Yeun, who will be 35 in December, was born in Seoul but grew up in Michigan.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You were born in Seoul and grew up here in the U.S. And so, yeah, it opened my eyes to that.
I think that’s a good question.
It gave me a respect and a reverence for cultures in general.
But I’ll be honest with you: I don’t know if I had a very Korean experience.
I had a Korean experience in so much as that the parameters are Korean.
You’re speaking Korean, you’re eating Korean food.
It just felt like I was on that auteur’s set.
It felt like that when I did stuff with [Boots Riley, who directedSorry to Bother You].
Or we are at least left with a lot of questions about him.
I identified in that way.
Also, I really identified with this overarching sense of loneliness that character really seems to inhabit.
God knows that it’s so hard to be present.
Ben just lives and breathes in each moment and observes.
And while he’s doing that, he realizes nobody else is alone for the ride with him.
And I think over time that can’t be very healthy.
I guess, like a general outlook, a base from which he’s always thinking from.
It was fun to build a character from that place.
How much can we believe what we hear in this film?
People seem to call it ambiguous, and I don’t disagree.
Life is ambiguous too.
We think we know it, and then we don’t know.
I remember watching it and just feeling this inexplicable sense of loneliness that made me feel okay.
It made me feel calm, because I was like, “Oh, everybody’s lonely.”
you’re free to dig into toxic masculinity.
you’re able to into so many layers of things that he’s talking about.
I am in awe of this director.
I had a pretty wonderful experience with him.
And so, you could’t help but talk about these differences.
But then sometimes the other side of the coin of talking about these differences is that it loses humanity.
You lose a sense of humanity in the other.
And so, as an Asian-American, I think we’ve taken a lot of strides.
Earlier on, there were actors like Hayakawa, who had to constantly represent his culture.
He had to be Japanese through and through all the time.
In the beginning, the first couple episodes, Glenn was human, but he was also very expected.
There’s a reason why the first costume designer had me wear Short Round clothes, you know?
Here’s a Japanese flag that we want you to wear."
And in my head, I’m like, “Why would I choose that?”
Icouldchoose that, but whywouldI choose that?
And it’s just that throw in of pervasive starting point.
He’s not the main guy, but he’s like really good dude.
You go, “You know who’s dependable?”
And what color fits in what category?"
Instead, we’re gonna go, “You know what?
You know who can play this guy?
You know who can play this side character really well?
I think an Asian dude could do that, and that’s where we can get diversity covered.”
And so, that’s the place where we’re at right now.
And I see things changing.
I think I see things moving forward.
We’re getting to see them so much themselves.
Michael B. Jordan is Michael B. Jordan.
Donald Glover is Donald Glover, you know?
So we have to take steps and we’re processing.
So for me, that’s where my head space is.
I’m respecting the process of things.
We gotta have our Asian-American.
We gotta have our black person.
We gotta have our LGBTQ character."
And that’s the thing.
You’re a human being.
You don’t represent white.
You’re just a human being.
I’m a human being when you meet me.
I don’t just represent Asian.
If someone were to venture to describe me, you have to throw Asian in there.
And that’s totally fine.
That is what it is, but that also is the pervading thought.
And then that comes with all these different presuppositions or stereotypes that people have.
We just gotta get past that, and that’s just progress and process.
But I’m hopefully trying to do my part by trying to hop ahead if I can.
What’s it like for you in that respect?
I think where I might be calculating if at all, is just when I say, no.
When I say, yes, there’s no calculation going on.
I just go, “Oh, my God, I got one.
I’ll do it.”
I want to work.
I’m waiting to work, but I want to connect with the piece.
I want to connect with the story.
I want to feel like I can really thrive in that arena.
They don’t know me.
They just know what they’ve seen.
And with that, you sometimes get things that are not that deep.
I end up being offered things where the idea is larger than the human.
I just can’t do that."
Those are strides that I’m making.
But I will say that I also love collaboration.
Let’s see something.
Let’s have a go at create something meaningful to us."
And when you have that, that’s when it feels magical.
And that’s what I’m looking for too.
I don’t want to just speak from my point of view.
I certainly couldn’t have madeBurning, but I’m grateful that I’m inBurning.
And so, it is nice to have your own point of view and your own voice out there.
That’s very important.
Does the thought of long-term episodic television appeal to you at all anymore?
Could you handle that again, because that’s quite a commitment?Never say never.
In hindsight now, I think about like, Wow, I really internalized Glen.
And then you realize, “I’m also these other things.”
I want to experience so many different things and lives as possible.
That can only make you hopefully more wise, or deeper, or understanding, empathetic.
But I also have kids, so I gotta work.
It’s now been a few years since you leftThe Walking Dead.
I don’t know if I did that actively outside, but there’s that.
I think I became a little less fearful.
You determine what happens next.
These are choices you make."
I thought it was, but it wasn’t that.
You have to make the decisions.
To be angry is a choice.
To be sad is sometimes not a choice, but sometimes it is.
Someone’s gonna depend on me?
I don’t know anything."
And then you just gotta show up.
So what do you do in the face of that?
Do you cower and give up, or do you just go, “Well, f it.
Let’s go then”?
So that’s been really valuable for me.
