Hi, I’m Alvin Heng. I’m a Software Engineer an Actor.

In my past life, I was a software engineer. I graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. and M.S. in computer science, then worked at Snapchat as a software engineer for 4 years. Nonetheless, I’ve always had a love for performance art. In middle school and high school, I used to write, record, and perform my own rap songs. In college, I was on 3 different hip-hop dance teams. Even as a computer science major in college, my concentration was in computer graphics, with the goal of working in the entertainment industry at an animation studio such as Pixar or DreamWorks. I’ve always needed a creative outlet, and I was always intrigued by acting since I was a kid. During my last year at Snapchat, I finally decided to enroll in an acting class, and I fell in love with the craft right away. Fast-forward to today, I am pursuing it as a full-time career.

One of the latest short films I worked on is Swept Under, written and directed by Ethan Soo. Swept Under is a short horror film about a Cambodian adoptee who’s gifted a mysterious rug as a housewarming gift from his sister, only to discover the horrifying and buried secrets that lie underneath. The film had a successful festival run worldwide, with selections including Fantastic Fest in Austin, Fantasia in Montreal, HollyShorts in Hollywood, Beyond Fest in Los Angeles, LA Shorts International in Los Angeles, Soho Horror Fest in London, Slash Film Fest in Vienna, Popcorn Frights in Miami, Overlook in New Orleans, DC Asian Pacific American in Washington DC, Asian American International in New York, and Catalina Film Festival on Catalina Island. The film was distributed online by Alter and can be viewed here.

I haven't come across many projects seeking Cambodian American actors, let alone ones in which the Cambodian American identity is core to the premise of the story. I honestly can't describe the emotions I feel when seeing Cambodian stories represented in media and accessible to a larger audience, whether that be in the stage play Cambodian Rock Band by Lauren Yee, or through the words on the page in Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So. I can only hope that another Cambodian American feels a bit more visible after watching this film, knowing the person next to them might be learning something new about our history and culture.