 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my book Beyond the Lines and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. My special guest today is a graduate of Punahou School and she is achieving incredible success as an actor, singer and model. She is Sumiri Matsubara and today we are going Beyond the Fame. Hey Sumi, how's everything going in Japan? Good, how are you doing? Thank you for taking time to join me on the show today. Of course, thank you for having me, I'm very excited about this. I know that you're full Japanese, I'm half Japanese and I've been to Japan twice and it is, I absolutely love Japan. I want to know Sumi, what is it about Japan that you love so much? I mean everything. You've got to love the food, you've got to love the people. People are so kind and so polite. The culture is so immersed and it goes back so far, the history and the culture and it's very, yeah, it's just such an interesting, beautiful place. You've got to travel along all around Japan, you can't just stay in Tokyo, you've got to go to Kyoto, you've got to go to Hokkaido, you've got to go see Okinawa, you can go everywhere and it's such a different place, everywhere you go. I need to go to Sapporo as well because the two times that I've been to Japan, I felt so proud to be Japanese, I mean you said it right, the culture and the people, I mean they're so polite and Sumi, I know that you graduated Punahou school in 2009, what are some of your high school highlights? My high school highlights, well I received the President's Award as a senior, yeah and oh that's my step-dad and my little brother and that is my acting teacher, Paul Palmore, I think that he's still there and my biggest achievement in Punahou was actually I did a few plays while I was at Punahou but my favorite one was West Side Story, I played Anita and that was my favorite musical that I've ever done in my entire life and I've done professional musicals after that as well but that was probably my highlight of my whole, one of the highlights of my whole life. So you love performing in Dillingham Hall right? Yes in Dillingham. Now and then you, after graduating Punahou, you attended Cartagy Mellon University, what did you study there? I studied, I was a double major, I was acting in musical theater but I was there for two years and then a big earthquake hit Japan and my grandmother passed away and my mother was going through some you know emotional changes and she was going through a lot so I came back to Hawaii after that and I spent some time with my family, my mother mainly, and then I moved back to Japan to pursue a career in acting and singing and modeling. Now Sumi, your mom and dad, I mean they were famous people in Japan you know when you're growing up and how, what is it about your mom and dad that you learned probably like one nugget that you learned from each of them? I learned a lot from my mother because I was, she was kind of like a single parent. My father and my mother split when I was young but I think one of the biggest things that she taught me is that I you know I need to just make my own decisions and be happy with them and really go for my dreams and to not give up and yeah she was always just so supportive of me throughout my life and I've had some really big hardships about you know kind of my father not being there and a lot of things have happened in my life but she was always there for me no matter what and yeah and it really taught me to trust people and it really taught me to really be there for other people too when they needed somebody. They were both actors in Japan as well. Yes. Wow so you got some acting I mean that's really how you got interested in acting is it? Yeah it is well since I was a little girl my mom would take me to musical theater shows she would show me some Disney movies and I got so like I was so inspired by you know music and by acting and when I went to Punahou I discovered musical theater again as actually somebody being in a musical theater show and I got bitten by the theater bug that's what we say the theater in the theater biz but um but yeah I I just got so hooked on on acting as well and then it was just it just flowed from there I just continued. Yeah and so you had a role in season five on Hawaii Five-O and then you you had a role in the movie The Shack and then you're also on Marvel's Inhumans and how was it you know doing all of those different different shows or different movies? Wow doing Five-O was so much fun because I got to go back home and I got to be a bad girl I got to hold a fake gun and shoot people and it was a lot of fun and I got to work with the best crew in the cast and after that I got my big you know break in The Shack it was the biggest film or the first film that I've done ever and it was really just amazing I mean the cast in the crew were incredible I got to work with Octavia Spencer who I've looked up to forever even before she won her Academy Award and I got to work with Sam Worthington who is a great like kind of like he was like an acting coach for me in some ways and he taught me a lot and yeah and I got to work with some really amazing producers the producers of The Life of Pi and The Blind Side were on that on that movie so yeah it was just an incredible experience first movie experience I think and we got to shoot in Vancouver in a beautiful area and I got to play the Holy Spirit which was the first time