Convocation: Parry Shen

Chinese American actor Parry Shen graduated from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in marketing and minors in media studies and public relations/advertising. After interning on the business side of the entertainment industry with Marvel Comics and HBO, Shen decided to exit the humdrum business world and set out to California to find work in front of the camera. Three years into his career, Shen was almost about to give up on acting when he took a job waiting tables at Applebee's. On his first day bussing tables, a casting company tracked him down at the neighborhood eatery to inform him that he had landed a lead role in "The New Guy." He was whisked away nine hours later for a two-month shoot in Austin, Texas. Shen worked three hours at the restaurant and still has a paycheck of $20.13 waiting for him. Shen is perhaps best known as the lead in the 2002 movie "Better Luck Tomorrow." He has had a variety of film and television roles and has been featured on "Entertainment Tonight" and "Extra" as well as in Premiere, Rolling Stone, VIBE, People Magazine, The L.A. Times and The Wall street Journal. Shen is an acting professor at his alma mater and in his spare time tours universities, demystifying the acting business to colleges students across the country.