A biography for John Chohasn’t been written yet.
“I've been called a funny person for a long time. I don't know that I know anything about comedic acting.”
“As an immigrant, I learned by watching other people.”
“When you're not born in this country, you kind of study how people talk and how they act, and you try and break things down.”
“Sometimes I feel indie directors are in the game so they can make a film to get hired to do a big film - that we're all doing this person's reel.”
“Movies may be as close to a document of our national culture as there is; they're supposed to represent what we believe ourselves to be. So when you don't see yourself at all - or see yourself erased - that hurts.”
“I've found it to be true that sometimes a stranger can give you advice that stays with you, utter truths the closest people in your life have trouble saying.”
“The scariest thing is to go into a new situation for myself, and yet I have a job where I do that every few months, meet a hundred new people, and then have to perform in a very highly pressurized environment.”
“Part of my mission as an actor has been to define what an American is.”
“I have a few go-to moves like jazz hands, shake the booty, stupid eyes. It was once a mating ritual, but now it's all about looking silly and making the kids smile.”
“I've never even seen a Cheech and Chong movie.”
“I write, and I sing, and I play a little guitar. I mean, it's tiny. Ba-dump-bum!”
“That's what it is: a 'Harold & Kumar' movie is a romance between two best friends.”
“What's impressed me about 'Star Trek' fans is how many generations they span and how many nations they represent. They are all over the place.”
“With 'The Exorcist,' a lot of things went into it. I hadn't seen the show until they asked me, and then I checked the show out and thought it was very well done.”
“I don't know what the next frontier is, but good comedy should put its toe into taboo waters. You have to transgress a little bit, and that area shifts with culture and with the year.”
“I got sort of sick of seeing Asians being the blank, bland real estate agent or something. I didn't care. It didn't mean anything to me.”
“It just seemed hedonistic when I first started acting. It was a pleasurable thing. But as I look back on it now, I understand that it was a journey of the self for me.”
“Actors are supposed to be these runaways that get in a covered wagon filled with hats and tambourines and go from town to town making people smile.”
“I have this nightmare that one day I will have to look at every picture I've ever taken with people in an airport or in bars or restaurants, and it will make me very sad.”
“I didn't think it was possible for Asians to be actors.”