Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to I've never said this before with
Speaker 1: me Tommy di Dario. Today's guest is the brilliantly talented
Speaker 1: and may I add, quite a badass, Karen Fukuhara. Now Karen,
Speaker 1: of course, stars in Amazon's Emmy nominated series The Boys,
Speaker 1: which is well taking the world over by storm. The
Speaker 1: finale of season four recently dropped. And get this, the
Speaker 1: fourth season has had over fifty five million viewers and
Speaker 1: counting since it premiered a few weeks ago. So if
Speaker 1: you have not had the immense pleasure of watching The
Speaker 1: Boys yet, the short version is that it's about a
Speaker 1: group of vigilantes set out to take down corrupt superheroes
Speaker 1: who abuse their superpowers. Karen plays Camiko and is the
Speaker 1: show's only woman of vigilante. Considered well one of the boys,
Speaker 1: her character is so damn cool. She has regenerative abilities
Speaker 1: and superhuman strength, and simply put, she helps take down
Speaker 1: the bad guys. She communicates through sign language and has
Speaker 1: a journey that, oh quite often brings me to tears. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to make it very clear that this episode
Speaker 1: has loads of spoilers in it, So if you're not
Speaker 1: caught up with the series. You may want to save
Speaker 1: this conversation for another day, but make sure you come back.
Speaker 1: It's really good. So let's see if today we can
Speaker 1: get Karen to say something that she has never said before. Karen,
Speaker 1: how are you, my friend? It is so good to
Speaker 1: see you.
Speaker 2: Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Well, I have to tell you have been one of
Speaker 1: the most requested guests to come on my show. Like,
Speaker 1: people have been tweeting me and dming writing and yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not even kidding, They're like, you need to get
Speaker 1: her on, Like what is wrong with you? So here
Speaker 1: we are.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, I can't believe that.
Speaker 3: That's mind blowing, awesome, awesome, I'm really happy to be
Speaker 3: chatting with you. Oh.
Speaker 1: Likewise, likewise, clearly your role on The Boys means so
Speaker 1: much to so many people. And I mean, I have
Speaker 1: to tell you you're one of my favorite characters. Of course,
Speaker 1: you know Kimiko is so powerful. Of course she's mute,
Speaker 1: but you play her in all of these beautiful nonverbal ways,
Speaker 1: the expressions, the slight eye movements. I mean, I'm not
Speaker 1: kidding you, like I'm going to give you my bill
Speaker 1: for Kleenex because you bring me to two multiple times
Speaker 1: throughout the course of watching the show. So I guess
Speaker 1: my first question is did you have any fears stepping
Speaker 1: into a role that was so heavily nonverbal, because that's
Speaker 1: a very different role for you.
Speaker 3: That is the kindest opening.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I love playing this character so so much.
Speaker 3: I think in the beginning, when I first got the
Speaker 3: email for my audition, I was a little confused because,
Speaker 3: you know, the sides only consisted of me doing reading
Speaker 3: the stage directions or acting out.
Speaker 2: For the stage direction.
Speaker 3: Then obviously there was no real dialogue from my end,
Speaker 3: and my character was also not in the pilot episode,
Speaker 3: so it was really confused. But I got to working
Speaker 3: on it after reading that Beth Rogen's name was attached
Speaker 3: to it, I knew that it would be a good
Speaker 3: project and that it would be done well, and that
Speaker 3: it'd be hilarious. So yeah, I kind of had I
Speaker 3: kind of trusted the project itself, and then luckily got
Speaker 3: through the auditioning process and was chosen. But honestly, like
Speaker 3: really confused in the beginning. I think anyone would be,
Speaker 3: you know, playing a mute character. It doesn't come across
Speaker 3: your desk often.
Speaker 1: Were you hoping that eventually the character would become verbal, Like,
Speaker 1: was that a big thing for you in the initial
Speaker 1: stages of reading for this role and going out for it.
Speaker 3: Definitely was a big question throughout and at the top
Speaker 3: of my mind, especially when the theories started in season one.
Speaker 3: She doesn't speak at all, not even sign language, and yeah,
Speaker 3: I think I had a conversation with Kripkey about it,
Speaker 3: but we weren't sure what direction he was going to
Speaker 3: take it in. Yeah, I had no idea. In the
Speaker 3: original comic books, she really never speaks until the very
Speaker 3: very end, and so I knew that it would be
Speaker 3: like would have not happened. There was a high chance
Speaker 3: that she would have never spoken in our version of
Speaker 3: the show, and I was okay with that though, especially
Speaker 3: after season two, when sign language was introduced and she
Speaker 3: is building this connection with Frendsheet and also revisiting her past,
Speaker 3: I quickly realized that sign language is a language and
Speaker 3: those words can be powerful although not verbal.
Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because being someone who of course
Speaker 1: is verbal and is able to speak, and I imagine,
Speaker 1: like for me, I'm an Italian from New Jersey that
Speaker 1: never shuts up, So I feel like I would accidentally
Speaker 1: be speaking when I'm not supposed to, Like did you
Speaker 1: have moments for you let out a noise or a
Speaker 1: sound or a word and you were like, oh shit, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: we have to cut.
Speaker 3: Yes, it usually happens when French she is saying a
Speaker 3: funny line because to Mary usually has all of the
Speaker 3: all of the funny moments in our scenes, and he's
Speaker 3: genuinely like one of the funniest people I know and
Speaker 3: so and his delivery is just like comedy gold. So yeah,
Speaker 3: I do find myself laughing in some of the scenes. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's some of my favorite ones. Try to remember in
Speaker 3: the earlier seasons, I couldn't stop laughing at his line
Speaker 3: when he says catness, it's like Ketney's. And he couldn't
Speaker 3: remember it too, because he had never I think he
Speaker 3: had never seen The Hunger Games. And they added that
Speaker 3: catness line at the very last minute on the day,
Speaker 3: and I think it was maybe Krimky who was directing it.
Speaker 3: He said, hey, can you add this line and to
Speaker 3: where it comes up to me and he's like his catness,
Speaker 3: like who is canness? And so he but yeah, it
Speaker 3: was like a really funny moment because he also like
Speaker 3: had no idea for min in Oh. Another one that
Speaker 3: I've loved was he's trying to get in my asshole
Speaker 3: with the termite theme. That was one of my favorites
Speaker 3: of this That's.
Speaker 1: So funny and that made you like slightly break character
Speaker 1: and make a sounder a laugh or something for sure.
Speaker 2: For sure. Luckily it's usually when I'm not on camera.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so season three, you and French, who were
Speaker 1: pretty much inseparable, I mean you were attached at the hip.
Speaker 1: Season four, you know, there was a little rift between
Speaker 1: the two of you, so it was very different for
Speaker 1: the audience to see that. How was that changed for
Speaker 1: you after being so close for so long?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was different, I think. You know, in season
Speaker 3: three we really see them come together, and especially with
Speaker 3: the musical sequence, not just in you know, character, but
Speaker 3: offset as well till where and I got really close
Speaker 3: because we did a ton of rehearsals together to get
Speaker 3: the musical sequence right, and outside of the fact that
Speaker 3: we also hang out just on a normal basis, so
Speaker 3: we got really close and it was sad to shoot
Speaker 3: so many scenes without him this season. You know, the
Speaker 3: farm sequence, we were together, but emotionally, the characters were
Speaker 3: not with one another or you know, tech night that
Speaker 3: whole part. Friend. She was in jail, so a lot
Speaker 3: of time with the other characters, which I appreciated. I
Speaker 3: think Kimiko needed to build some friendships connections with the
Speaker 3: rest of the boys, and so it gave her an
Speaker 3: opportunity to do that.
Speaker 2: But definitely sad. You know, friend, she's my guy.
Speaker 3: So a lot happens then.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it all led up to that insane moment
Speaker 1: at the end where after four season and people finally
Speaker 1: got the profession of you know, love to each other
Speaker 1: and that kiss and then you're ripped away and that's
Speaker 1: when we hear your no and it's like this again,
Speaker 1: Like give me the Kleenex. I can't handle it. That
Speaker 1: moment was so damn powerful for you to be able
Speaker 1: to finally vocalize something. Was that just an incredible moment
Speaker 1: to film?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: It was. I mean I was nervous leading up to it.
