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 came out to one or two people in high school and then it wasn't until I was a freshman in college that I was fully out of the closet. It was like the late '90s.
We all need to call upon our lawmakers to create a path to citizenship for hard-working, law-abiding undocumented people and their families.
The fact that I am a Filipino actor playing a Filipino role is crazy. Filipinos are the second largest Asian minority in the United States, and we're hardly represented in the media and on television.
I didn't want to do Chekhov or Shakespeare. So I switched my major from acting to costume design. Eventually, I got a job working as a wardrobe assistant for a theater company. I would dress the actors, fix their costumes, do the quick changes for them and all that stuff.
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.
Oregon is home to me.
I've done retail before.
I love my mom! She's just great and so happy for me that I'm living my dream.
I never thought an opportunity like 'Crazy Rich Asians' would ever come my way.
Superstore' is, like, my fifth acting job.
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 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.
People with accents exist and just because they have an accent doesn't mean they're less intelligent or what-have-you.
I hate that femininity in a gay men is a 'stereotype.'
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.
Everything you could imagine Michelle Yeoh being, she lives up to that.
We, Filipinos, are really great about keeping a positive attitude and seeing the silver lining in all things. We're survivors!
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.
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!'
