How Jimmy O. Yang Made a Star Turn Out of Playing a Background Character
Jimmy O. Yang almost didn’t make it to the first day of shooting.
To get into the mindset of his character on Hulu’s incredibly meta new series Interior Chinatown — in which the 37-year-old actor plays Willis Wu, a humble background character in the show’s fictional police procedural, Black & White, who thinks he’s living a real life — Yang went method. He purchased some grubby garments from Goodwill, put on a pair of old shoes he still had from his early days waiting tables, and, for the grand sum of $1500, purchased the crappiest car he could find, a 1999 Toyota Corolla.
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He did such a good job, the guards at the Fox lot, where the show shoots, wouldn’t let him through the gates when he turned up for Day One of production.
“The security guard would not give me the time of day,” he recalls to The Hollywood Reporter. “She was like, ‘Just pull over. Just pull up right there.’
Below, Yang, a veteran of shows like Silicon Valley and Space Force, talks about his own real-life experience acting in Interior Chinatown, what he’s got planned for his future and why he posts all those cooking videos.
How did you find your way to Interior Chinatown?
I guess the script landed on my desk. My agent was like, “You got to read this. This is so, so good.” I had told him, “I do really want to do something unexpected, not just comedy in the drama space, but also just something unexpected.” That was the word I was using. I think maybe that’s something I’ve done through my whole life and career, even just being a stand-up coming from a Chinese immigrant family. When I read the script I was like, “This is so cool.” There is a very familiar family drama, very similar to my family where they clearly love each other, but because of that generation and that culture, Chinese culture, that it’s a lot of unspoken words and acts of service instead of saying, “I love you.”
The setting of the show, a show within the show, he’s a background character. I just related to that so much because I thought throughout my career, I had to claw my way up to something that seemingly was impossible because we didn’t see a lot of ourselves on TV when I was growing up, and everything just felt like I was sneaking in. I think that’s how Willis feels the whole time. It’s like he just wants to be a witness. That’s all he wants is just be a small part of the show. That’s how I was when I was auditioning for two-line parts. I’m like, “Oh my God, it would be a dream. This ain’t even possible for me to be on TV.”
The show is very meta. From an acting standpoint, how do you tackle something like that?
It’s like Truman Show in a way. He doesn’t know he’s almost in the background of this TV show. It has the Law & Order procedural element, which is great. Then meets Twilight Zone… It could get really confusing, but I think my job as an actor is to just be with Willis. He doesn’t know in the beginning that he’s in the show or is trapped in this mystery. All he cares about is his relationship with his family, his relationship with his best friend and his dreams and goals of breaking the mold and getting … To him it doesn’t mean, “Hey, I’m going to break out of being a background actor.”
It’s just we’ve all experienced something like [this]. People put us in this box and we know we can do bigger than that. We know we can do more than that, but nobody believes in us. I think just getting into that very human fundamental point of, he has dreams and goals, but he lives in a crappy place that he’s never left. … Actually in preparation, I’ve never lived in the SRO on top of Chinatown buildings and I couldn’t imagine. I haven’t seen the set yet, so I don’t know how it is. I’ve done my research and stuff, but I’m like, “I got to somehow get myself into Willis’s shoes.” I went to Goodwill and bought old waiter gear, and I used to be a waiter at a Chinese restaurant, and I wore those same shoes. I’m like, “Man, I feel like shit wearing this. I do not feel sexy at all. My self-esteem is boom, down,” which is great because that’s how Willis starts.
Do you feel you had any obstacles to overcome in breaking out from the box you might have had to break out of as a stand-up comedian?
For sure. I think any of us in this industry, doing anything creative, your job, my job, you have to overcome so many physical barriers or people’s beliefs of you. I didn’t go to a fancy acting school. I didn’t come from an acting family. But at the end of the day, I think the biggest obstacle, especially for an Asian American, is the self-belief of it. … You’ve been put in this box by society, by your family, my dad telling me, “This is not possible.” Me not seeing my own representation when I was growing up. To almost have an ignorant and blind belief that I could do this, that was, in a way, my own insecurity, was the biggest obstacle. I write down lofty goals. I write down small goals, big goals, but it’s the day-to-day, the step-by-step growth of it all. … A lot of times I think our biggest enemies, the biggest obstacle, is ourselves and the insecurities that’s instilled in us from whoever. Whether it’s society, family, friends, past experiences. Once you subvert that, now it’s, for me, about subverting my own limitations. People tell me I can’t do this, I’m going to go do it. I get a lot of joy out of that.
You used to upload cooking videos on YouTube. What made you start doing that? It seems you have a genuine passion for cooking and food.
It’s a passion that was cultivated in my childhood. Growing up in Hong Kong, everyone was a foodie and my parents cooked every night, especially my dad. He was very foodie and very critical of cuisines. He’s almost like a Michelin Star critic. I always loved it and that’s how we connected. We made wontons together, we made salads together, we made jello together growing up. I think a lot of families can relate to that. Then as I got older, I never fully learned how to cook. I just know what I liked, but I didn’t know how to cook. During the pandemic, I actually had the opportunity to try to make so many different cuisines because I couldn’t just go outside and get my favorite meatball or enchiladas or Thai food, so I had to fend for myself. I got all the ingredients and started experimenting, and it became so fun.
People really responded. Even now people I see on the street come up to me, instead of saying Crazy Rich Asians or Space Force or whatever, they’re like, “Yo, I love your cooking videos, man. You got me and my wife cooking and you gave us the encouragement because you’re not a professional cook.” That really made me happy.
Once again, it’s like subverting expectations. You didn’t think a comedian/actor would be the reason why it motivated you into cooking some easy dishes. I’m still very fond of that show. This is actually very serendipitous. I was at The Improv doing a show and our camera guy, Tommy Valko, from Interior Chinatown, one of the best in the business showed up. He was like, “Dude, I am such a YouTube consumer and foodie also. Let’s shoot it. Let’s shoot it again.” I was like, “Yeah, yeah, but I don’t know. Yeah, but if you want to get a crew together,” and we got a crew together and we shot it. … There’s a new version of Jimmy’s Kitchen that is shot by the guy that shoots Taika Waititi movies, and it’s so freaking awesome. We actually have a little pilot episode that we’re trying to figure out [what to do with]. I can’t wait for you guys to see this new version. It’s a combination of almost like a sketch comedy and Jimmy’s Kitchen, and it’s shot so nicely and it’s so fun.
It seems like you want to try new things as they come to you, but is there something you’re dying to try that you haven’t gotten to yet?
You know, I used to do this thing where I put it on the universe. Now, I think I’m in a different phase where I want things to come to me. I think it’s whatever is interesting. Like me seeing Tommy at The Improv and then we are redoing the Jimmy’s Kitchen, or I’m doing this upcoming movie in Vancouver. I’m about to go up there. It’s me, Benedict Wong and Kelly Marie Tran, and it’s a horror movie. I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s a very specific, almost different story within a story with me and Benny. I’m super excited about that. When I read the script, I called Benny, I’m like, “Please do this with me. This will be so fun.”
I’m really open, and I think in a way it was a very poetic, serendipitous, whatever you want to call it that I have played all these roles. I’ve played the tech guy on Silicon Valley. I have played a scientist on Space Force, rom-com guy and different characters. As you see more episodes of Interior Chinatown, in a way, I get to play each one of those people again through Willis because he’s getting these roles from being a background actor to now graduate in a different role.
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