Speaker 3: I you know, I spoke with speech therapists. I wanted
Speaker 3: to accurately portray what that moment would be like for
Speaker 3: a real life person. And yeah, I did a ton
Speaker 3: of research and looked up a bunch of videos. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I just wanted to get it right because I feel
Speaker 3: like it was, you know, four seasons of work culminating
Speaker 3: into this moment, and I know how excited the fans
Speaker 3: would be for that first word and yeah, so, and
Speaker 3: leading up to it, I was super nervous. And then
Speaker 3: on the day Kriki gave me some notes and I
Speaker 3: felt good about it. But you also don't really know
Speaker 3: what it's gonna look like in the end, right You
Speaker 3: shoot everything on the day, but you don't know how
Speaker 3: it's gonna come together. I must say it exceeded my expectations,
Speaker 3: and I think it was because of the scenes previous
Speaker 3: to that. You know, the moment where Butcher truly shows
Speaker 3: the rest of the boys what he is and what
Speaker 3: he's become, and the whole Homelander taking over the world sequence, and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then you know Jack and Huey.
Speaker 3: And Annie getting knocked out and getting taken away, and
Speaker 3: then the music, the Nirvana, the song. It just I
Speaker 3: love that song and I've seen people make clips out
Speaker 3: of it where you know, Maddie's character Kate comes up
Speaker 3: to Frenchie and whispers in his ear and like the
Speaker 3: music he's in and then it's so bad ass, it's
Speaker 3: low motion, and then the first word shouts out, Yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm obsessed with it, not because I'm in it, but
Speaker 3: just as like a fan of the show. I think
Speaker 3: it crescendos into like a great cliffhanger beating.
Speaker 1: Up to that scene. Were you like walking around your
Speaker 1: house screaming no a million times, practicing in the mirror
Speaker 1: or was it very minimal? Did you just kind of
Speaker 1: go for it?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: I definitely practiced, but I think I practiced enough, but
Speaker 3: I don't know. Something as gutturals that I kind of
Speaker 3: wanted to feel it more on the day and there
Speaker 3: were some softer versions that I had prepped, and I
Speaker 3: thought that would be like more accurate because she hadn't
Speaker 3: spoken in a really long time and maybe maybe her
Speaker 3: vocal cords are not quite there yet. You know. I
Speaker 3: got really in my head and then Krisky was just like,
Speaker 3: go for it. So thank you Krisky for you made
Speaker 3: me that piece of advice.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I feel like there's so much preparation that you can do,
Speaker 3: but then at times you just need to like let
Speaker 3: it fly.
Speaker 1: Karen, you strike me as an extreme endpath, Is that right?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I would say that, Yeah, are you a fortune teller?
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe I have a cybe career. I could be,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. I just I feel it with
Speaker 1: you when I see your work, when I see you acting,
Speaker 1: especially acting through so much nonverbal communication, even talking to
Speaker 1: you today, I get the feeling that you're so brilliant
Speaker 1: in this role. Well because you're such a gifted artist,
Speaker 1: but also because you really truly can feel and take
Speaker 1: on like other people's emotions and feelings around you, which
Speaker 1: not everybody has that. And sometimes it's a blessing. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it's a curse because you feel all the time. But
Speaker 1: I don't know, I kind of get that vibe with you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you're very spot on. Yeah I cry with all
Speaker 3: emotional movies. In Japan has some great commercials that can
Speaker 3: be really like it pulls that your heart strings. I
Speaker 3: don't know why, but their commercials are great and I
Speaker 3: can just cry off of like a thirty second ad
Speaker 3: for something.
Speaker 2: So, yeah, you're spot on.
Speaker 3: I feel very deeply well, I feel.
Speaker 1: You on that I'm the same exact way. And another
Speaker 1: thing I love about this series is it takes on
Speaker 1: a lot of kind of social and economical and you know,
Speaker 1: pop culture issues, will say political that a lot of
Speaker 1: shows or movies wouldn't take on, and they kind of
Speaker 1: might shy away from because they don't want to go there.
Speaker 1: But the way the show does that is so brilliant.
Speaker 1: Is that part of the allure in doing a show
Speaker 1: like this for you?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 3: I love all the social commentary that my show makes.
Speaker 3: It's kind of amazing because it doesn't poke fun at
Speaker 3: just one political party. It kind of, you know, pokes
Speaker 3: fun at everyone and in a clever way, and you
Speaker 3: get like, I mean, I'm laughing out loud. But even
Speaker 3: for the smaller moments, there's just like little things here
Speaker 3: and there that I smirk at. One of my favorite
Speaker 3: scenes is when Early and it's actually not in this season,
Speaker 3: but in a previous season. It's a scene between Starlight
Speaker 3: and Jesse's character a train and I think I'm paraphrasing,
Speaker 3: but Starlight tells the a train like why don't you
Speaker 3: just leave? Or like why don't you just quit? Why
Speaker 3: become this horrible person when you can do the right thing?
