Jacky Lai – A Sugar & Spice Holiday

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) Please tell us the premise for the upcoming film A Sugar & Spice Holiday.

A) The film is about Suzie Yung, a hard-working architect who goes back home to Maine for Christmas. Suzie and her grandmother shared a special bond through baking, but after her grandmother passed Suzie gave that up and focused solely on her career. When she arrives home, Suzie runs into her old high school friend, Billy Martin (Tony Giroux) who tries to rally her into joining the town baking competition. At first, she struggled with the idea, but after some revelations Suzie joins the team and begins to learn what she really wants in life.

Q) How was your character Suzie originally described to you?

A) I had to look up the original audition email for this and it literally says, “No breakdown for this one.” So, I didn’t really have much other than the audition pages.

Q) Was there anything you added to this role that wasn’t in her initial breakdown?

A) I had some moments where Suzie was quite bashful, which I didn’t expect. It had never come up during my prep, but it totally makes sense. Suzie and Billy have a friendship that dates back to high school and sometimes when you hang out with a childhood friend, you start acting the age of when you first met.

Q) What kind of research into Gingerbread House competitions did you do for this film?

A) Mainly YouTube and Pinterest.

Q) What makes Suzie hesitant towards entering the local gingerbread competition?

A) Suzie hadn’t baked for years, ever since her grandmother passed and she’s afraid she won’t be able to live up to her. Suzie’s grandmother was known to be the “Gingerlicious Champion” and had won many years in a row.

Q) How do Suzie and Billy team up to take on this challenge?

A) She gets a little nudge from the people she loves and Billy also used some guilt-tripping tactics to get her to join.

Q) What were some of your favorite scenes to film?

A) Oh, so many. There’s this scene where Billy does something really sweet for Suzie, which while reading the script was so dreamy, but on the day it was even cuter than I had imagined. I also had a really wonderful scene with Tzi Ma who plays my dad. We all felt it on set so I’m hoping audiences will feel it too when they watch it at home.

Q) What did it mean to you to star in the first Lifetime Asian-American centered holiday story?

A) It was a really big deal for me. I felt a responsibility that comes with being the “first” anything, so I really laser-focused on work and didn’t even talk to my friends or family until the shoot was over.

Q) What do you hope viewers take away from watching A Sugar & Spice Holiday?

A) I hope people are empowered to go after what they want, whether it be love, career or both.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and the work you do?

A) That nobody is perfect and that perfection is a ridiculous goal. This movie does a really good job of highlighting that. I’d love for people to know just how much I love imperfections and that I’m so grateful they’ve accepted me for all of mine. I may appear one way on social media, but I’ve struggled a lot with getting through the day sometimes and my fans have really lifted me up and given me light when I needed it most and they probably don’t even know that. So, thank you for all of your love and support. It doesn’t go unnoticed.