00:00I definitely was going out for more auditions that were, you know, the best
00:05friend or the assistant to sort of put color around the lead white person's
00:10story. One, why is every Arab person a terrorist? First of all. And second of all,
00:16just because I'm brown, why am I a terrorist? I'm really hoping that
00:20Hollywood is listening and realizing that we aren't the timid Asian Americans
00:27anymore, that we do speak up now, that we do have a voice. I think it's really
00:31important, especially a lot of, you know, Asian Americans or even Asians are coming
00:35into dance and being accepted for the fact that if you're good, you're good and I
00:39think that's what it should be. That's what art should be. I've heard the jokes. I
00:43better hope they do a musical of the Joy Luck Club or Memoirs of a Gay Show. I don't
00:47care. Performing is what I need to do. It was very notable to me when I would see an
00:52Asian face on screen when I was growing up and it never really occurred to me how
00:56few there were until I saw one. Women, especially young women, especially young
01:00women of color, want to see someone on TV who is not playing a terrorist or someone
01:06in IT, but is someone good who makes good decisions and is a good mother and wife
01:11and girlfriend and teacher and leader. There's been several incidences where
01:17characters that were specifically Asian is being given to Caucasian actors and
01:25that's astounding to me because on the one hand I understand about economics and about
01:32needing to make money and needing to have the big names, but if it's not serving the story, then
01:40you're not serving the entertainment value of that story.
01:44It's not as though there's so much Asian representation that we can spare those parts. So when I see a
01:52white actor playing an Asian role, my emotion is sadness.
01:57A lot of Asian media has been about sort of neutralizing the Asian. Like, this is an Asian person who
02:04is, could be anybody.
02:06But I also think that sort of having a curiosity for it and exploring the things that also sets an
02:15Asian American apart,
02:16that makes their experience different, actually shining a light on that and having some semblance of pride.
02:23And I think that's why Fresh Off the Boat is special, because we don't try to make it super PC.
02:29It's celebrating our differences as opposed to neutralizing it so we can be as cool as other people.
02:36We're cool in our own way.
