Other Asian actors, especially American-born actors, sometimes shy away from immigrant roles.
— Jimmy O. Yang
I have some scripts, I'm putting a couple of projects together with people I want to work with. I think that's the most exciting part, when you can hopefully create your own content and find the people that you love that you get to work with.
I tried to be a rapper. I tried to make beats before I got into comedy, and that's still one of my hobbies.
It's maybe a better thought to change the perception of an accent than to avoid it all together.
I came to this country when I was 13 years old, I couldn't really speak English, and I had an accent.
When I was graduating college with an economics degree, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I was kind of scared. So I was just trying everything.
I've learned to not have expectations. I think the first movie I did, I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to win an Oscar!' You can't do that, you're going to let yourself down.
If you think about writing a book, or when I did, it seems daunting, but when I began writing, it just started flowing.
But I try to play everything very authentically, even if it is an accented immigrant, Jian Yang, that I play on 'Silicon Valley.'
Nico Santos I've known from Bay Area stand-up, and he lives right by me so we hang out all the time.
But my comedy hero was Stephen Chow. His deadpan comedy, all the stuff he wrote like 'From Beijing with Love,' it's incredibly funny.
I went to college as an economics major because that was the easiest major that could still please your Asian parents, and then, much to their dismay, I became a stand-up comedian.
Immigrant characters now are getting much more well-rounded, and they have personalities, which is important because we do need to portray immigrants in a humanizing way.
You know something like 'Patriots Day' that I did a few years ago, which is a drama, is very different than comedy. That was super rewarding. I want to do more of that and also my own writing.
I think in China they have a camera for every street corner, and if you jaywalk, they don't give you a ticket. They put you on the big TV screen to shame you.
I understand the whole constant foreigner stereotype, but for me it's important to portray immigrant characters like Jian-Yang and Danny Meng with humanity.
I guess I've lived my whole life as an outsider.
I was always pretty good with making deals. When I was in sixth grade, when Pokemon cards were hot, I might have started with, like, three or four cards, and then at the end of the year, through trading with my friends and everything, I ended up with the biggest card collection in my school.
Usually when you're Asian and you're on set, you're the only Asian there. Either you're the token Asian or you're the Asian sidekick.
When you're 1 out of 5 Asian people on TV, all the pressure is on you and you have to represent.
I went back to Hong Kong for the first time in 17 years and I was culture shocked in Hong Kong.
It's a fine line between hack and good comedy.
You'd see Asian faces on TV, but it was so rare, especially in the comedy space - that for me was Ken Jeong doing stand-up... it's amazing that I can call him a friend now and a colleague.
I went to school for economics, and especially in Asian culture it's not really a viable job for my family to be an artist.
Silicon Valley,' I mean, the comedy is amazing, and it's one of the best-written shows with some of the best talent. I'm really happy to be a part of it.
I'm generally pretty excited about new gadgets, new tech, A.I., stuff like that.
I've heard other actors saying they don't want to play a character with an accent at all. To me, that's kind of an insult to somebody like me who did have an accent.
I worked at Big 5 Sporting Goods, selling shoes and stuff like that, for a couple of summers.
My mom worked as a manager at a high-end fashion place, so she was always a pretty stylish woman.
I don't know why people feel the need to do this to me, but my friend asked my dad, 'Aren't your proud of Jimmy now that he's a successful actor?' And my dad was like, 'No, not really. I wish he was a scientist.' I guess scientist is more noble in the Asian culture.
Why is it when a white actor or even a black actor does a British accent, it's considered art?
Normal people don't become stand-up comedians.
I know Asian actors out there won't even audition for a role that have an accent. But for me, I was the kid with an accent. I still have an accent to some degree.
When I came to America, it was Dave Chappelle and a lot of comedians on ComicView. That was my first exposure to stand up comedy, actually.
