Jimmy O. Yang

“When you are in America, at least for me, as an immigrant, I try to be as Americanized as I could. I just want to be an actor, I don't just want to be an Asian actor necessarily.”

“My mom worked as a manager at a high-end fashion place, so she was always a pretty stylish woman.”

“Comedy and drama are like two different sports; they both require athleticism but they're different.”

“I know Asian actors out there won't even audition for a role that have an accent. But for me, I was the kid with an accent. I still have an accent to some degree.”

“Maybe my job on this planet is to make the Asian accent sexy.”

“Nate Dogg is my favorite artist. I cried more when he passed than when Michael Jackson did.”

“When you're 1 out of 5 Asian people on TV, all the pressure is on you and you have to represent.”

“I went back to Hong Kong for the first time in 17 years and I was culture shocked in Hong Kong.”

“Look, to be honest, when certain movies like 'Ninja Assassin' came out, that had a sexy, sexy Asian man with a six-pack, that made some people think, 'Maybe I should go out there and date an Asian dude.' And that did pretty good for us in a way of representation.”

“If you want to do standup, you have to go on stage. That's the only way to get good - stage times.”

“I have some scripts, I'm putting a couple of projects together with people I want to work with. I think that's the most exciting part, when you can hopefully create your own content and find the people that you love that you get to work with.”

“My job is to go into that audition and be good enough of an Asian actor - or an actor in general - to land that role so they don't have to go out and hire a white guy. My job is to make sure I capitalize on these opportunities that other people created.”

“I went to school for economics, and especially in Asian culture it's not really a viable job for my family to be an artist.”

“It's a fine line between hack and good comedy.”

“Usually when you're Asian and you're on set, you're the only Asian there. Either you're the token Asian or you're the Asian sidekick.”

“I always have to brace myself when I visit my parents. My mom often greets me with a slew of nonconstructive criticisms: 'Jimmy, why is your face so fat? Your clothes look homeless and your long hair makes you look like a girl.' After 30 years of this, my self-image is now a fat homeless lesbian.”

“My Chinese name is Man Shing which means 'ten thousand success.' It's a name that's sure to set me up for failure.”

“But I try to play everything very authentically, even if it is an accented immigrant, Jian Yang, that I play on 'Silicon Valley.'”

“For once in my life, I wanted to flaunt my Asian side instead of hiding it to fit as somebody else... 'Crazy Rich Asians' made me want to get in touch with my roots, instead of running away from them.”

“Silicon Valley,' I mean, the comedy is amazing, and it's one of the best-written shows with some of the best talent. I'm really happy to be a part of it.”