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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Constance Wu

People

Culture

Time

" 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. "

" If the writing is good, then the writing is already funny. All you have to do is make this funny writing true to the very deepest of your heart, and the fact that you are capable of making this true will be hysterical. "

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

" My first Asian role model was Michelle Kwan. Her beauty comes from within. She's also really beautiful on the outside. But when I first saw her ice-skate, her performance was so moving and beautiful that she just glowed. "

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

" 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. "

" 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

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I'm constantly paranoid that I'll be unemployed for the rest of my life... and have to go back folding shirts at the Gap, which you know... you gotta do what you gotta do. "

" Listening to an underserved population is how you begin to understand them and serve them better. "

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

" 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 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. "

" 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. "

" In terms of pure acting, my role model has always been Philip Seymour Hoffman; I really always loved what he did. I love what Mark Ruffalo does. When I was younger, I liked Cate Blanchett a lot. These are all actors who are given stories and allowed to carry the whole story. "

" If the expression of and advocating for your values makes you lose a job or a person, then that person/job sorta just... wasn't your heart's tribe. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

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

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

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

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

Constance Wu

Growing Up

Shame

" 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. "

" 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! "

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

" 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. "