USC’s Asian Pacific Cinema Association hosted its first guest speaker event of the year on Oct. 15, bringing in Asian Canadian film producer Samantha Quan. In a discussion with junior Jemimah Holland-Wong, APCA’s vice president of internal affairs, Quan spoke about her journey from secretly auditioning for an NYU graduate acting program behind her parents’ backs to becoming an award-winning independent film producer.
Following the conversation between Holland-Wong and Quan, attendees were given the chance to ask their own questions in a Q&A. Quan answered curious questions regarding her most memorable challenges on set, choosing between projects to work on and dove deeper into how she chooses a crew on a creative project.
APCA received around 300 RSVPs within the first 48 hours of announcing the event, and a long line of excited attendees formed in Taper Hall to secure a seat. Upon entry, each attendee received a film strip, containing memorable shots from the film “Anora” (2024), courtesy of NEON, an independent film production and the film’s distributor.
Holland-Wong said she appreciated Quan’s humility and willingness to talk to everyone. They had met in June 2024 and have been in contact ever since, speaking about university and bonding over growing up in Canada, pursuing careers but realizing their dreams were really in the United States. Holland-Wong recalled congratulating Quan on her Oscar win in March 2025.
“I just loved seeing how raw and emotional she was getting with us,” Holland-Wong said.
Growing up in Canada, Quan said she was shy as a child. Quan’s therapist advised her parents to put her in an acting class to overcome her introversion. There, she discovered her love for telling stories and writing about her feelings, searching for others who resonated with her.
Quan said she continued her love for storytelling as she grew older; however, her parents restricted her to keeping her stories as a hobby.
“They made me promise that I could not do a BFA,” Quan said.
As a result, Quan double majored in theater history and psychology at the University of British Columbia.
She reminisced about secretly traveling to San Francisco to audition for New York University’s graduate acting program and lying to her parents that she went for an interview for clinical psychology. They liked her so much that they asked her to attend callbacks in New York. “In my head, all I could think was ‘What am I going to tell my parents?’” Quan said.
When she got into the program, her parents had a hard time accepting her pursuing art, as it is often perceived as a financially unstable career choice by Asian parents. After traveling to San Diego and watching a two-person play Quan starred in, they finally came around.
Quan shared powerful lessons from her time at NYU. She urged students to “take the things that will serve you” and “hold [them] to your heart,” while learning to let go of the rest and not let it get to your head. She emphasizes resilience, especially in the entertainment industry, and says she learned “it doesn’t matter, you’re always going to fail. So what are you going to do? Cry about it? No, you get back up and say ‘Okay, what’s next?”
Quan reflected on her professor at NYU labeling her “just so demure,” stressing that it is easy for people to “want you to fit in a certain type of box.” Quan said she has always pushed back against being categorized.
“Don’t put me in a box. It makes me want to break out,” Quan said.
Being in the entertainment industry as both an Asian Canadian and a woman, Quan reflected on her experience navigating and finding her voice. She recalled being more meek and being scared to voice her ideas. Working on strengthening her “dragonness,” she insisted on “standing up for yourself, saying what you think, say[ing] what you want, and not being apologetic about it.”
As she spoke directly to the audience, Quan asserted, “Don’t apologize for being yourself. You’re great.”
Quan shared her love for independent cinema; she said it will be around forever because it comes from a passion and need to tell a story, not just the business. She remembered working with her husband and filmmaker, Sean Baker, on his early film about black trans sex workers, “Tangerine” (2015). She immediately connected with his work, saying, he has a “non-judgemental way of seeing things that has so much heart,” something that Quan resonated with, as she had always wanted to highlight universal stories.
Baker and Quan’s most recent feature film, “Anora,” has won numerous awards, including Best Picture at the Academy Awards and the Palme d’Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, the top prize. She recalls that in making the film, winning these awards was not the goal. Instead, it was to effectively and representatively tell the story.
“The goal was Anora for Anora’s sake,” Quan said.
Throughout the hour-long event, Quan cracked jokes and recalled vulnerable memories of her parents. Gracie Spencer, a freshman majoring in creative writing, said Quan felt authentic and genuine.
“She was real,” Spencer said. “It felt like sitting around a fireplace and hearing about her life in a way that makes all of us feel like we can accomplish whatever it is we are passionate about.”
Holland-Wong describes Quan’s story as an “Asian Canadian success story,” inspiring students like herself that it’s possible to succeed in the entertainment industry.
“I only do things that I really believe in, because life is too short,” Quan said. “Why not do what you love, right?”