Speaker 3: And he says the only people I'm totally paraphrasing, look
Speaker 3: this up and look the scene up. They do it
Speaker 3: brilliantly he says, the only people that say that are
Speaker 3: people that have grown up with money.
Speaker 2: And I thought that was.
Speaker 3: Such a good like commentary on class really, and sometimes
Speaker 3: people are not in a great plazi to be making
Speaker 3: heroic choices in their life, and you have to be
Speaker 3: empathetic towards that. Although he was evil and a murderer, but.
Speaker 1: You know, minor detail, Yeah.
Speaker 3: Minor detail, minor detail. But you know, even the unlikable
Speaker 3: characters on our show have moments of connection that you
Speaker 3: can make with them. That's what I love.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, that's what's so interesting. It's like you want
Speaker 1: to hate and hate and hate on a character, and
Speaker 1: then suddenly you see a moment where you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm not justifying that, but I could kind of see
Speaker 1: why you that character might think or do something like that,
Speaker 1: even though it's so wrong. So yeah, it's very interesting
Speaker 1: how it really makes you think. It's a very very
Speaker 1: smart show. Season five. Have you seen any scripts yet?
Speaker 3: No, they're writing it right now as we speak, and
Speaker 3: so I have no idea. All of us are, you know,
Speaker 3: eager to find out what happens to all of our characters?
Speaker 3: But no, we haven't. We haven't gotten any clues. I'm
Speaker 3: trying to get clues from the gen V cast, but
Speaker 3: they're tight list as well. And I also kind of
Speaker 3: want to know when the show comes out too. I
Speaker 3: you know, I love watching gen V and kind of
Speaker 3: connecting the dots together between our shows. So yeah, I
Speaker 3: don't want to know too much, but I also want
Speaker 3: to know enough. Yeah, I'm right there with you, honestly.
Speaker 3: Where do they go? Do I need to break friendshee out?
Speaker 2: What's going to happen? Where did Starlight go?
Speaker 3: Like? All good questions?
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, for sure. If there's one thing that
Speaker 1: you would want to see for your character, and I
Speaker 1: know the writers are brilliant and they're going to take
Speaker 1: care of it all, but if you could see one
Speaker 1: thing and you're like, man, I really hope I get
Speaker 1: to play this?
Speaker 4: What is that?
Speaker 2: Ooh?
Speaker 3: I would love to see a Kimiko Homeland or face
Speaker 3: off moment, but also be careful what I wish for,
Speaker 3: because Homelander is very powerful and a face off might
Speaker 3: not be a great idea for Kimiko. But I loved
Speaker 3: Game of Thrones and I thought that the aris Dark
Speaker 3: victory d against the White Walkers was just so like
Speaker 3: unexpected and amazing. I just loved that that moment when
Speaker 3: she she's the one to do it. You know, it's
Speaker 3: very unexpected, and so I don't know. I'm maybe it's
Speaker 3: Kimiko that day, that homelander who knows, or she might
Speaker 3: die in the process, so knock on wood. I really
Speaker 3: don't want that.
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know what, I don't think maybe he's
Speaker 1: gonna die. I don't think she's gonna die. My money
Speaker 1: is on Kimiko, because you know what, Camiko fights smartly.
Speaker 1: It's not just about like the ego move or acting rashly.
Speaker 1: Like I feel like she's a very smart fighter.
Speaker 2: I would like to think that too.
Speaker 3: I would like to think that too. And I yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean they always say that once you speak it
Speaker 3: into existence, the writers won't write it so real. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's what the Actually, the writers on our show told
Speaker 3: us that. They were like, yeah, if you have any ideas,
Speaker 3: a lot of times, like when you say it out loud,
Speaker 3: it never happens. Because that also means that it's something
Speaker 3: that can be like imagined or other people will expect
Speaker 3: this too, so it's not good enough.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't know.
Speaker 3: Maybe that's the reasoning, But yeah, I like to keep
Speaker 3: my mouth shut with you know, like future prediction questions.
Speaker 1: Well, I was going to ask you, is there anyone
Speaker 1: you want to share more screen time with in the
Speaker 1: next season, But I'm afraid for you to answer that
Speaker 1: because it won't happen.
