Eddie Tang is conflicted. That might be a bit of an exaggeration but he is both happy about the attention he has received for his role as Caesar Mendez on the hugely popular Australian TV series East West 101 (so popular in fact that it has been distributed internationally) but is not ecstatic about being recognized as such a nefarious character. Mendez is drastically different in almost every way from Tang. It’s not exactly a Faustian contract but Eddie has found that he has been the recipient of much attention for his portrayal of the menacing and felonious criminal in East West 101. There are hues of James Gandolfini’s Tony Soprano in Caesar. A conversation with the amiable Tang disperses any idea that his performance on screen is simply the product of good casting. His placement in the role is genius in the same manner that his assumption of the visage of the ruthless, dangerous, and evasive criminal who pushes the detective’s skills to their utmost potential. Viewing any of Eddie’s other performances (as Zac in Three Sixty or any other number of roles) vets the actor as a true doppelganger for the physicality and disposition of the characters he portrays. Well known casting director David Newman sought out Tang and cast him in the role. In the AACTA Award winning and SBS distributed series East West 101, Eddie performed the leading and critical role of Caesar Mendez. East West 101 is a fan favorite television series following detective Zane Malik as he attempts to solve crimes while simultaneously bridging the cultural gap between eastern cultures and western cultures. East West 101 earned 3 wins from the 2009 AFI Awards (now styled as the AACTA Awards, Australia’s equivalent to the Academy Awards) and two nominations in the same year. The series was distributed on Australia’s leading broadcast station SBS. It was also distributed internationally by Sony Entertainment TV, Edel Media and Entertainment, and countless others.
Most actors will state that being the bad guy gives them the opportunity to safely (and legally) live out actions that one can never experience in real life. Tang states that this might be true for most but he doesn’t feel that compulsion to the “dark side.” Rather than exorcizing his own demons, the role of Mendez is much more about imitation for him. Eddie grew up in Cabramatta, New South Wales. The suburb is located thirty kilometers south-west of the Sydney central business district and was a rougher area during Tang’s youth. While it may have been unsettling during those days for Eddie and his family, it allowed him an experience witnessing events that would greatly aid him for his role in East West 101. He recalls, “My family owned a popular restaurant business in a place beneath a snooker hall .” Cabra (as the locals call it) is primarily Indochinese-Australian. The gangsters that were amongst these communities would hang out in this place playing snooker all of the time. There were a lot of burglaries and a pretty extensive heroin trade going on at this time. I never got close to these people but, as a young boy I’d see these gangsters around all the time. I’d watch them. I guess my acting studies started back then. I knew Caeser Mendez…because he was that type of guy. It was easy for me to access those memories and the understanding of how they moved and interacted in real life because I had seen it up close for years.
Those who have worked with Eddie know him to be a staunch advocate of preparation for his roles. He often speaks of the subtleness of using his internal monologue to keep his “under the surface” connection to the character and their motivation always churning. This mental approach effects his physicality in discovering his roles. In portraying Mendez, he knew how to carry himself and move but he wanted to be truly authentic. Admittedly not having experience with guns, Eddie found it necessary to familiarize himself with them in order to have his body language communicate confidence. He relates, “I can’t say that the experience of being such an awful person doesn’t have its enjoyable moments, I just feel that it plays against my nature…which is actually really great for me as an actor. I prefer not to replicate the evil in society. I guess I don’t like playing the bad guy because it’s easy to be stereotypical and I don’t want to do that. I like to build a character but I don’t like type casting. Playing the heavy is an opportunity. Look at Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects and Seven. He played the bad guy early in his career but it led to some other truly different and amazing roles. It’s not that it is fun to play the bad guy but rather it is fun to play another guy than yourself…and who doesn’t want to make a living having fun?”
Eddie typically concentrates on film roles but East West 101 is a prolific production and has introduced him to a multitude of new fans and opportunities. While he may have not been very familiar with the TV program prior to his being cast as Caesar, its immense popularity and worldwide distribution has been a notable addition to Tang’s resume. Eddie might share of bit of the enthusiasm of East West 101’s fan base as he states, “Susie Porter is an iconic Australian actress. I watched her growing up. I may have told her how much I loved her work while sitting next to her in the makeup chair. I can play it cool but I’m sure she got a sense of how I felt.” Tang continues remarking, “Everyone from the director down through the cast and the crew were amazingly kind and nice to me. I came to an already established show and that can be challenging in the sense that they have a rhythm and interaction that you have to catch up to as the new guy. One of the most important things I learned from being on East West 101 was that, as the new guy, you need to come in with a sense of confidence that you know exactly how your role is going to work. Of course, you listen to the director and pay attention to how things are working but, I think everyone else on the production really appreciates when you come prepared and with confidence. That allows everyone to relax and that’s when the fun starts.”