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Speaker 1: And I had to leave. And I remember I'd gone

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Speaker 1: out the night before and I kept pressing snooze, and

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Speaker 1: I remember thinking, you know what, Leo, if you can't

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Speaker 1: get up, if you can't get your ass up and

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Speaker 1: go to school for the reason why you left everything

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Speaker 1: in Australia, because you're too busy going out and partying

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Speaker 1: or doing you know, trying to experience this other side

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Speaker 1: of New York and not the real reason why you've

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Speaker 1: come here. Then you just accept it. For the next month,

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Speaker 1: you go, you party your balls off, you do it,

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Speaker 1: and then you get on a plane and you go

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Speaker 1: back to Australia. Or you make the decision and you

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Speaker 1: make the choice now that you show up for yourself,

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Speaker 1: you show up for what you came here to do.

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Speaker 1: You give it your all, and then you see what happens.

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Speaker 1: And that really was the moment that really changed my life.

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Speaker 1: Hey guys, I'm Leonardo nam I currently have a show

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Speaker 1: called Maggie on Hulu. But you may know me from

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Speaker 1: things like Westwold or Assisted of the Trampling Pants all

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Speaker 1: my first movie The Perfect Score. Hello everybody, and welcome

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Speaker 1: to a brand spanking new episode of Off the Beat.

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Speaker 1: And would you look at that. It's me your host,

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Speaker 1: Brian Baumgartner. Today, as you just heard, we are going

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Speaker 1: to be speaking to the truly amazing Leonardo nam Now

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Speaker 1: you may know Leo as Westworld employee Felix Lutz or

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Speaker 1: currently as Dave on Hulu's new hit comedy Maggie. Now.

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Speaker 1: So interesting about Leo. He was so sure that he

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Speaker 1: wanted to be an actor that he traveled across the

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Speaker 1: world literally to sleep on a bench in Central Park.

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Speaker 1: That's where New York concrete jungle, where dreams are made of.

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Speaker 1: That is where he got his start. And now he's

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Speaker 1: been on so many incredible TV shows and movies. After

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Speaker 1: starting performing Shakespeare in Shakespeare in the Park where he

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Speaker 1: slept originally, He's gone on to star in The Perfect Score,

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Speaker 1: The Fast and the Furious, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,

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Speaker 1: even where he was cast originally by the offices Ken Kappas.

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Speaker 1: And I'm told that some of you may be excited

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Speaker 1: to know that he was once featured in Steve Aoki's

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Speaker 1: music video with BTS. So there you go. I thought

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Speaker 1: it was pretty amazing. You should go and check it out. Uh.

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Speaker 1: With all of that said, let's get to it shall

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Speaker 1: we my new best friend Leo nam Bubba Squeak. I

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Speaker 1: love it. Bubble and Squeak, Bubble and squeaker cookie every

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Speaker 1: month left over from the Nabby. What's up Leo? Hey, Brian,

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Speaker 1: how are you? I'm good? How are you? I'm great, man,

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Speaker 1: I'm I'm excited to be on your show. Hey, thanks

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Speaker 1: for having me. Oh, thanks so much, thank you. You

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Speaker 1: know your your accent right now? Is is? Really? I

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Speaker 1: wasn't sure what accent I was gonna get. You got

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Speaker 1: the accent right now. I mean, you're you're from all

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Speaker 1: four corners of the globe. I am a little bit.

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Speaker 1: You were born in Buenos Ares to Korean parents. You

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Speaker 1: grew up in Sydney, that's the accident I'm hearing, and

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Speaker 1: then to New York. This is uh yeah, you're you're

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Speaker 1: Mr International for sure. Well, it does feel nice to

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Speaker 1: to hear someone repeat to me like, oh, where I've

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Speaker 1: lived and what I've done, you know most of that stuff.

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Speaker 1: By the way, you know, it was like not by choice.

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Speaker 1: It's not like I was like, you know what, I'm

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Speaker 1: decided to be born in you know what I mean?

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Speaker 1: Nudge me over there. You know, well, I was an

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Speaker 1: early adapter and passionate fan of Westworld when it started.

