Quotes from John Cho

You're trying to grow up, and you don't want to be like your parents, and that gets mixed up with being Korean... They brought their values from Korea, and I accepted them because I didn't know anything more. But as I grow older, I feel more Korean every year; it's very strange.

Our species likes being social.

Asian American men, Asian men have been basically eunuchs in American cinema and television.

I am a little curmudgeonly about new media.

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.

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.

What was exciting to me in talking to Kogonada was I was just very convinced that he was a very real and pure artist. He was so uninterested in the commercial game.

Whenever I'm on my way to a premiere or something, I always have a good laugh in the car... because it's all so absurd - I'm one generation removed from starvation.

I try to take roles that don't fall within the parameters of any Asian stereotype.

The goal of Asians in the arts is plurality of roles. I've always been hindered by me over-thinking what is a stereotype and what isn't.

I've had an unusual career in that I've never had a big break, but the rent always seemed to get paid.

For a while, I was feeling like I was always playing characters that weren't specifically Korean or specifically Asian, even - that they were characters who were originally written white, and then they would cast me. And I used to consider that a badge of honor because that meant I had avoided stereotypes.

Because I sidestepped all the stereotypical roles, in a way I've made a career out of not being Asian - a lot of my roles weren't written as Asian - so there's an impulse in me that wants to take a U-turn and play a very grounded, real Asian character, maybe an immigrant.

There was a while where every role I was getting offered was extremely noble - like the judge or the kindly nurse.

One of the things I like about comedy in general is that it affords Asian Americans the opportunity to not be noble.

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.

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'm not an activist, I'm an actor. I don't want to be an activist.

I didn't think it was possible for Asians to be actors.

I feel like there's this need that the Asian-American community has to feel like people. It's something that Asians in Asia do not understand about us.

I don't like when an Asian-American actor says, 'I'm entering this business to change Hollywood.' It feels like the wrong reason - I would prefer they entered the business for artistic reasons, because they need to do it.

I need my comedy to offend. That's my personal views.

I've played roles that aren't expected of an Asian.

I think the ability to emphasize is, in large part, what makes me a man and not a boy.