Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" A lot of times, people think of Asian culture as some mythical world instead of modern people with modern occupations with modern problems, modern tools. Like, we're not all just talking Taoism and kung fu - some people are just trying to get over their breakup with their boyfriend, and they're Facebook-stalking. "

Related Quotes:

" Specificity is what makes good storytelling, and good storytelling is what makes money, and making money is then what encourages new producers to invest in different stories about Asians. "

Constance Wu

Making Money

Storytelling

Good

" People are embracing the thing that made them different growing up instead of letting that thing elicit shame. "

Constance Wu

Growing Up

Shame

" If somebody judges me, then they're not my people, and that's all right. "

Constance Wu

Somebody

Judges

" If you watch any show that stars white people, white people aren't coming up to them like, 'Thank you for showing my face on the big screen.' Because they see their faces in popular culture all the time. "

" All the networks have always been willing to have ethnic people as the third or fourth lead or the best friend to the white person. But to actually let a black family or an Asian family carry a show, that's something where there hasn't really been a precedent set in terms of a real financial gain. "

" I do think there are some actors that can get away with trying to be funny, and they're still funny because they're just likeable, and you want to see them. Me, though, when you see me trying to be funny, it's like the worst thing in the world. It's needy, it's cloying, it's manipulative - it's bad. "

" My family is Chinese-Taiwanese. I'm from Richmond, Virginia. The community in which I grew up was pretty white. The storybooks you got at school featured white children and an animal, or animals, and as you got older, the novels you were assigned were about, like, the problems of white boys and their dogs. "

" When I was a 12-year-old middle-schooler in Richmond, Virginia, my local newspaper published an op-ed that I wrote all by myself. "

" Being an actor, in and of itself, is just hard. You have to just do it for its own sake. "

" Usually, I'll be auditioning for the third lead, and there will be Latina actresses, Indian actresses, African American actresses because it will be like, 'Let's check off this box. We have our lead white girl, and we need an ethnic slot.' "

" I feel like I could carry a movie or a show, and I'll mess up here and there, and I'll learn from those things. "

" My parents did not pay a cent for my education; they didn't give me a car or furniture - I did that 100% on my own. I had to pay back a lot. "

Constance Wu

Parents

Car

" At one point, I quit acting for a little bit to study psycholinguistics - somewhat a more practical career. It just didn't feel right. "

" You're never going to please everyone, and if you do, there's something wrong. "

" I don't have the best family life. I'm not going to have a sob story and be like, my parents abandoned me, because they didn't. But they also are not that present. When I'm alone, I'm alone. I don't have anybody to call, and so I have to create meaning from myself. "

" The more you know about somebody's back story, the deeper you can delve into that well, and the more your comedic choices resonate full-body instead of just being quick, quippy one-liners that are just like a bunch of people trying to be clever. Because after a while, cleverness is just really obnoxious! "

" People's passion and desire for authenticity is strong. "

" I'm not a naturally social-media inclined person. I still prefer phone calls to texts/emails. I... hate texts. "

" The one dream I have is to do a musical. I love singing, but most people don't know because I don't sell myself as a musical person. My dream is to play Audrey in 'Little Shop of Horrors' - it would be so interesting to have an Asian Audrey because it's all about achieving the American dream in a sinister, success-driven way. "

" There were so few Asians on-screen when I grew up, and the ones who were on-screen weren't given complex characters to play. "

Constance Wu

Asians

Play

" It's my privilege to be able to play somebody not myself. I'm an actor who creates characters based in voice, movement, emotional quality, speech. "

" Make sure your work is never results-oriented. The result is a byproduct of the work, in a way. "

" I am definitely trying not to take films that are mostly about dude problems, not because I don't think they're worthy problems, but there are a lot of people who will take those. "

" Authentic programming that shows the outside world garners authentic interest. "

" Working on 'Fresh Off the Boat' has been really enlightening to me because it's made me actually think about the roles that Asians and Asian-American women have played in media. Not because I didn't think it was important before, but because before, I was really focused on just paying my rent. "

" Public service is about serving all the people, including the ones who are not like you. "

" I'd rather lose all my stuff than lose myself, because I've done that before, and that feels way worse. "

" I don't aspire to just play things that are like me. Whether the accent is Taiwanese or British or Canadian - that is the very craft in which I was trained. It is my absolute privilege and honor to do that. "

Constance Wu

Honor

Privilege

" I'm okay with not having a super-secure lifestyle because if you're doing what you like, you don't need stuff to fill any empty holes. "

" I wish reporters were more in tune to the difference between the Asian experience and the Asian-American experience. I think often they lump the two together and think that when I talk about Asian-American narratives that they can cite 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' or 'Mulan' as proof of concept when it's a different experience. "