Randall Park has said it is “easy” for Asian actors to “evade blatantly stereotypical roles”
In a Gulf News interview, Randall Park discussed surviving Hollywood as an Asian.
Firstly, Park said being an actor is tough for everyone, irrespective of their race,
“I think this industry is a tough one for anybody,” Park said.Not just people of colour. Being an actor is a career with no real road map. Everyone’s journey is different and that makes it really tough to know if you’re on the right path. But for me, it’s what I wanted to do.”
Whilst Park knew opportunities were limited for Asians in the film industry, he still pursued his dream.
“And even when I knew that there weren’t as many opportunities for an Asian-American actor in this industry, I was still willing to go for it, because again, it was my passion,” he said.
“In that regard, I’m glad I stuck it through, because it’s now a really exciting time — the opportunities are starting to open up and it’s pretty cool to know that I played a small part in that change,” he added.
When asked if it was easy for Asian actors to avoid stereotypical roles, Park said it was “pretty easy”.
“For an actor, it’s easy to evade blatantly stereotypical roles,” the Fresh Off The Boat star said.“The hard part is evading roles [which] are not as clear cut — roles that are borderline stereotypical, side characters that are one-note.”
“It’s especially tough when you’re a struggling actor, looking for a big break, or at the very least, a job to pay your rent,” he continued.“I know in my journey there were jobs that I look back on and probably wouldn’t have taken in retrospect. But you live and you learn. And I’m glad it all got me to where I am right now.”
The Korean American actor said he wants to “keep having fun” in acting.
“That’s pretty much it. And for me, having fun means working with people I love and trying new things. I loved the writing and producing aspects of working on this film [Always Be My Maybe]. So that’s something I’d like to build on.”
“I also want to keep acting in roles that I wouldn’t have been considered for otherwise. For example, nobody thought I would ever be the lead in a romcom until we made this movie. Maybe for the next one, I can be an action star. Or maybe I’ll do something dramatic for once. I don’t know, just something different.”
In other news, Park recently discussed ‘punching’ Keanu Reeves in Always Be My Maybe
Always Be My Maybe starring Park and Ali Wong is currently streaming on Netflix.