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Speaker 1: Every Sunday night was sending tweets about how it was

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Speaker 1: blowing my mind. And obviously you played a pivotal role

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Speaker 1: in that. But I do want to go back to

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Speaker 1: start with your childhood. I mean, obviously an incredibly diverse background.

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Speaker 1: When did you move to Sydney from argent Tina. I'm

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Speaker 1: we moved when I was seven. I believe we started

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Speaker 1: to kind of make the trip when I was about six,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, it got to Australia, um right at the

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Speaker 1: end of first grade, I believe when I started school there.

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Speaker 1: What do you consider yourself besides international man of Mystery

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Speaker 1: are are you? Are you Australian? What do you consider yourself? Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean I feel like I am Australian like culturally,

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Speaker 1: you know, I relate to people most um by as

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Speaker 1: being an Australian and I think a lot of that

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Speaker 1: comes from, um, you know, my formative years being in Australia,

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Speaker 1: and Australia has this sensibility about themselves where you're Australian first,

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Speaker 1: you know more than anything else, and so you're Australian

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Speaker 1: and you know whether good or bad. You know, people

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Speaker 1: have different perspectives about that, um and and I certainly

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Speaker 1: you know, do my off. But but I do love

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Speaker 1: that quality about Australians, that you're Australian like first and foremost.

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Speaker 1: You know, Australia also has like this tall poppy syndrome

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Speaker 1: expect where you know everyone's the same and you're like

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Speaker 1: and if that, if one starts to pop out, you

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Speaker 1: can cut them off. But yeah, I'm Australian, Korean and

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Speaker 1: American and those are kind of the the big key ones.

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Speaker 1: Argentinian is you know when you look back at my life, yes,

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Speaker 1: I definitely am Argentinians as well. But other than you know,

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Speaker 1: other aspects of small aspects of food and um, some

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Speaker 1: aspects of you know, culturally, how I how I relate

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Speaker 1: to other people is Argentinian. But you know, ultimately, when

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Speaker 1: someone first meets me, what I believe I present first

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Speaker 1: is Australian and that's how I feel most comfortable when

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Speaker 1: someone relates to me that way. How do you think

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Speaker 1: that your background there, your history, helped shape you into

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Speaker 1: who you are? Oh, great question, you know, I feel

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Speaker 1: like the whole idea and concept of an immigrant is

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Speaker 1: all I've known and so the idea that you're not

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Speaker 1: of this country, but you are this country in that

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Speaker 1: you're living here now you're contributing to this country. And

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Speaker 1: so I think that that concept of you know, my

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Speaker 1: parents being immigrants in Argentina and then being in a

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Speaker 1: double immigrant then going to Australia, I think that really

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Speaker 1: that that put a sense of hope and possibility in

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Speaker 1: my life. You know, one thing that happened in Argentina

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Speaker 1: was the Falkland Wars were happening, and it was kind

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Speaker 1: of a moment where my family's realized that, you know,

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Speaker 1: ship's going down in Argentin. So my aunt married and

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Speaker 1: Aussie and you know, in process of getting married, um,

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Speaker 1: my grandmother then it was in Australia and was saying, hey,

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Speaker 1: this is definitely a place that is not you know,

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Speaker 1: in the midst of war, and it was in the

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Speaker 1: kind of in her understanding of Western culture. You know,

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Speaker 1: there was an exodus you know from Korea at that time,

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Speaker 1: it was very much a third world country and so

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Speaker 1: looking to to move to the West. You know, their

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Speaker 1: first stop was Argentina and then along the way, you know,

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Speaker 1: the Fookland Wars happened. So then they moved to Australia.

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Speaker 1: But I feel like because I came from a family

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Speaker 1: that has moved around and have always been able to

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Speaker 1: find their feet no matter what, I really connect to

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Speaker 1: a sense of hope that I believe is possible. You know,

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Speaker 1: like growing up, did I see anyone that looks like

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Speaker 1: me on screen? And no, there wasn't. There was maybe one,

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Speaker 1: you know, that was the idea of Bruce Lee, but

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Speaker 1: that was even during my time. He was dead and

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Speaker 1: so there was no one that was actively telling story

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Speaker 1: that looked like me. But I do think that it

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Speaker 1: was because I had family that did immigrate and immigrated

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Speaker 1: twice and really carved their own life in their own

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Speaker 1: way for their family. For me, for um, it really

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Speaker 1: does instan has instilled in me a sense of hope.

