Gale Harold and Fay Ann Lee in 'Falling for Grace'

Gale Harold and Fay Ann Lee star in "Falling for Grace." Lee also wrote and directed the film, which premiered recently at the Asia Society in New York. The film opens at the BIG Theater (239 East 59th St.) on March 19.

• FILM WEB SITE
• GALE ON IMDB
• FAY ANN ON IMDB

SUMMARY: A cross between Mike Nichols' 'Working Girl' and Ang Lee's 'The Wedding Banquet', 'Falling for Grace' is the story of Grace Tang, an ambitious Wall Street banker determined to work her way up the ladder of life and out of working-class Chinatown. When a case of mistaken identity brings Grace together with New York's most eligible bachelor, she is unwittingly swept up in a whirlwind of romance and white lies. Now, to untangle herself, she'll have to carefully negotiate her personal ties to Chinatown and the politics of Wall Street and high society.

LEE'S BIO: Fay Ann Lee, a Broadway actress (Miss Saigon) with both Sondheim and Shakespeare credits to her name, wrote Falling for Grace as a proactive response to the lack of good roles for Asian American actors. Her script placed in prestigious competitions including the Nicholl Fellowship and the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project at which point Hollywood producers began to show interest. Nevertheless, Hollywood wouldn't buy the screenplay unless Lee changed the main character's ethnicity (from Asian American to Caucasian or Hispanic), claiming that mainstream America is not ready for a classic romantic comedy that stars an Asian American protagonist. Sticking to her guns, Lee raised $3 million and produced it herself. Four years later, filming began with a stellar ensemble cast that includes co-stars Gale Harold, supported by Christine Baranski, Lewis Black, Margaret Cho, Ken Leung, Stephanie March, BD Wong and Lee herself.