Nico Santos

“My mom is definitely crazy. She would totally be a stage mom if I was a child actor.”

“I want to show people out there that there's such a huge spectrum of people within the queer and Asian community.”

“Superstore' is, like, my fifth acting job.”

“First of all, Asian representation hardly exists to begin with.”

“Within the Filipino community, everybody knows somebody who's undocumented.”

“Generally I try to be as healthy as possible, but it's hard to be on set because anything and everything is available to you. I'm healthy half the time, and half the time I'm like, 'Sure let me go back and see whatever snack they have laid out.'”

“Superstore' is the most amazing work environment ever. Every single person on set is someone you'd call a friend. We have the best crew, as well, and we all hang out even when we're not working. We push each other to be better, and we bring it out of one another. I have learned and grown so much.”

“It's really mind-boggling to me when I think about where I started and where I am now. It's kind of insane.”

“I didn't want to do Chekhov or Shakespeare. So I switched my major from acting to costume design. Eventually, I got a job working as a wardrobe assistant for a theater company. I would dress the actors, fix their costumes, do the quick changes for them and all that stuff.”

“When I moved to L.A., I had no intention of really pursuing acting. I wanted to focus on stand-up. It's crazy to me that my acting career took off much faster than my stand-up career.”

“We must work to change in our hearts and minds what it looks like to be undocumented. It is the high schooler dreaming of college who isn't aware of his status. It is the single mother working grueling hours in a warehouse just to provide for her children. It is the family that sits next to you in church. It is your neighbor.”

“It wasn't until I worked on 'Crazy Rich Asians' that I all of a sudden have this Asian crew of friends that I became super close with.”

“My family always believed in me, even when I didn't. Having that love and support made me not afraid of failing. I knew my mom would be proud of me just for taking a chance and pursuing my dream.”

“I came out to one or two people in high school and then it wasn't until I was a freshman in college that I was fully out of the closet. It was like the late '90s.”

“I don't think people should be afraid of portraying people with accents, especially Asian accents.”

“I lost my accent pretty quickly, so everyone assumes I was born and raised in America. But I'm very much still in touch with my Filipino roots. That will never go away.”

“My dad was undocumented for a period of time, my mom was also undocumented for a period of time.”

“I had a rough start when I moved to L.A. I couldn't find a job, so I couch-surfed for the first two years.”

“I never thought in a million years I'd be involved in a project that celebrated the fullness of my identity of being queer and Asian.”

“I think any immigrant who comes to this country also knows somebody who is undocumented.”