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Speaker 1: I really believe. That's so interesting to me because you know,

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Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, I'm the opposite, right, I mean,

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Speaker 1: I'm from the south of the United States, right, and

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Speaker 1: most of my family have lived in that region, from

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Speaker 1: the kind of the lower Midwest to the deep South.

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Speaker 1: I mean, me moving to California was a big deal.

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Speaker 1: I mean, that was that was that was a trip

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Speaker 1: where that's like a totally different country from down there.

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Speaker 1: But yeah, did they think of you as a betrayer?

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Speaker 1: Did you like betray them? By betray maybe a strong

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Speaker 1: too strong of a world that you know? I mean,

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Speaker 1: I traveled around it, did the are quite a bit?

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Speaker 1: And I guess there was a sense of comeback here.

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Speaker 1: I mean, not not so much from my parents. My

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Speaker 1: parents were very supportive, but I think there was always

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Speaker 1: that sort of idea of why are you somewhere else? Now?

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Speaker 1: I'll tell you now that I'm in southern California. My

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Speaker 1: family likes to visit here, so they want so there's

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Speaker 1: kind of a free pass for this little in this

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Speaker 1: little island here. But yeah, but that idea of of

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Speaker 1: not being too far from home. And I don't know,

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Speaker 1: I'm kind of going off on a tangent here, but

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Speaker 1: your experience having started so early on that journey of

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Speaker 1: finding a new place, finding a new identity in some

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Speaker 1: ways in a new place, and that your family had

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Speaker 1: done that so often that that becomes second nature. And

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Speaker 1: I do think we do live in a global world now,

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Speaker 1: and and the idea that you have been or had

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Speaker 1: experiences and family and in so much of it is awesome.

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Speaker 1: And I love the idea that that brings hope to you. Yeah, yea,

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Speaker 1: that there's there there can be a rebirth. But I

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Speaker 1: feel like anyone that strikes out on their own right

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Speaker 1: like you did and what have you, I feel like

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Speaker 1: we all have to. We have this camaraderie of hope.

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Speaker 1: We have this camaraderie of belief in humanity and striving

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Speaker 1: for for the best life that you can. And I

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Speaker 1: love hearing that that you've decided, you made the choice

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Speaker 1: to like, you know, get out of the town that

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Speaker 1: you were in and made it to southern California no

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Speaker 1: matter what. And um, I have to say, I'm in

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Speaker 1: the same way. You know, we're just we're just traveling shows,

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Speaker 1: right but you um so okay. So you arrive basically

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Speaker 1: end of your first grade year to Australia, when do

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Speaker 1: you start to get a thought of being an actor?

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Speaker 1: You know? I feel like it kind of started in

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Speaker 1: when I was in sixth grade. There was a sense

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Speaker 1: of performance that started to come into my sphere. My

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Speaker 1: brother's a choreographer. He was older than I am, and

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Speaker 1: it is older than I am, and he had to

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Speaker 1: kind of navigate his way through as a dancer at

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Speaker 1: the time, and he was very much involved with that.

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Speaker 1: Dance world was more hip hop and that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: But then we were also involved in church, and there

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Speaker 1: was a Korean church kind of um, you know, they

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Speaker 1: do these performances about about why this is a sin

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Speaker 1: to instill fearing, right, and I was like, oh, I

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Speaker 1: could get into that. Let's do that, right, uh, And

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Speaker 1: and we we would perform and do these we write

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Speaker 1: these plays and stuff and about you know, someone robbing

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Speaker 1: a convenience store or you know, bashing an old lady

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Speaker 1: and why that was bad and what happened and then

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Speaker 1: you know, the devil comes in or what have you. Right,

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Speaker 1: So these really like wild stories and I really kind

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Speaker 1: of enjoyed that. But the next step from there onwards

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Speaker 1: was I was part of a public speaking after school program.

