Eric Steinberg
Encyclopedia
Eric D. Steinberg is an American actor who most recently played the role of Emily Fields' father in the ABC Family
hit series
Pretty Little Liars
.
Eric was born August 26, 1969 in Washington, D.C.
Eric's father, a professor and director of the Asian Studies department at Georgetown, is Jewish of Lithuanian and German descent and his mother, an opera singer and voice professor at George Washington University, is Korean. Eric's family had a true appreciation for the arts. Eric's father loved theatre and literature, and Eric read Beckett and Shakespeare as a child.
Eric attended the University of Vermont and the University of Kent in England prior to receiving an acting fellowship at the University of California at Irvine, CA. He lived in Thailand for some time with his parents and brother growing up. His older brother, Alexander, is a photographer.
Eric D. Steinberg: Yeah, the mixed race thing for me plays into everything I do, and unfortunately, I'm limited by it as well. I was very lucky in terms of most mixed-race people. I meet a lot of mixed-raced people now, but when I was growing up, there weren't that many people of mixed descent. Lately, I just see them everywhere, and a lot of them who I meet, if they grew up in a white neighborhood or whatever, they don't have any sense at all of tradition or heritage or things of that nature. But for me, it was different because we lived in Asia for a while. My dad is a professor of Asian Studies. He's at Georgetown. My mother, she's a Korean woman, so it was very much a matriarchal household. My mother pulled the strings, so my upbringing was very unique. Most mixed-race people don't have it so good, in the sense of having a balance, and me being so in touch with my Korean culture. So, that was all my mother, and I'm very fortunate.
But in terms of my profession, it comes to bear in everything, and it depends on who's doing it. Most of the time, it's white people casting so you know, for them, half-Asian is plenty. You're never white, cause you can never pass, but half-Asian isn't Asian enough for the Asian businessmen roles when I walk in there. So it's...Asian people say to me, "Oh, it must be a benefit!" and I say, "You know, it really isn't." And white people say, "Oh, it must be a benefit!" and I'm like, "No. It really isn't." Because either way, I'm on the outside. Either I'm not white enough, or I'm not Asian enough. So you end up playing all the fringe characters, the crazies, the outcasts, or whatever. So that can be tiresome. L.A. is the city of image. It's all about image in this business, about exploiting image, and everyone has to deal with their own cross to bear when it comes to that. Certainly, the Asian women you're talking to also have a difficult road.
Question: Do you think, as far as the types of roles/themes you choose, that it deals with a certain type of tension...
Eric D. Steinberg: Sometimes it deals with the racial aspect of it, and sometimes it doesn't, but it's always about that tension. I was trying to explain it: it's strange, because for instance, my folks are of mixed race, and they're still together after 37 years, but there are some things that East and West never meet. That's just the way it is. And oddly enough, that can be ok. And it can also not be ok. And for me, I have that tension in me all the time. There's a drive for individualism and preservation of myself, and agency, more power. And then, there's my responsibility. Really, what's Confucian: the foundation, which is about the roles I play and the responsibilities that I'll be judged for. So that tension is always there.
ABC Family
ABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
hit series
Pretty Little Liars
Pretty Little Liars (TV series)
Pretty Little Liars is an American mystery-thriller teen drama television series created by Marlene King. Based on the popular series of novels written by Sara Shepard, the show premiered on June 8, 2010 on ABC Family...
.
Eric was born August 26, 1969 in Washington, D.C.
Eric's father, a professor and director of the Asian Studies department at Georgetown, is Jewish of Lithuanian and German descent and his mother, an opera singer and voice professor at George Washington University, is Korean. Eric's family had a true appreciation for the arts. Eric's father loved theatre and literature, and Eric read Beckett and Shakespeare as a child.
Eric attended the University of Vermont and the University of Kent in England prior to receiving an acting fellowship at the University of California at Irvine, CA. He lived in Thailand for some time with his parents and brother growing up. His older brother, Alexander, is a photographer.
Roles
- Days of Our LivesDays of our LivesDays of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...
- Dr. Lee (2010-2011) - Pretty Little LiarsPretty Little LiarsPretty Little Liars is a series of more than 10 young adult novels by Sara Shepard, from 1981–present, which have been made into a television show . The series follows the lives of four girls — Spencer, Hanna, Aria, and Emily — whose clique falls apart after the disappearance of their leader,...
- Colonel Fields (2010-) - Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Alex Akagi (November 2008)
- The UnitThe UnitThe Unit is an American action-drama television series that focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled after the real-life U.S. Army special operations unit commonly known as Delta Force...
- General Raja (One episode, 2007) - Without A TraceWithout a TraceWithout a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...
- Ray Greene (One episode, 2007) - The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional Wisconsin town called Genoa City, which is unlike and unrelated to the real life village of the same name, Genoa City, Wisconsin...
- Ji Min Kim (September 2006 - September 2007) - Day BreakDay BreakDay Break is a television program for which one 13-episode season was produced. The series starred Taye Diggs as Detective Brett Hopper, who is framed for the murder of Assistant District Attorney Alberto Garza. Due to a time loop, Hopper lives the same day over and over...
