I don't want to be the actor who's followed by paparazzi, you know? I would like to just do good work and have that work be respected and acknowledged.
Randall Park
I always feel that comedy, at its best, tackles issues that are controversial, polarizing, volatile, and sheds light onto those issues and the people involved.
I want to see more Asians on TV. I want to see more faces like mine on TV.
Danny Chung in 'Veep' is a really unique, very anti-stereotypical role for an Asian-American actor, and being able to play that has been super fun.
One of the first jobs I did was a commercial, a local commercial on the Chinese channel here in Los Angeles, and the whole thing was in Cantonese, I think, and I didn't have any lines, but I was kind of the focus of the commercial.
People would call me Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan or whatever popular martial artist there was at that time. I also remember the other kids at the lunch table freaking out when I brought in Korean food.
There's a show on Comedy Central that I love called 'Nathan for You,' which is kind of a reality show, almost a prank show, where this guy Nathan Fielder goes around helping struggling businesses. He's so hilarious and so awkward.
If a casting breakdown said 'All-American Type' or 'Lead Role,' I knew they weren't thinking of me.
I'm on Twitter, but I'm not super active. I follow a lot of the same people that a lot of people follow: Rob Delaney, Megan Amram, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, people I've worked with.
Family time means so much to me.
As an actor, you read so many scripts and parts written for Asian-specific characters, and you see a lot of stereotypes and a lot of one-note characters, especially in comedy.
My parents were born in Korea. They spent a good part of their life in Korea.
I am obsessed with rap music - it's such a big part of my life.
I've been called 'Bruce Lee.' I've been called other less offensive, but equally stupid and racist kind of terms.
My hope is that shows like 'Fresh Off the Boat' open the door for even more of those kinds of characters for Asian actors and actresses.
The first thing I do is I check my emails and my texts. I guess I shouldn't feel guilty about it at this point; it's kind of the norm. Sometimes I'll bounce around Twitter. And if I have time, I'll catch up on the news, usually on 'Huffington Post' or 'Salon.'
'Veep' is definitely one of my favorite TV shows, and not because I'm in it. It's just such a great show, and the fact that I'm on it is crazy to me because I love it so much.
I've been reading a lot about North Korea ever since I got the part in 'The Interview' because it's just such a fascinating place. There are so many amazing stories of bravery coming out of there.
Even as a kid, I'd have a recorder, and I'd lean it up against a TV and record 'I Love Lucy.' I loved hearing the audience laughing. It was really exciting to me.
I fell in love with acting while I was a student at UCLA.
I majored in English with a specialization in creative writing along with Asian American Studies.
Acting just didn't seem like a viable option. I didn't have any connections in the industry, and I had little support from my family. Also, there just weren't a lot of Asian-Americans on TV or in the movies.
I hope I get the chance to keep acting in great projects.
The most common things I would go out for would be, like, 'the Lab Technician' on a crime procedural, usually an expert in either a medical or a computer-oriented field.
I remember in the '70s or the early '80s, there were a lot of viewpoints represented on TV. And I don't know what happened. I don't know what happened in the '90s.
When I was at UCLA, a professor there encouraged me to write, and so I looked into specializing in creative writing in the English Department. And through that, I started writing plays.
I ended up going into the Master's program for Asian-American studies at UCLA, in part because I was passionate about it, but also because I wanted to keep acting in the theater group that we founded.
I remember, as a kid, I loved kimchi. It wasn't weird to me at all because it was in our house all the time. There was never a second when a huge jar wasn't in our refrigerator. I remember bringing it to school, and that just did not go over well at all.
There are a lot of communities within the Asian Pacific Islander umbrella that are predominantly more working-class or lower class, and those stories haven't been told yet, so my hope is that we see the gamut of perspectives.
There were so few examples of Asian or Asian-American lead characters on American TV or even in the movies. And the ones that have existed for so long were either stereotypical or offensive in some way, or just not reflective of the lives of people in the community.
Early on, when I first started acting professionally, it was really important for me to get my parents on board, because they were so against it.
When you write a memoir, and it's your life, and you're exposing things that are close to home, it's hard to see it changed.
I'm not a big steak guy.
My father was a small business owner. When I was growing up, he ran a one-hour photo store - back when there were one-hour photo stores.
People really liked my dad.
For network TV, you obviously have to appeal to a wide viewership.
