Quotes from Hong Chau

I love films that aren't just speaking to certain moments in the culture but are something that people can revisit.

I don't want anyone to think I took this role in 'Downsizing' because it was the only role available to me. I'm not a passive participant in it.

My parents are Vietnamese refugees; they left Vietnam after the war. They were part of the boat people, and they ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand after being on the water for three days, and I was born at that refugee camp in Thailand.

Growing up the way I did, being an actor in Hollywood was definitely never a plausible career choice at all.

I really want to work on characters that have a lot of complexity and you don't always get that in comic book movies because they're not character explorations. I have nothing against movies like that, but I do see them as kind of like a cheeseburger.

In life, we are all more than one thing, but for some reason in movies, you're either this or that. It reduces the complexity of a human being in so many ways.

We are surrounded by people with accents because America is a nation of immigrants. Beyond that, the people who made your iPhone and the shirt on your back are probably Asians, and we're really not that disconnected from each other; we have very intimate relationships with the world, whether or not we realize it.

I appreciate people who sway to the beat of their own tambourine, like Iris Apfel and Helena Bonham Carter.

Giving people the opportunity to sit in a dark theater together and have emotions in public, whether they're laughing or crying - that's what makes me happy.

I don't have any special skills or any hidden talents. I don't.

I never like to sit and discuss my character, the other character, our relationship, or anything like that. I feel like if I did my job and I trust that the other person has done theirs, you just go on set, play around with it, chew the scene for a little bit; then we roll, and that's it.

With 'Downsizing,' a lot of the discussion hasn't been about the film itself, but about cultural and political conversations happening outside of it. It's being digested in the context of the time.

My first job out of college was at PBS as an administrative assistant. I thought I would be on the production side of things.

I love Chicago for several reasons, but one of the best is that I was so intrigued that you have wild rabbits running around in the city. I never had seen bunnies in such a large urban environment before.

It's nice to have a quiet movie to give you time to meditate on an idea. A lot of movies don't give you the space to feel anything.

I think that a lot of actors of color have said that it's a wonderful thing to play a role that doesn't have a race and that is kind of open to any sort of interpretation. I completely understand that, but at the same time, I just want Asian characters that are well-written.

I did a regional car commercial and an internet potato chip commercial. I was seriously thinking I needed to quit and get a serious job where I can feed myself and it doesn't kill my soul.

For me, I do my best work when I feel completely relaxed and not being judged.

For a good part of my childhood, we were super poor and lived in government housing. I don't characterize the American dream as being successful and having a lot of material wealth to show for it. I did fine without it for a really long time.

I grew out of the habit of thinking or worrying about being seen as the typical Asian. I don't even know what that means anymore. I'm not really concerned with it.

In Hollywood, there's not a ton of roles for Asian people. So a lot of it is waiting and waiting and waiting.

I'm really into ghost towns. I've driven cross-country the past few summers, and I would stop at some ghost towns along the way. They're like a microcosm of America as a whole.

I like to be very simple in my lifestyle. My only extravagance is... I buy lots of toys and meats for my dog.

On 'Downsizing,' I had a trailer, and I got to bring my dog to work, and I thought, 'I've made it: I'm bringing my dog to work.'