that the Holy Spirit of the Holy Trinity was being portrayed in the film ever so it was a big big honor yeah. Wow absolutely fantastic there Sumi and let's talk about your modeling career I mean you are absolutely photogenic I mean so super photogenic what are the best parts of modeling? Modeling for me is just really like a self-expression you just you know you can really express yourself you can really show your clothes and in a beautiful way and you can you can really you know show yourself and in a way that it's different from acting I think because you don't have words you don't have your lines you cannot be moving you have to be still so it's it's a very different type of it's kind of like acting though but it's it's a different type of acting I think and and it's just really a lot of fun for me because I get to just be myself and or be a different character so there's different types of modeling obviously but but yeah I really enjoy it and it's it's a way of me expressing myself it's a way of me letting go of some things that you know that I've been thinking about or just like I can release and relieve stress and just just be. Yeah and you know you're able to chameleate into so many different you know visuals and I want to know Sumi what's the what's the worst parts the most challenging parts of modeling? Okay the worst parts is that we have to be in a bikini in the winter time outside in the snow sometimes we have to be in hot hot winter clothing in the summertime sometimes because we are you know always reversed so whenever we're filming something we're shooting something for the winter we're shooting it in summer and when we're shooting something for summer we're shooting it winter so it's it's really hard to um keep a straight face and not sweat sweat you know a lot or freeze and you know be shivering a lot so it's that's that's really tough so it's not always glamorous right? No it's not and sometimes when you have to wake up at like three or four in the morning you're not awake at all and sometimes you know I'm like trying to drink coffee and accidentally almost drink my my lotion or you know you're just not all together at all. And Sumi you have been on the cover of numerous magazines and I you know I mean I want to ask you Sumi what what is the secret of being a great model during photo shoots? I think um for me as a as a like well I used to model and now I I kind of sometimes model but I not focused on modeling as my main job right now but um while I was modeling I realized that it's just so important to really um be kind and polite to everybody who is at your work at your job which I think is applied to um everything that you do everything that anybody does but for modeling especially because you really it's a team effort you know you have your makeup artist you have your stylist you have the photographer you have the producer you have the director you have the creative director you have everybody is is there to create something amazing together so you really have to um you know work together and I think it's it's you never you should never think I'm the star and I you know will you know be shining so bright and you know everybody will bow down to me it's nothing like that at all it's mainly actually the model has to work really hard to make everybody else happy too you know and I think and I think that's so important yeah it's a big it's a big team effort and obviously you're very humble and you bring the aloha to to each photo shoot right yeah I hope so so if what would be two of the biggest magazines that you would like to be on the cover of oh my goodness I would love to do I would love to do Vogue of course in the States and Vanity Fair is also a big one that I've always dreamt of doing because it's such a beautiful magazine and yeah I think those two are the biggest ones that I would love to work with one day when I get more recognition in the States well I think it could happen because you've been achieving so much success and popularity and in my books Sumi I talk about achieving and sustaining success and you you know in this when you reflect back on your career so far why are you achieving success that is a very difficult question to answer I think I mean I think it's because I've worked really hard my whole life and I never gave up and and no matter what hardships came my way I would really try to take them on graciously and to learn from them learn from mistakes learn from the hardships and and move forward and and yeah I've struggled with a lot mental health wise I've struggled with a lot emotionally because as an actor it's really hard to you know be so vulnerable all the time and I think that we have to learn this this balance that we I think we should learn in life as well to balance emotion emotion emotions and vulnerability and yeah I think that everybody who wants to be successful in the business in the entertainment industry really needs to just study and work hard and do all they can and hone their skills and really be the best and the greatest at what they do and and that's that's the best advice that I've been given as well so yeah and Sumi you know I I know you have high standards for yourself and you have a great personal culture of excellence and you know you mentioned that you know you work hard and and you also mentioned some you talked about some challenges what what is one challenge that you know you really had