You know you've made it when you're a GIF.
— Nico Santos
I was in the closet up until I moved to the U.S. But I was always one of those kids who couldn't really hide being gay. Some queer kids are just more straight-passing than others. I was not one of those kids.
I thought my high school would either be like 'Beverly Hills 90210' or 'Stand and Deliver' - it was just a run-of-the-mill high school.
Pinoy Pride, always!
A lot of people know me from my character that I play on 'Superstore,' Mateo, and I'm not interested in playing straight roles. I'm all about playing queer roles.
I don't cook as often as I would like.
I never thought in a million years I'd be involved in a project that celebrated the fullness of my identity of being queer and Asian.
I come from Oregon, which is this super-white state, so I didn't really have a lot of Asian friends in high school and college. And my background's in comedy, and your friends are just your peers in comedy, which is a whole mix of people.
I never thought an opportunity like 'Crazy Rich Asians' would ever come my way.
I think I understand why most actors and actresses are insane, because having to go through an emotional roller coaster as your job every day of your life would make somebody absolutely loopy.
Never in a million years would I have imagined that this is how my life would have ended up. I just thought I would be living in the States, doing a regular job.
I'm so Filipino. I'm fluent in Filipino.
I've gotten auditions with as little as two hours' notice. Those don't go so well!
I think any immigrant who comes to this country also knows somebody who is undocumented.
In high school the very first job I got was I worked as a cashier in Burgerville, which is this fast food place in Oregon. I kind of grew up to be a spoiled little kid so my dad was like, 'You're going to get a job for the summer!' I was this clueless immigrant like, 'May I take your order? Sorry sir, I don't know what I'm doing!'
Shows like 'Superstore' and certainly 'Pose' are leading the way and showing queer people of color in a much more complex, nuanced light that we've never seen.
My brownness is something that I can't hide. There are some straight-acting or straight-passing queer people out there, but I'm not one of them. This is something I would rather not have to hide.
Ellen DeGeneres is a huge influence in my life. She's one of the reasons why I wanted to do stand-up comedy. I was a big fan of her stand-up before she even came out of the closet.
It's really great to see the queer landscape really change to include everybody and make the rest of the world understand that we're not just one or two things. There's so much about the queer community that needs to be represented.
The best comedy is based on truth.
I lost my accent pretty quickly, so everyone assumes I was born and raised in America. But I'm very much still in touch with my Filipino roots. That will never go away.
I did stand-up comedy for a long time in San Francisco, and then I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to move to Los Angeles and try and make it!'
I grew up in the Philippines and we had all this amazing fresh seafood, but uni was something that I was weirded out by. It wasn't until I was an adult that I was like, 'Let me just go ahead and try this.'
Especially when you're queer and you're a person of color, you're so used to being the token on set. Inevitably you have to answer dumb questions from someone. You're the 'other.'
I always thought that when I got into this business that I was going to have to downplay my Asianness and downplay my queerness, which is not an easy thing for me to do.
When I got that role of Mateo in 'Superstore,' it was such a huge victory for me, professionally and personally.
My mom is definitely crazy. She would totally be a stage mom if I was a child actor.
I miss Philippine mangoes, you just can't get them here. Mangoes, you can't get lanzones here, you can't get siniguelas, all these fruits that I grew up with.
My family always believed in me, even when I didn't. Having that love and support made me not afraid of failing. I knew my mom would be proud of me just for taking a chance and pursuing my dream.
We, Filipinos, are really great about keeping a positive attitude and seeing the silver lining in all things. We're survivors!
I've done retail before.
You rarely see a Filipino family on TV.
Within the Filipino community, everybody knows somebody who's undocumented.
I'm portraying out characters, I'm portraying femme characters, characters that are really outside of the box. I never thought I would get that opportunity to portray those characters at all, much less have a career that I have.
The fact that I get to play a queer Filipino on television and another queer character in 'Crazy Rich Asians' is huge. I never thought I'd have a career being myself. I always thought that being an actor in Hollywood meant that I would have to put that side of me on the back burner.
Oregon is home to me.
Superstore' is the most amazing work environment ever. Every single person on set is someone you'd call a friend. We have the best crew, as well, and we all hang out even when we're not working. We push each other to be better, and we bring it out of one another. I have learned and grown so much.
I want to show people out there that there's such a huge spectrum of people within the queer and Asian community.
I like making adobo, because it's easy and it keeps in the fridge for a while. Or I'll make pasta with bolognese - something I can make a big batch of and can keep eating for the rest of the week.
Generally I try to be as healthy as possible, but it's hard to be on set because anything and everything is available to you. I'm healthy half the time, and half the time I'm like, 'Sure let me go back and see whatever snack they have laid out.'
It wasn't until I worked on 'Crazy Rich Asians' that I all of a sudden have this Asian crew of friends that I became super close with.
The fact that I'm able to portray these complex, fully realized, queer Asian characters? I never thought it would be in this position. You just never see those types of characters and that type of representation.
When I worked at Dior, Paris Hilton and Kathy Hilton came one time and they were kind of crazy.
Everything you could imagine Michelle Yeoh being, she lives up to that.
I should have been born a crazy rich Asian because I do have expensive taste. I have champagne taste but I'm on a beer budget.
I had a rough start when I moved to L.A. I couldn't find a job, so I couch-surfed for the first two years.
I'm from the Philippines and I moved to this country when I was 16.
I love my mom! She's just great and so happy for me that I'm living my dream.
What I've come to find out is it doesn't matter if you're selling a $10,000 gown or toilet paper: The everyday sort of humdrum of customer service and retail is the same.
My dad was undocumented for a period of time, my mom was also undocumented for a period of time.
