Ke Huy Quan Reveals He Initially Passed on ‘American Born Chinese’ Role: ‘It Scared the Hell Out of Me’
variety.comMichaela Zee editor Hollywood has had considerable feats of Asian representation this year: “Everything Everywhere All at Once’s” historic Oscar wins, Netflix’s “Beef” and, on May 24, “American Born Chinese.” However, despite the nuanced portrayal of the Asian American identity within the phantasmagorical world of Chinese mythology, Ke Huy Quan was hesitant about joining the series’ Asian-led ensemble. “I remember when I first heard about this character when I was offered the role, it scared the hell out of me.
In fact, I actually passed on it because I told our creative team that this is the type of portrayal that we do not want to see in 2023,” Quan said during a post-screening Q&A at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday night.
Quan plays Freddy Wong, a gawky fictional character from the ‘90s sitcom “Beyond Repair” who embodies several stereotypical Asian tropes. “After having a creative conversation with them and knowing that, in later episodes, you will get to meet the actor who plays Freddy Wong and understand the struggles that he went through — and also what it means to have this type of stereotypical portrayal of Asians, and what is does to a normal kid like Jin Wang (Ben Wang) — to his own identity, to his own values and his sense of worth — I just thought it was interesting,” he continued. “I guess, in a lot of ways, they chose me because it’s like art imitating life.” Based on Gene Luen Yang’s 2006 graphic novel of the same name, “American Born Chinese” follows average teenager Jin Wang, who becomes entangled in a battle between Chinese mythological gods when he befriends new student Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu).
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