John Cho
Actors are supposed to be these runaways that get in a covered wagon filled with hats and tambourines and go from town to town making people smile.Collection: Smile
I grew up speaking Korean, but my dad spoke English very well. I learned a lot of how to speak English by watching television.Collection: Dad
I have a few go-to moves like jazz hands, shake the booty, stupid eyes. It was once a mating ritual, but now it's all about looking silly and making the kids smile.Collection: Smile
The key to doing 'Harold and Kumar' movies is you make it earnest. Primarily what we do is make Harold and Kumar's relationship and friendship believable, and we don't actually work on being that funny.Collection: Friendship
Good things will come from self-expression.
With acting, you are a small part of the creative process, and sometimes it is hard to feel like you are making an impact.
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.
I try to take roles that don't fall within the parameters of any Asian stereotype.
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.
Sometimes I feel like I don't dream big enough.
There is a real Harold Lee.
For me, the most interesting thing is longevity and sustaining a career, because that's what's truly difficult.
'Lost' was a phenomenon, like Elvis.
It'd be nice if Asian actors could be perceived as profitable, which is the bottom line. We're perceived as not mattering much fiscally.
Just because it's in a movie doesn't mean it's real.
I never saw 'Home Alone.'
I grew up watching the Lakers.
The thing about kissing men - how do people stand it? The stubble is maddening.
I've never even seen a Cheech and Chong movie.
I just didn't see anyone on TV who looked like me, and then I saw George Takei being cool and piloting the spaceship on television.
Part of my mission as an actor has been to define what an American is.
I've played roles that aren't expected of an Asian.
The goal of Asians in the arts is plurality of roles. I've always been hindered by me over-thinking what is a stereotype and what isn't.
The more roles there are, the more actors there are.
When I started acting... the community was largely Chinese-American or Japanese-American, so even then I felt like a minority in the minority.
I didn't think it was possible for Asians to be actors.
People expect me to be funnier.
You're trying to grow up, and you don't want to be like your parents, and that gets mixed up with being Korean... They brought their values from Korea, and I accepted them because I didn't know anything more. But as I grow older, I feel more Korean every year; it's very strange.
Most people deal with grief in an awkward way, and that can be funny.
I personally would love to see Harold and Kumar with children. I think that would be hilarious.
I'm not a natural-born actor. So it's been a very slow learning curve for 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 wanted to explore Korean-American characters. And 'Columbus' did address that. The father-son dynamic felt very real to me.
Whenever I meet a Korean, I ask about their immigration history.
I'm not an activist, I'm an actor. I don't want to be an activist.
There's only so much I can do to effect change - and really, the thing that I can do that's most effective is to work and to do good work. That, I feel, is speaking out in its own way.
With 'The Exorcist,' a lot of things went into it. I hadn't seen the show until they asked me, and then I checked the show out and thought it was very well done.
I am a little curmudgeonly about new media.
I have this nightmare that one day I will have to look at every picture I've ever taken with people in an airport or in bars or restaurants, and it will make me very sad.
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.
Our species likes being social.
It's so funny that Hollywood has become so entrenched in its formulas. Because what I've experienced is that the good stuff comes from places you don't expect.
I would love to do Shakespeare, either onstage or on film.
I want to walk the bases - I want to do all the actor-y stuff.
I'd like to be in a Western.
I've found it to be true that sometimes a stranger can give you advice that stays with you, utter truths the closest people in your life have trouble saying.
I've thought for years, sometimes against my will, about what kind of son I'm supposed to be, what's expected. Being Korean, that's a particularly charged question. Is your duty to your culture or to your parent? Is your life your own, or the second half of your parents' life? Who owns your life?
It's hard in America as a writer of color, an actor of color, not to get caught up in race and culture. But you're also supposed to be able to write characters and scenes in a way where it's just a matter of fact, a component.
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.
'Star Trek' seems to be an appeal to our better nature, the side of ourselves that works toward peace and cooperation and understanding and knowledge and yearns to seek out knowledge rather than the side that wants to divide and control one another.