I grew up speaking Korean, but my dad spoke English very well. I learned a lot of how to speak English by watching television.
'Sesame Street' early on and then 'Little House on the Prairie' was a big deal in our house. I always identified with 'Little House' because they were wanderers, and there was something about being an immigrant.
I got sort of sick of seeing Asians being the blank, bland real estate agent or something. I didn't care. It didn't mean anything to me.
For a while, I was feeling like I was always playing characters that weren't specifically Korean or specifically Asian, even - that they were characters who were originally written white, and then they would cast me. And I used to consider that a badge of honor because that meant I had avoided stereotypes.
I've played roles that aren't expected of an Asian.
Early on, I played a Chinese delivery person, and even that, which was very innocuous, felt like I was somehow betraying myself. I felt very self-conscious on set doing that role, with a crew that was almost entirely white.
I wanted to do 'Manzanar' because I'd never done anything like it before. The spoken word there is between a drama and an essay, and I'd never worked in concert with an orchestra.
When I saw 'My Fair Lady,' I was surprised at how mean and misogynistic Henry was. Maybe that's why it's dropping out of public consciousness.
I feel like there's this need that the Asian-American community has to feel like people. It's something that Asians in Asia do not understand about us.
There is a real Harold Lee.
Even though there's a lot of horror from Asia in the American cinematic tradition, I hadn't seen Asians at the center of it.
I've found that one's language abilities, especially for Korean kids like me, get frozen at the age you immigrated. So I've always associated Korea with being a child and being infantilized through my inability to speak.
Most people deal with grief in an awkward way, and that can be funny.
The biggest boss has the clearest desk.
That's a huge part of being a human being: looking for love and finding a partner in this world. When you constantly play characters who don't have that life, it feels incomplete and not totally human.
The message of 'Star Trek,' if there is one, seems to be that we should try to live up to the very best that we're capable of.
Ninety per cent of being a parent is just being present and available.
You know, I always root for the older athlete. I root for the second album. I root for solo careers after the rock star breaks the band apart.
The worst thing for a kid is to move around and switch schools, but as an actor, you go from job to job, meeting strangers and becoming very close right away. I've become adept at that.
What's impressed me about 'Star Trek' fans is how many generations they span and how many nations they represent. They are all over the place.
