Myanmar Sensation Okkar Ming Maung Exclusive Interview
- Sep 23, 2016
- 5 min read
Updated: Oct 2, 2021
Photography by Aung Aung Photography
Okkar Min Maung was born in Yangon, Myanmar. When it comes to education, Okkar is quite the academic enthusiast. He holds degrees in English, Business, Management, and Fashion from Dagon University, Yangon, Berkeley College, New York, and State University of New York, Delhi. Okkar is quite the multifaceted artist with a career as an Actor, Singer, Songwriter, Dancer, and Model. When he is not on set, on stage, or on tour, he enjoys Painting, Reading, Swimming, Traveling, and Exploring new adventures.
Okkar is motivated and driven by his own hobbies, goals, passions, imagination, ambition, and aspirations to keep chasing his dreams. We learned that so many people including artists from all over the world inspired him, for they all inspire him in different ways.
When it comes to his goals both short and long term, he talk to us about restarting his acting career once again after being out for almost 8 years. For long term, Okkar would like to be a philanthropist, an artist, as well an entrepreneur. He wants to establish a foundation to help people in need. Okkar is planning to start his own product line in near future as well. He will also be managing my family’s businesses.
When it comes to his talent and the impact it has had in his life, he expressed the following "Everyone has different talents as a gift since they were born into life. As for me, recognizing the ability of what I can do and the talents that I got help me realize who and what I want to be in my life. I believe our own talents has the power to change our life. Some people don’t really recognize or use their talents as their career, some people do. For me, I am trying to adjust my life with education, my hobbies and my career as an artist to be balanced. I believe that the talents that I possess got me where I am and the experiences that I gained while following this path had shaped me who I am as a person. I am not perfect, I am not an expert but I have confidence that I can do what I will do. I want inspire others just like many other great artists had inspired me. My self-confidence in my talents keeps me motivated and pursue my career goals."
Okkar, so do you think your talent has inspired others? If so, how? "I believe in my faith, fortitude and philanthropy. I did my best when I was in the movie industry for 5 years when I was young. I have had a lot of fans from all over the country and was blessed to experience all of this in my life. When I announced to the public that I am coming back into this industry, everybody welcomed me back. I am still working on it to inspire others every single day. I am learning everyday to become a better me. Throughout the time I've been in the US, I've met so many different kinds of people whom I gained a lot of experiences, knowledge, culture and ideas from. I'd like to use those sources to share with other people and inspire them like I was. I want somebody to look at me one day and say "Because of you, I don't give up."
So have you had some of the experiences with your talent? "I have had a lot of experiences so far and I am still seeking for new ones while i am here in the US. Especially the opportunities that I can’t find or learn in Myanmar. I would like to pass over those experiences to the next generation. Sometimes no matter how talented some people are, if they are in a wrong place at the wrong time or because of the undeniable circumstances, their talents has become unrecognized and wasted. They end up regretting when they get older for not pursuing to strengthen their talents."
Okkar, the community would like to know what are some of the projects you have worked or have been apart of in the past? "I have done more than 40 movies before I left the industry. As well as a lot of music videos, TV commercials and photo model for magazines, catalogs, calendars and billboards, etc."
What are some of the projects you are looking forward to work in the near future? "Recently I've acted in a feature film called “The Gemini”. It is the first ever film about a homosexual relationship in Myanmar movie industry. It's expecting to be released in September in New York, LA and October in Cambodia and Myanmar. This is also the first ever Myanmar movie to be shown in the US theater. I am truly honored to be a part of it. I will be touring around and meeting my fans as well as the media and journalists when the movie releases. After that, my debut album titled “18” will be released soon, hopefully on October 18th. I can’t announce the exact date yet. Latest could be December 18th. I will be touring all over the country to meet and greet with my fans. I will definitely be able to release it before the end of 2016. I've been postponing the release due to so many reasons. In November 16th, I will be going to compete first edition of Mister Tourism World 2016 pageant in Bali, Indonesia representing my country Myanmar. I will also start working on shooting the music videos for my album in the near future when I'm back in Myanmar. I have been participating in a lot of charities and activist programs such as collaborating with “A Phyu Young Kan Sint Lat Myar” charity group to help people in needs as well as the Free Hug Campaign to support Human Rights Movement in Myanmar."
Do you have any advice for those who are trying to succeed in this industry? "This industry is very hard to survive and obtain a successful career. A lot of people give up before they reach their goals. In order to succeed, you have to be strong, dedicated, motivated, humble, independent, respectful, smart and be ready to accept all the negative and positive outcomes. Anything could happen no matter how talented you are. If you strongly believe in what you want to be, don’t give up no matter what. Keep trying and trying until you make a mark. Remember that if you want to be a public figure, there will always be people who supports you and people who hates you. You gotta be strong and endure what other people say about you. I have been socially attacked by thousands of people for agreeing to do this film but I kept doing what I believe in because this is the opportunity to represent the LGBTQ community in Myanmar. I want to portray their feelings, emotions and stress. I want to show my support and do everything I can for all of those people, their families and friends. Haters will always hate but never react them back with hatred. Leave your ego, arrogance, pessimism and all of the negative energies behind. Social Networking is also very important. Listen to people's responses, advices and comments. Learn from the mistakes. Try to improve communication skills and public relation skills since you will have to deal with different levels of people in this career so you have to be the most lovable person to whomever you meet with. You have to be the person who can give positive energy with amazing talents and strong morality. Seek the opportunities as much as you can. Be aware of do's and don’ts. Also know about what you want to be and what you should be reasonably in which field. Set your short term, long term goals and work on the time management. In that case, I am sure success is just a few steps away."
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