Speaker 3: I know. Well, I you know, this season, Jack and
Speaker 3: I really fought for some screen time together. And I
Speaker 3: also think it was, you know, good for the characters
Speaker 3: to connects. I thought it was really important for Kimiko
Speaker 3: not to just have scenes with Fremche because you know,
Speaker 3: she's really decided at the end of season three that
Speaker 3: she's becoming a part of this family and she's decided
Speaker 3: to stay on her own accord, and so I wanted
Speaker 3: her to have more experiences with some of the other characters.
Speaker 3: And obviously, you know she has that like Annie kin
Speaker 3: of they sure there her strength together and then she's
Speaker 3: taught Hugh we had to fight, and I think MM
Speaker 3: and her are have like a secret like friendship where
Speaker 3: she's looking out for him and he is reluctantly taking
Speaker 3: her help. But yeah, it's important for me to like
Speaker 3: find those pockets of moments for her. Again, I would
Speaker 3: love to shoot with aunt. It would be fun. Homelander
Speaker 3: or the Deep the Deepest one of my favorite characters,
Speaker 3: and he is hilarious. I don't know what they would do, though,
Speaker 3: I feel like that was that would be an interesting match.
Speaker 3: What would they do in the scene. I'm not sure,
Speaker 3: but I don't know either.
Speaker 1: But you're giving us a lot to think about for
Speaker 1: the next season, and I'm here for all those scenes,
Speaker 1: so hopefully we can see it happen. And another thing
Speaker 1: that's so cool about your character and how much it
Speaker 1: means to so many people is I see all over
Speaker 1: the internet that fans want a spinoff. They're like, we
Speaker 1: need to see Kamiko in a whole other show. We
Speaker 1: don't know what it is, we want it. We're not
Speaker 1: ready to say goodbye at the end of season five. Like,
Speaker 1: does that just make you feel so damn cool when
Speaker 1: you hear that. I imagine you've read that yourself.
Speaker 2: I love that.
Speaker 3: I haven't read it, but I feel like I meet
Speaker 3: fans in person and they're like, you need a spin
Speaker 3: off with freend Sheheet, and I am here for it.
Speaker 3: I feel like they would get into a lot of
Speaker 3: like weird situations, especially if freend She's the one that's
Speaker 3: like leading this adventure.
Speaker 2: You know, he's lived so many.
Speaker 3: Lives and he has like, oh I have a guy
Speaker 3: for this, or like I.
Speaker 2: Can do this.
Speaker 3: I have yet to see freend Scheet fight to the
Speaker 3: death with the get, so we need to make that happen.
Speaker 3: Maybe in the sin Off.
Speaker 1: Yes, that would be amazing. I also kind of feel
Speaker 1: like a Mister and Missus Smith vibe could be really
Speaker 1: good too.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yes, yes, yes, I would love that. Or
Speaker 3: like a cooking show like Hell's Kitchen, you know, oh,
Speaker 3: they love to cook. So I don't know, make it happen.
Speaker 3: Gordon ramsayat it up.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Well, there's a lot of options, and who
Speaker 1: knows what the future will bring. Fingers crossed that can happen.
Speaker 1: It's so crazy to think that season five is the
Speaker 1: last season, because again, it's been such an important show
Speaker 1: in the history of pop culture, and I imagine for
Speaker 1: you it's a show that I feel like you're very
Speaker 1: connected to. Are you already starting to feel like I
Speaker 1: don't want this to end? Like how do you how
Speaker 1: do you go into a new season knowing it's your last?
Speaker 1: Like have you even processed that yet?
Speaker 3: I am gutted. I am gutted. I love being on
Speaker 3: this show, not only because it's a great show. The
Speaker 3: writing is fantastic. The showrunner Kripkey is like a dream
Speaker 3: to work with. I just love everyone on the show.
Speaker 3: You know, it's we've kind of grown into this family.
Speaker 3: We went through COVID, we went through the strike together,
Speaker 3: and so although we only have four seasons, I think
Speaker 3: we've been together for maybe six.
Speaker 4: Five six, probably six, and I just like want to
Speaker 4: stick with this crew forever, and I'm just so sad
Speaker 4: that it's our last.
Speaker 3: But I also know that Kryskey knows what he's doing.
Speaker 3: He's kind of a genius, so I trust that if
Speaker 3: he's saying it's going to be five, I think like
Speaker 3: the story ends at like a good place there, and
Speaker 3: you don't want to drag it on, you know, we
Speaker 3: want to end on like a good note. And yeah,
Speaker 3: but like gutted, seriously gutted. We're going to go shoot
Speaker 3: in November and Toronto again, and you know, it's really bittersweet.
