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naked Gigi Hadid.
apron started heating up the little corn tortillas.
Finding a passion seemed as unrealistic as the Yellow Panthers winning a Grammy.
Pursue what you love, not what you should.
flesh bags
acting reel.
make or break
still can’t watch Modern Family to this day; it’s like a Vietnam War veteran eating at a pho restaurant.
I noticed how crudely people treated a foreigner. The mechanic was quickly annoyed because he could barely understand me, the cashier at the grocery store avoided eye contact and the post office lady couldn’t be more frustrated trying to explain the difference between priority and first-class mail to me. This reminded me of my own struggles when I first came to this country. I looked up to Danny as
hero, and I empathized with Danny as a fellow immigrant. In one of the opening
RushRunner
Danny continued, “And really, that was the truth. Nobody really cared about me here. I was new to America, most of my friends were in China.” That gave me the chills. Every immigrant
has felt that way: “Nobody cares about me here.” I know I definitely felt that way when I first came to America. I might not have been able to relate to being carjacked at gunpoint by terrorists, but I could surely relate to the loneliness of being an immigrant.
a hero, except for Danny. Danny said, “I don’t think I’m a hero. A hero is somebody who is willing to sacrifice himself to save somebody else. I was just trying to save myself that night.” To me, his humbleness makes him even more of a hero. Danny makes me proud to be an immigrant.
They believe these accented characters reinforce the stereotype of an Asian being the constant foreigner. Frankly, I can’t relate. I was an immigrant. And no matter how Americanized I become, no matter how much Jay-Z I listen to, I’ll always be an immigrant. Just because I don’t speak English with
an accent anymore doesn’t mean that
I’m better than the people who do. My job as an actor is not to judge anyone and portray a character with humanity. There are real people with real Asian accents in the real world. I...
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nerdy? Jian Yang is more than a fresh-off-the-boat immigrant; he’s also a funny, devious little asshole. Danny Meng is not just a foreign Chinese student; he’s a real-life American hero who helped capture the Boston Marathon bombing terrorists. I want people to see these guys and say,
“Wow, that Chinese dude is awesome.” And I want girls to watch these roles and say, “I need to find myself a Jian Yang or Danny Meng. These guys are fucking sexy.” My mission is not to avoid playing an immigrant; my mission is to make Asian immigrants as sexy as Ryan Gosling.
up short in your Fantasy Football League. “Throw another touchdown, you fucking asshole!” And now the 75-inch TV becomes the new normal, yet again. Your amazing TV becomes just another TV.
of the same skin tone; it was about hanging out with people who shared the same point of view because they had gone through the same experiences. One of my favorite lines in the Crazy Rich Asians script was “I didn’t have to explain myself that I’m Asian here, I’m just another person.”
He was lost, he was scared, he wanted to go home.
It was hard.
Every immigrant has gone through a difficult journey. My story is just one out of a million stories of people who left their home coun...
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I could go back in time and tell the little thirteen-year-old Jimmy that everything was going to be just ...
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loved. The English language was uncomfortable, so I studied BET until it became my natural tongue. Doing stand-up was uncomfortable, so I hung out at the Comedy Palace until it became my second home. Auditions were uncomfortable, so I spent six hundred bucks a month on acting classes
while I slept in some dude’s living room for
three hundred bucks until acting became my profession. I never looked at these challenges as barriers; I saw them as opportunities to grow. I’d rather try to pursue my dream knowing that I might fail miserably ...
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“Dad, are you proud of me?” He replied earnestly, “In a Chinese family we don’t have to say it all the time. You should know that I’m always proud of you.” Deep down, I knew that, it was just nice to hear him say it.