to deal with that was tough that you overcame well um one challenge that I had to go over was or had to overcome was um the big earthquake that hit Japan and um that really it really ate me up because I was so far away from my home in Japan and I was in Pennsylvania in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania at school and um this whole this earthquake happened there were so many fatalities there were so many injuries there are so many people who lost their homes and it was a big um a big challenge for Japan I think to go over to get over and um and I was I was so hurt and I was so I was so affected by that because I couldn't do anything and I was so far away and um I realized that I wanted to do something and that's why I wanted to be in the entertainment industry in Japan and and have a name for myself so that I could do something I could do a charity I could do um I could do a charity event I can raise money I can raise awareness I can do something I can do something more is what I I've I realized and that was what I got out of that earthquake 311 hitting Japan yeah that was definitely uh devastating and I like hearing that you know that insight about how you really wanted to make an impact and let's talk about your your singing career you know some of your music videos have millions of views and how did you get interested in singing Sumi well I I've been singing my whole life just um just like any other little kid who would be doing oh my gosh that's that's from Puno but uh I grew up listening to Disney and watching Disney movies and going to musical theater shows with my mother and I really um just love to sing and love music and I always wanted to be a pop star that was my dream growing up and I was listening to a little bit um I was listening to like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and just getting inspiration from them like the pop you know sensation and um yeah and I and then I became a Japanese pop star a little bit yeah you know what I'm impressed with is you can sing in you know so many varieties of singing I mean it's it's very impressive you know you can do the pop you can do the I don't know what it's called where you're just I mean it's so meaningful but you're able to hit so many different notes I mean is I mean how long have you been I mean you said you started singing you know early on did you have singing coaches as well yes I um I trained classically actually I was trained by well I was trained by a voice coach and then I trained with an operatic voice coach as well so I actually came from a classical background from from middle school and high school is when I trained um classically and then um when I went to college I went I was I had a voice voice coach then as well and then I came to Japan and I still continue to um train with my voice as well see everyone always needs coaches it's a coaching is it's always a necessary part of success yes I mean I have acting coaches as well so whenever I go to the States I get my acting coaches and I have them help me as well so and Sumi I know you love to dance and you love to perform I mean what is it about dancing and performing that you love so much dancing for me is also another form of expression and it's just so like it's it's just it you can relieve so much you can release so much and um and it's just so much fun and uh and I've always I took ballet and it's it's a great form of discipline for young kids I think and um and it really helps you to hone down your skills and it helps you to it's a ballet is a basic skill so when you dance ballet you can dance basically any other dance um so it was a great stepping point for me and a great starting point for me to learn ballet Sumi you know I want to ask you this too you know us being Asian I mean you know in your life early on did you ever experience any bullying yes I did I I experienced bullying even in Japan because my famous my my parents were famous and I experienced a lot of bullying in that sense but then when I moved to Hawaii I couldn't speak English at first so I was bullied because I couldn't speak the language and when I went to school in the States I felt very different because there weren't as many Asian students in in Carnegie Mellon and especially in my acting program there weren't that many Asian students so I felt very estranged wow geez so you so after that I mean have you had any experiences of being discriminated against as well well being in Japan I don't get discriminated because I am Japanese but I do get a little bit of discrimination sometimes just because I grew up in the States and because I speak English and because I'm like international I kind of act differently than the Japanese like the normal Japanese person would act so um I definitely feel you know that I get treated almost as a foreigner sometimes even in Japan even in my own country well so obviously you've heard of the world famous tennis player Naomi Osaka yes and I you know I I mean I think she's I mean similar to you too because you know she's grew up you know in Japan but in the United States as well and kind of caught in between I mean what what advice would you give to someone like Naomi I mean I don't think I can give advice to Naomi because she's probably dealt with much more um you know of that than I have and I think that she's probably much stronger than I am I mean she just seems like a very strong woman um but