- Danny Yan, "Slim" boy (2 episodes, 2006–2007) - Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1Stargate SG-1 is a Canadian-American adventure and military science fiction television series and part of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, is based on the 1994 feature film Stargate by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich...
- Netan (5 episodes, 2006–2007) - Numb3rsNUMB3RSNumb3rs is an American television drama which premiered on CBS on January 23, 2005, and concluded on March 12, 2010. The series was created by Nicolas Falacci and Cheryl Heuton, and follows FBI Special Agent Don Eppes and his mathematical genius brother, Charlie Eppes , who helps Don solve crimes...
- ATF Agent Rho (One episode 2006) - Nip/TuckNip/TuckNip/Tuck is an American drama series created by Ryan Murphy, which aired on FX in the United States. The series focuses on McNamara/Troy, a plastic surgery practice, and follows its founders, Sean McNamara and Christian Troy...
- Dr. Mugavi (One episode 2006) - 2424 (TV series)24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
- Agent Davis (Two episodes 2006) - NCISNCIS (TV series)NCIS, formerly known as NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service, is an American police procedural drama television series revolving around a fictional team of special agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which conducts criminal investigations involving the U.S...
- Marcos Siazon (2005) - CharmedCharmedCharmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
- The Dogan (2005 ) - CSI: MiamiCSI: MiamiCSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation....
- Daniel Vance (2005) - LargoLargo-Music:* Largo, a very slow tempo, or a musical piece or movement in such a tempo* Handel's Largo or "Ombra mai fù", an aria from the opera Serse* Hugo Largo, American band from the 1980s* Strong and stately...
- Nick Ramirez (2000) - V.I.P.V.I.P. (TV series)V.I.P. is an American action/comedy-drama series starring Pamela Anderson. Created by J. F...
- One Wedding and Val's Funeral - Prince Jordan (1998) - MartinMartin (TV series)Martin is an American sitcom produced by HBO Independent Productions that aired for five seasons, from August 27, 1992 to May 1, 1997 on Fox...
- Mr. Ho (One episode 1997) - Star Trek: First ContactStar Trek: First ContactStar Trek: First Contact is the eighth feature film in the Star Trek science fiction franchise, released in November 1996, by Paramount Pictures. First Contact is the first film in the franchise to feature no cast members from the original Star Trek television series of the 1960s...
- Lieutenant Paul Porter (1996) - Babylon 5Babylon 5Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
- Samuel (One episode 1996) - Dog WatchDog watchDog watch, in marine or naval terminology, is a watch, a period of work duty or a work shift, between 1600 and 2000 . This period is split into two, with the first dog watch from 1600 to 1800 and the second dog watch from 1800 to 2000...
- Bench (1996) - Rage Of Vengeance - Sunghi (1993)
- JAGJAG (TV series)JAG is an American adventure/legal drama television show that was produced by Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television and, for the first season only, NBC Productions...
- Tony Yoshigawa
Interview excerpts
Question: Does being of mixed descent affect you in your career choices?Eric D. Steinberg: Yeah, the mixed race thing for me plays into everything I do, and unfortunately, I'm limited by it as well. I was very lucky in terms of most mixed-race people. I meet a lot of mixed-raced people now, but when I was growing up, there weren't that many people of mixed descent. Lately, I just see them everywhere, and a lot of them who I meet, if they grew up in a white neighborhood or whatever, they don't have any sense at all of tradition or heritage or things of that nature. But for me, it was different because we lived in Asia for a while. My dad is a professor of Asian Studies. He's at Georgetown. My mother, she's a Korean woman, so it was very much a matriarchal household. My mother pulled the strings, so my upbringing was very unique. Most mixed-race people don't have it so good, in the sense of having a balance, and me being so in touch with my Korean culture. So, that was all my mother, and I'm very fortunate.
But in terms of my profession, it comes to bear in everything, and it depends on who's doing it. Most of the time, it's white people casting so you know, for them, half-Asian is plenty. You're never white, cause you can never pass, but half-Asian isn't Asian enough for the Asian businessmen roles when I walk in there. So it's...Asian people say to me, "Oh, it must be a benefit!" and I say, "You know, it really isn't." And white people say, "Oh, it must be a benefit!" and I'm like, "No. It really isn't." Because either way, I'm on the outside. Either I'm not white enough, or I'm not Asian enough. So you end up playing all the fringe characters, the crazies, the outcasts, or whatever. So that can be tiresome. L.A. is the city of image. It's all about image in this business, about exploiting image, and everyone has to deal with their own cross to bear when it comes to that. Certainly, the Asian women you're talking to also have a difficult road.
Question: Do you think, as far as the types of roles/themes you choose, that it deals with a certain type of tension...
Eric D. Steinberg: Sometimes it deals with the racial aspect of it, and sometimes it doesn't, but it's always about that tension. I was trying to explain it: it's strange, because for instance, my folks are of mixed race, and they're still together after 37 years, but there are some things that East and West never meet. That's just the way it is. And oddly enough, that can be ok. And it can also not be ok. And for me, I have that tension in me all the time. There's a drive for individualism and preservation of myself, and agency, more power. And then, there's my responsibility. Really, what's Confucian: the foundation, which is about the roles I play and the responsibilities that I'll be judged for. So that tension is always there.