Speaker 3: I try not to think about it because it is
Speaker 3: the beginning of the end and although we shoot for
Speaker 3: a very long time, Yeah, it's just going to be
Speaker 3: very bittersweet. It's like bidding a de to like just
Speaker 3: not just a cast and the group, but also Toronto
Speaker 3: as a city.
Speaker 2: Have you been there?
Speaker 3: It's a lovely, lovely place to live. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love Toronto. My best friend is moving there soon,
Speaker 1: so I plan to be there a lot next year.
Speaker 2: Yeah that's awesome.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, that's so funny. My good friend just moved
Speaker 3: there three months ago as well, and it seems to
Speaker 3: be the hot spot. I don't know, maybe we all
Speaker 3: got to try it for like a few years.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not against that. It's beautiful. I love it
Speaker 1: so much. And what's cool is the show. I mean,
Speaker 1: you have a lot more time with it, so you
Speaker 1: don't have to worry about that just yet. But the
Speaker 1: family you seem to have built from this show will
Speaker 1: forever be a part of your life, which is the
Speaker 1: best part of I think anything that we all get
Speaker 1: to do in our lives is who we get to
Speaker 1: meet in the community. Do y' all have like a
Speaker 1: mean group text going, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: We have so many, you know, we have one that
Speaker 2: I'm not in.
Speaker 3: I think the soups have a thread and then the
Speaker 3: boys have a WhatsApp and then we also have like
Speaker 3: the LA Crew, So whenever we're not shooting in LA
Speaker 3: and like want to have a hang that's who Like,
Speaker 3: that's the LA one. And then and then we have
Speaker 3: one with Kripke, and then we have like a girls
Speaker 3: one and it's called the Estrogen Nights because whenever we
Speaker 3: hang out.
Speaker 2: We're like, should we have another Estrogen Night?
Speaker 3: And which involves like ordering takeout and just chatting away
Speaker 3: with a wine in hand, and it is like the
Speaker 3: most lovely I don't know, it like really fills your heart,
Speaker 3: you know, when you can be in like comfy clothes
Speaker 3: at home and having good chats.
Speaker 1: So who texts the most? Like there's always one person
Speaker 1: in a group chat you're like, all right, you're you're
Speaker 1: we love you. But it's a little over the top,
Speaker 1: you know.
Speaker 3: I don't think I don't think we have anyone like that.
Speaker 3: I will say that everyone in the group chat respond,
Speaker 3: which is like on heard, there's always like a few
Speaker 3: people that leave the chat, you know, they're like yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah.
Speaker 3: And whenever you're going on in a group trip or
Speaker 3: something or like a wedding and like you get like
Speaker 3: fifty messages, there's someone that's like so and so has
Speaker 3: just left the chat, but no, everyone's in it, you know,
Speaker 3: whenever someone asks something, everyone So.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love that that family vibe that always makes it.
Speaker 1: I think as an audience member that much more rewarding
Speaker 1: to watch shows that you get really invested in because
Speaker 1: it's like, oh cool, they're actually like all really good friends,
Speaker 1: because we all know not everyone you work with all
Speaker 1: the time becomes family. That's just the way of life.
Speaker 1: So it's it's cool to hear that. I think that's amazing.
Speaker 1: Do you ever need to take a minute after filming
Speaker 1: this series? Because it is pretty dark at times, and
Speaker 1: it is pretty intense and mentally, I imagine it can be
Speaker 1: a lot. So I guess my question is how do
Speaker 1: you take care of your mental health when you're going
Speaker 1: through such an intense and rigorous process that's dealing with
Speaker 1: such heavy subject matter too?
Speaker 2: Totally totally.
Speaker 3: I think therapy is a big thing. I started it
Speaker 3: maybe two years ago and on and off. But I'm
Speaker 3: lucky in that my process doesn't really take home the work.
Speaker 3: I know that a lot of actors have a hard
Speaker 3: time separating, you know, the emotional moments of the character
Speaker 3: with their personal life. But I can usually like snap
Speaker 3: right out of it once the Venus shot. One moment
Speaker 3: that was difficult for me was when a spoiler alert
Speaker 3: when Butcher truly reveals who he is by uh in
Speaker 3: the last episode, by kind of I'll just say it.
