'Disoriented' star knows where she wants to go

In her five years as a full-time actress in Los Angeles, Di Quon has had modest success landing guest roles in shows like "Boston Public" and "Grounded for Life."

Typically, the Chinese-American Quon is cast as the sole Asian-American on set. "I'm always the best friend, never the lead," she said.

Convinced that her career -- and Hollywood -- won't progress without a nudge, Quon and her filmmaker partner Eric Byler are presenting on PBS tomorrow a pilot episode featuring the kind of television they want to watch: a high school series starring an Asian-American family. "My Life . . . Disoriented" airs on WGBX-TV (Channel 44) at 10 p.m.

The filmmakers' hope is that their 30-minute movie, presented as part of PBS' "Independent Lens" series, will be picked up by PBS or another network as a regular series.

"If you really want your story told, you have to tell it yourself," said executive producer Quon, who stars in the film as 15-year-old Kimberlee Fung.

Despite a competitive time slot and no publicity by PBS, the film has gained some attention already on Internet sites such as You Tube.com and My Space.com and via film festivals in various cities across the country.

"I've seen clips of the show on You Tube. I'm pretty excited about it," said Karen Narasaki, chairwoman of the Asian Pacific American Media Coalition, a media watchdog group in Washington, D.C.

Narasaki was impressed with the film's authentic story line about a San Francisco father who loses his job as a corporate executive and moves his family to their grandparents' home in the farm country of Bakersfield. There his daughters must try and fit in at a mostly white high school.

Kimberlee will feel pressure to choose between befriending a group of popular Caucasian girls or two outsider Asian boys. Kimberlee's mother, meanwhile, is unhappy moving back in with her mother and Kimberlee's father will suffer in silence working at the family business, a massage parlor.

The show is based loosely on Quon's experience growing up in Bakersfield as the only Asian in a high school of 500 students. The film was shot at her old school, North High School. Claire Yorita Lee wrote the script. Byler directed.

"So many pilots I've seen are much more stereotypical, with the crazy grandma or martial artists," said Narasaki. "It's a breakthrough to see an Asian-American family dealing with more complex issues."

Asian actors have certainly made strides on television in recent years, from Yunjin Kim and Daniel Dae Kim, who portray a married couple on ABC's "Lost," to Masi Oka and Mohinder Suresh, who have pivotal roles on NBC's "Heroes."

Margaret Cho starred in the "All-American Girl" sitcom about a Korean-American family in 1994-1995 but it lasted just one season.

Byler, who has written and directed three feature films about Asian Americans, wants more.

"I feel like it's time," he said. "There's a community out there that is hungry for representation on television."

A spokeswoman for PBS said this week that no commitments have been made about developing the pending film into a series. It has never been done for an "Independent Lens" project, said Lois Vossen, the series producer.

Regardless of the odds, Byler plans to wait by the phone next week.

"We are asking the Asian-American community to show their might," he said. " I've written outlines for the rest of the season. I'm very motivated to tell this story."

Suzanne Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com.