dictate how she feel about herself. There’s just way too much noise out there!
The “AHA” Moment
Alice decided to quit her job in tech and decided to pursue a career in performance. At the time, everyone thought she was crazy to quit a nice paying job in the tech industry to go for a performance career. Her boss even offered her a raise of $5000! Even her own voice teacher thought she was crazy, which really hurt her feelings because a teacher is someone you trust to support you and your artistic ambitions, so that really surprised her. No matter what, Alice knew it wasn’t about the money or the prestige of “having a good job”. It is something inside her that she felt strongly about for a while, so she just went for it against all conventional reasoning.
Her Life After the Discovery of Self Confidence
Alice feels empowered and much happier than before. Trusting her innate self and allowing that to build her confidence is something that has freed her from having to get validated by others around her. Strangely enough, over the years, she had more people, friends whom she hasn’t seen in a while or random people who heard about how she came to be a performer, come up to her and tell her how brave she is to follow her dreams and that they have a lot of respect for her and admire her which in itself is a validation. While she is super excited when that happens, she also needs to be careful with that, because it’s still a form of validation and she needs to be careful with that. It’s all about the balance of accepting a compliment and not letting it get to our heads and start making that noise that she talked about.
The One Self Confidence Tip For the Listener
Trust your gut. We always read about our gut is our second brain in scientific news and coming from a science background herself, she truly believes it. Let yourself be still so you can hear that voice. Don’t let the noise around you down that out. Meditate, exercise, take a walk in the woods to rediscover and nurture that voice. You are innately wise.