Speaker 2: My killing Newman.
Speaker 3: There was a moment while we were shooting where Carl
Speaker 3: really he was the character. He was Butcher in that moment,
Speaker 3: and it was even though it was my friend Carl
Speaker 3: Urban playing the character and I know in my brain
Speaker 3: that that's Carl. For like that one take, I truly
Speaker 3: really saw someone else there that was completely unbeknownst to me,
Speaker 3: just pure I don't know, it's just someone you know,
Speaker 3: when you like see someone that you haven't seen in
Speaker 3: a while and unfortunately they've just like become someone completely
Speaker 3: different and you don't know them. And sometimes it's a
Speaker 3: good thing, and sometimes it's like good change, but like
Speaker 3: sometimes there's a bad change. I felt that in that
Speaker 3: scene and I was shaken for the rest of the
Speaker 3: night and then snapped right back into be careen. But
Speaker 3: like it shook me, honestly, and that's just a true
Speaker 3: testament to how good of an actor Carl is. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that was a that was a big moment in the
Speaker 3: last episode.
Speaker 1: I imagine it's pretty intense, so it's good to hear that,
Speaker 1: you know, you take time to focus on yourself and
Speaker 1: your mental health, whether it's therapy off and on, or
Speaker 1: just kind of detaching from the work of the day, which,
Speaker 1: by the way, I think in any profession it's so
Speaker 1: important to do that. You got to go home and
Speaker 1: kind of.
Speaker 2: Unwind, right, totally, totally, totally. I love therapy. A lot
Speaker 2: of times you just like.
Speaker 3: Want someone to tell you if you're fucking up. You know,
Speaker 3: I need someone to like put me in check, like hey,
Speaker 3: you need to calm down, or like you need to
Speaker 3: think about this a different way. And it's always good
Speaker 3: to have a different perspective. So there's great.
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, for sure. And I know that through
Speaker 1: the show, having the representation of being one of the
Speaker 1: first female Asian superheroes is super important to you when
Speaker 1: you're opening the door for many people to come, you know,
Speaker 1: behind you and kick through that door as well. So
Speaker 1: I imagine that you have a lot of pride not just
Speaker 1: being part of a show that means so much to
Speaker 1: so many people, but also for representing such an underrepresented community, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent. You know, in the beginning of
Speaker 3: my career, I got to play a Japanese superhero named
Speaker 3: Katana for DC Comics, and I think that was the
Speaker 3: first time I experienced being sort of a representative right
Speaker 3: of Asians in media, Asians in Hollywood, And it came
Speaker 3: as a shock to me in the beginning because I
Speaker 3: didn't really think about it right up until that point.
Speaker 3: I was just trying to like get work and be
Speaker 3: an actor, be a working actor, and so I didn't
Speaker 3: realize that that it meant that me playing characters like
Speaker 3: these actually like means something to anyone else there other
Speaker 3: than the world that the story was in. And so
Speaker 3: from then on, I just I just hope that I'm
Speaker 3: doing my people just I think it's always good to
Speaker 3: have representation, and there's still not enough of it, but
Speaker 3: the industry is moving toward a better direction, I think
Speaker 3: for us. And yeah, it's it's really really touching when
Speaker 3: I get to meet people that actually care that I'm
Speaker 3: in these things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's special.
Speaker 3: I'm super, super super grateful that I'm in this position,
Speaker 3: and I'm hoping that, you know, because the show is
Speaker 3: successful and studios see that the character is also beloved.
Speaker 3: Maybe it opens doors for even more superheroes that are
Speaker 3: Asian future.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I definitely think it will, and I think it
Speaker 1: will open up a door for your spin off. So yep,
Speaker 1: that's going to happen as well all of the game.
Speaker 3: Well, let's hope that would be great.
Speaker 1: Oh, I'm putting it out there. I am putting it
Speaker 1: out there, Karen. I could talk to you for hours,
Speaker 1: but it's time to wrap up with the final question
Speaker 1: of this interview, which is a question I ask every
Speaker 1: single guest who comes on based off the title of
Speaker 1: the show, which is what is one thing that you
Speaker 1: have never said before. I know you've done a million
Speaker 1: interviews up to this point, but I'm curious if anything
Speaker 1: comes to mind.