uh I guess like my advice to anybody who would be going through some sort of discrimination or bullying especially cyberbullying because I've gone through that as well um I think it's just you have to really think that that person was not educated the way that you have been educated maybe that person is going through something really difficult such as their their family somebody passed away or somebody has a disease or maybe they are going through something in themselves emotionally or or physically or or mentally that they cannot deal with and so they take it out on somebody else and so you really got to I think pity that person a little bit and think that that person you know and you have to just really empathize and sympathize with them and um and just try to see it from their point of view and try to try to um yeah try to try to empathize with that person you know a few years ago you were honored and received an award at the Asia World Film Festival and I felt so happy for you that you know you were recognized for all of your efforts that you know what you're doing with your with your career how did it feel to be among the some of the best Asian actors uh in in the world at that event? I was very honored as you said and um it was my first award ever it was my first film ever so I was very taken aback that I was even um invited to that uh event and um and nevertheless receiving an award receiving the um the Rising Star Award which they um they were so gracious enough to to give to me and um and I was just so you know happy to be there with amongst amazing actors amazing Asian actors people who are helping to represent us well and um and it was such an honor to be there and it was it was so much fun and and I got to see some friends as well I got to see some people that I knew as well so that was really nice too. So being able to travel the world and you know going to Italy and doing all these fashion shows how are the parties like the Bulgari parties or the Dior parties are they fun? Yeah um of course they're fun but they're also very nerve-wracking because there's so many beautiful people there's so many people that are just very elegant and you feel like you need to like be on your game you have to be perfect sometimes but it's really fun and it's and it's it's just so glamorous that world is so glamorous fashion industry is is very glamorous I think and sometimes backstage it gets very cluttered and very crazy but um but for the parties I think it's just it's the time for you to relax and it should be a time for you to let go and have some fun. Yeah hopefully hopefully you can relax at those types of events but I can I can see how stressful it would be it's interesting to see that perspective as well and Sumi I want to ask you what's a what's a valuable lesson you learned in your life so far? A valuable lesson that I've learned um I mean I've learned so many lessons in my life but I think the biggest one is just to to be kind to to one another no matter what and I think after you know seeing everything that's going on in the world right now with corona with with the discrimination with with you know cyberbullying in Japan at least there there was a big um there was a big story about a girl who committed suicide from cyberbullying I think it's just a lesson that I've learned is like you have to really be kind to whoever that you bump into because you never know what they're going through and you have to assume that whoever you see you whoever you meet might be going through something really hard and um and just to be just gracious to them and kind to them no matter what and um yeah I think that's that's one of the biggest lessons that I feel right now is really um portrays well to society right now I totally agree be kind yeah and Sumi what's what's something that you want to do personally that you just haven't been able to do yet well um my biggest dream growing up was to be a pop star right but then my second dream after that was to be on Broadway nice so I've I've done some musical theater uh professional jobs in Japan but I hope to be able to do some musical theater in the states someday as well okay now I want to ask you one more thing okay so besides that what's another future goal of yours that you want to achieve in your life that has nothing to do with a career yeah it could be anything just a future goal that that you want to achieve besides what you mentioned I want to be a mom of four oh there we go why four I want to have lots of kids I grew up I was an only child for a little while for 10 years and then my mother had a a child later on but um I always wanted a big family a big happy family and uh I think the more the merrier so I really hope that I can have a lot of kids yeah I love hearing that Sumi I want to thank you so much for you know taking time in your schedule to join me on Beyond the Lines I mean it was super fun hearing your insights thank you thank you so much so looking forward to you visiting Hawaii when the corona thing uh finishes okay yes yes definitely I hope to meet you in person someday soon hopefully sooner than later yes definitely thank you Sumi thank you so much Rusty and thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii for more information please visit Rusty Komori.com and my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble I hope that Sumi and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs Aloha