10/27/2026
27 Frames – Roll 07 | Esther Chen Esther Chen 湯海彤
"Don't come to New York."
That's Esther Chen's advice.
She moved here in 2014 to finish high school. More than a decade later, she's still here — acting, doing stand-up, making it work.
Is life in New York hard?
"Hard. Painful. A disaster."
No hesitation.
People dream about this city. The opportunities. The freedom. The feeling that anything can happen.
Some of that is true.
But there's another side to living here. The nonstop hustle. The uncertainty. The days you're not sure you can keep going.
Esther doesn't pretend otherwise.
She says she wants to give up every day.
So how does she get through it?
"I don't know. Drink some water."
No pep talk. No five-step plan.Just Esther, telling it like it is.
Along the way, she's been learning to face her emotions and to set boundaries.
Growing up, no one really taught her how to deal with her feelings. Then one day, a teacher noticed something was off and asked, "Are you okay?"
And told her this:
"Whatever you're going through, you can put it into your work."
So she did.
As for comedy?
According to Esther, only 10% of being a comedian is actually doing comedy. The other 90% is everything else and you still have to show up for it.
She doesn't sugarcoat any of it. Not the grind, not the absurdity, not the self-doubt.
Same as on stage: she just says what she thinks.
This is Esther Chen's New York.
Not the dream version. The real one.
27 Frames.
Every frame, a different way of living in New York.
❤️🧡💛💚💙💜💙💚💛🧡❤️
27 張底片｜Roll 07 Esther Chen
「不要來紐約。」
這是 Esther Chen 給大家的建議。
2014 年，她來到紐約念高中。十多年過去了，現在的她是一名演員，也是一名喜劇演員。
問她在紐約生活辛不辛苦？
「苦。痛苦。災難。糟爛。」
她回答得毫不猶豫。
很多人帶著夢想來到紐約，期待這座城市的機會、自由，以及各種意想不到的可能。
但除了令人嚮往的一面，紐約還有許多不那麼光鮮亮麗的日常。
工作永遠做不完，生活有各種現實要面對。即使已經努力了很久，還是會懷疑自己的選擇，甚至不知道到底該不該繼續。
這些事情，Esther 都不避諱。她說自己每天都想放棄。
那怎麼撐過去？
「我不知道，喝點水吧。」
沒有什麼勵志的答案，也沒有要告訴大家如何成功。
這就是 Esther。她只是很誠實地告訴你，在紐約生活是什麼樣子。
在紐約生活的這些年，她也慢慢學著面對自己的情緒，學著 set boundary。
成長的過程中，她並沒有太多機會學習如何處理情緒。
直到有一次上課，老師注意到她的狀態，問了一句：「Are you okay?」
然後告訴她：
「你現在度過的任何情緒，都可以放到你的作品裡面。」
那些曾經不知道該如何面對的情緒，也慢慢成為她理解自己、表達自己，以及創作的一部分。
至於喜劇演員的生活？
Esther 說，真正做喜劇的時間只占 10%，剩下的 90%，都是那些跟喜劇無關，卻又不得不處理的事情。
那些生活裡的挫折、工作的荒謬，還有不斷懷疑自己的時刻，她都很誠實地告訴你。
沒有刻意美化，也不需要把每一段辛苦都變成勵志故事。
就像她的喜劇一樣，她只是用自己的方式，把真實的生活說出來。
這是 Esther 的紐約。
導演 Director：Boyu Huang / Leo Chang
攝影／剪輯 Cinematography & Editing：Boyu Huang
攝影助理／字幕 Assistant & Subtitles：Hao Yeh .yzh
影像執行統籌 Producer：Leo Chang