Speaker 3: I debated whether I wanted to talk about this, but
Speaker 3: I think it is really important for people to know
Speaker 3: about I just went through an egg freezing process. It's
Speaker 3: like a medical thing, and you know, you can freeze
Speaker 3: your eggs and ensure life later. And I think it's
Speaker 3: really important for women to have enough resources and information
Speaker 3: on this subject, whether you're freezing eggs or freething embryos
Speaker 3: with a partner. I personally did not realize how it
Speaker 3: can be an easy process, but it can also be
Speaker 3: like a longer process for some and for me it
Speaker 3: was longer. And I just think it's super important for
Speaker 3: women out there to understand what their choices are because
Speaker 3: it is time sensitive. And if I had known all
Speaker 3: the things I know now, I think I would have
Speaker 3: done it a couple of years before. So yeah, theoretics
Speaker 3: if you can, and yeah, and even if you don't,
Speaker 3: it's always good to think about those things because options
Speaker 3: are available more when you're younger.
Speaker 1: So you've clearly always wanted to have a family, right.
Speaker 2: No, not always?
Speaker 3: Actually, yeah, I didn't really think about it until a
Speaker 3: few years back, and it was like a big thought.
Speaker 3: I never dated to marry, to be honest, I just
Speaker 3: feel like when you're in your early twenties, you don't
Speaker 3: really think about like, oh is the marriage material? Is
Speaker 3: the father material? I just never thought about it, like
Speaker 3: this is fun, I'm dating someone that I like, but yeah,
Speaker 3: I like recently I went through a breakup and now
Speaker 3: I don't have a partner, so I was like, okay,
Speaker 3: well maybe he.
Speaker 2: Should freeze my eyes.
Speaker 3: But long story short, without getting too far deep into it,
Speaker 3: I think look into.
Speaker 1: That, and if you are a woman, that's really cool
Speaker 1: to share because I think a lot of women out there,
Speaker 1: and there are a lot of women I know as
Speaker 1: well who debate it, right, And for whatever reason, sometimes
Speaker 1: they don't and I'm not sure why, and I've had
Speaker 1: a few people in my life regret that. So I
Speaker 1: think it's an important message to put out because it
Speaker 1: just gives you the option, right, It's like you, you
Speaker 1: don't have to decide anything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, and I think that I'm going to have
Speaker 3: a natural birth, but it's always good to have insurance
Speaker 3: as well, just in case there's no one that pops up.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good way to put it. Well, cool,
Speaker 1: thank you. That's something that I think is really interesting
Speaker 1: and no one's ever shared that before with me, and
Speaker 1: I think that's clearly a very personal thing that you
Speaker 1: decided to do. So I appreciate you sharing that the
Speaker 1: for the good of women out there who might be
Speaker 1: considering it themselves. Karen, Like I said, I could talk
Speaker 1: to you for hours. I so enjoyed this conversation. I
Speaker 1: think you are such a light. I think you were
Speaker 1: so gifted in what you do, and you bring so
Speaker 1: much joy to so many people, and I really appreciated
Speaker 1: you taking the time to hang out today and talk
Speaker 1: about the boys, but also dive into some other real
Speaker 1: life conversation as well that I think a lot of
Speaker 1: people will be helped by. So thanks for hanging man.
Speaker 1: This was awesome.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, thank you so much.
Speaker 3: I mean I've never had an interview or like message
Speaker 3: me before just to like give me this feel and
Speaker 3: be so friendly, and you know, meeting you today like
Speaker 3: just bring this like calming energy and so it's so
Speaker 3: easy talking to you, and yeah, thank you for creating
Speaker 3: that environment.
Speaker 1: Oh, thank you, thank you. And I'm raising my hand
Speaker 1: for the next girl's night. I think gay men should
Speaker 1: be allowed to be invited. So I'm down fors and
Speaker 1: bacon and wine and gossip.
Speaker 3: And all the things you are invited on.
Speaker 1: Thank you, my friend. So good hanging out and we'll
Speaker 1: talk again soon, I hope.
Speaker 2: Awesome. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1: I've Never Said This Before is hosted by Me Tommy Dedario.
Speaker 1: This podcast is executive produced by Andrew Puglisi at iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: and by Me Tommy, with editing by Joshua Colaudney. I've
Speaker 1: Never Said This Before is part of the Elvis Duran
Speaker 1: Podcast Network on iHeart Podcasts for more rate, review and
Speaker 1: subscribe to our show. And if you liked this episode,
Speaker 1: tell your friends. Until next time, I'm Tommy de Dario