Tamlyn Tomita

“I've been really lucky and been able to live a gypsy life for a long time.”

“Film and television are major vehicles for American storytelling, and America is the biggest exporter and influencer in the world in terms of telling stories.”

“I just tell young people to find their way. Keep your eyes open. Keep your ears open and keep your heart open.”

“Asian males have not been appreciated for what they are. They have always been dissed for what they are not.”

“You can't escape 'Star Trek' influence, especially characters you literally grew up with.”

“We have to look beyond what we see as the typical, the 'normal package,' and just see people as who they are. We all have to learn and get along a little better in society.”

“As a community, as a group of people as a society, Asian Americans have not always been visible, but we've always been present.”

“JACL has always been at the very forefront of making sure citizens' civil rights remain intact. They fight wholeheartedly against discrimination, prejudice and racial bias and they always provide a calm voice during turbulent times.”

“I think that the story of mothers and daughters is so universal.”

“If I am more fortunate than others I need to build a longer table not a taller fence.”

“Not everybody's journey is easy, and it wouldn't be worthwhile if you can't see what you gained without realizing what kind of battles you've been through, what kind of scars you have.”

“We are all woven of different colored threads and strengths and colors. We are all a part of something bigger, a very special part of something that continues to evolve. A more perfect union.”

“I did not want to become an actor.”

“I didn't want to be trapped in an idea of replicating other 'Star Trek' characters; especially Vulcans. But my love and I have Spock paraphernalia all over our house. He's an omnipresence in our lives, we adore him.”

“We have to support everyone so their stories don't get 'invisibilized.' We don't necessarily have to repopulate the next Marvel movie with people of color, but it's just about saying 'We have hearts, we have souls, we have minds, we have faults, we have flaws, and we're super-freaking interesting.'”

“Our old stories happen to be your new stories. The stories that you're seeing as immigrant stories are your grandparents' stories, are your great-grandparents' stories. You just happen to be separated from them a little bit.”

“When I went in for 'The Good Doctor,' I had just been released from 'Berlin Station.' And when I got the initial role for the 'Good Doctor' pilot, her name was Allegra Abe. That was the script.”

“My father's grandfather was in Heart Mountain.”

“I think that is what all ethnic actors aspire to - to just play a woman who falls in love, or works as a clerk, or whatever - and then, if you want to, to have that luxury to bring in the cultural heritage.”

“The only reason I even learned Japanese was to figure out what my parents were getting me for Christmas.”