Born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta, my parents and grandparents sacrificed a lot to build a life in Canada. In spite of their best efforts and the heaps of money spent enrolling me in Kumon, I didn't become that doctor/ engineer/ accountant they were hoping for. Instead, poor Mr. and Mrs. Cheng ended up with a wannabe Sandra Oh / Oprah to tell their friends about (my mom always lost the my-daughter-is-smarter-than-your-daughter smack talk when I was growing up).

That's as much of a bio as I'm going to write. I find it stupidly difficult to write one's own bio without sounding like a complete tool. That's why rich people hire publicists after all.

So instead, I'll use this space to say this:

Please show some support and tune in to my television mini-series Broken Trail debuting on AMC June 24th and 25th, 2006 (www.brokentrail.amctv.com)

Set in 1897, Broken Trail stars the Academy Award winning Robert Duvall (The Apostle, Thank You for Smoking) and Academy Award nominee Thomas Haden Church (Spiderman 3, Sideways). They play two cowboys who stumble across 5 Chinese girls who've been brought to America to be forced into prostitution.

I know I know, you're probably thinking, "Great, another movie that portrays Asian Americans in a stereotypical light. Can Hollywood please write a role for an Asian female that doesn't involve prostitution, laundry or bad driving?"

That's exactly how I felt until I read the script, became intrigued by the plight of the girls, and researched the historical context of the story. Sadly, countless numbers of Chinese girls, some as young as 12 endured the horrible fate depicted in Broken Trail. Because of poverty, ignorance, and the social climate of China at the time, thousands of girls were sold to sex slave dealers, and brought to America where "Celestials" were valued for their exotic appeal. A majority of these women took their own lives. The rest lived brief, violent existenses before succumbing to homicide or disease. In regards to the latter, when girls were "used up", their captors often locked them away in death houses to starve: out of sight, out of mind.

It's a shameful, and sad chapter of Asian American history. One that's not highlighted enough in our history books. That's why I'm proud to be a part of Broken Trail, and why I hope you'll tune in. It's an important story to tell; and, unfortunately, the slavery issue highlighted in Broken Trail is still relevant today as hundreds of thousands of women and children are held captive around the world.

If you want to learn more about the human-trafficking epidemic, where to get help for victims, or how you can take action, please check out these Web sites and hot lines:

Amnesty International USA
http://www.aiusa.org

Equality Now
http://www.equalitynow.org

International Justice Mission
http://www.ijm.org

Polaris Project
www.polarisproject.org

Tahirih Justice Center
www.tahirih.org

Vital Voices Global Partnership
www.vitalvoices.org

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
www.dhs.gov

U.S. Department of State
www.state.gov/g/tip

Women’s Funding Network
www.wfnet.org

For victim assistance, contact:

Department of Health and Human Services Human Trafficking Hotline
888-373-7888

National Domestic Violence Hotline
800-799-SAFE or 800-787-3224

To report suspected trafficking crimes, contact:

U.S. Department of Justice Trafficking in Persons and Worker Exploitation Task Force
888-428-7581

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
866-DHS-2ICE

Sorry to get all deep and heavy on y'all. Hope it's given you something to think about though.

All the best, peace out!
Olivia Cheng
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