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Speaker 1: And the after school program happened to have a ballet

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Speaker 1: school that was part of it too, and also a

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Speaker 1: drama side to it. And I remember going in and

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Speaker 1: originally I was part of the public speaking program, and

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Speaker 1: I remember I did rather well, and I kept like

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Speaker 1: not winning. I was like second place or you know,

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Speaker 1: just a great job that you know, you just didn't

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Speaker 1: get it. And I remember the teacher, Miss Hopwood. She

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Speaker 1: said to me, you know, Leo, you um, you're either

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Speaker 1: so passionate it or you're so technical, and you need

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Speaker 1: to find a hybrid. And she said, maybe what would

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Speaker 1: help you is if you did some drama, and so

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Speaker 1: she gave me king Lear. At welve, I did the

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Speaker 1: Edmund speech and it blew my mind. It blew my

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Speaker 1: mind that I thought, oh my goodness, like someone has

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Speaker 1: written this from you know, youngkers Ago and I relate

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Speaker 1: and resonate in some weird wave even though I'm saying

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Speaker 1: these strange words, but I kind of get this feeling.

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Speaker 1: And so that kind of was the key that unlocked

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Speaker 1: it for me. And so after that, I then started

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Speaker 1: to join a theater troupe. And I went to an

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Speaker 1: all boys technical high school in Australia that was there

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Speaker 1: was no drama, and I started that. I started a

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Speaker 1: theater club at school and then because of that, I

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Speaker 1: end up doing my I guess what you would call

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Speaker 1: your s A t S been Australia back then, it

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Speaker 1: was called the HC. But I did that in drama

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Speaker 1: and in the process of doing that, I found some

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Speaker 1: wonderful lifelong friends and you know, us theater geeks and

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Speaker 1: you know, feeling awkward and weird and trying to find

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Speaker 1: ourselves and all that good stuff. Right, I found my

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Speaker 1: jam of people, and um, within that, I also found

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Speaker 1: my jam of people that were very ambitious and very

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Speaker 1: focused and we're really reaching for the stars and and

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Speaker 1: you know we're writing musicals, were writing plays, we're writing

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Speaker 1: films in high school. Um. So I joined that crew,

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Speaker 1: that community, and because of that, I connected with an

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Speaker 1: agent in Australia who put me in touch with someone

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Speaker 1: that's still my mentor to this day. Uh and he

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Speaker 1: swan In in Sydney, and um, she really was the

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Speaker 1: one if I can attribute the idea of craft and

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Speaker 1: the respect of craft and class really you know, you know,

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Speaker 1: being able to have taste and discern meant and she

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Speaker 1: brought this concept of elevating my world. And so, um,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of how my that that bug happened for me.

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Speaker 1: And then from there the leap to New York happened. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean I had a similar situation myself when it

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Speaker 1: changed for me, and it sounds like it roughly the

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Speaker 1: same age where I realized that this was not just

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Speaker 1: an activity, but that this was this was something deeper,

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Speaker 1: and I was involved in a program similar to what

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Speaker 1: you're talking about, where it was like, oh, I see

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Speaker 1: everyone had that like, oh, there's so much more to

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Speaker 1: this that I want to know about. And you decided

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Speaker 1: that to pursue this, you you needed to be in

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Speaker 1: New York. So I understand it. Nineteen years of age,

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Speaker 1: you moved to New York to study acting. I hear

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Speaker 1: you spent a few nights in Central Park. It yeah,

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Speaker 1: may I mean I had no money. I mean I

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Speaker 1: three hundred bucks in my back pocket and a credit

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Speaker 1: card that didn't work. And I thought, hey, it's a

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Speaker 1: good idea, great idea, guys, let's just going up and leave.

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Speaker 1: Let's do it. And you know I I was um,

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Speaker 1: I just had that that vision and the ambition, you know,

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Speaker 1: to go through it. I landed in New York, and

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Speaker 1: I remember the only thing that I knew about was

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Speaker 1: Broadway Times Square in Central Park. And so at that

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Speaker 1: time I remember walking through Times Square just looking at

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Speaker 1: all these billboards, being like, oh my god, you know,

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Speaker 1: I've made it here. I am here, I am you know,

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Speaker 1: And then at like two in the morning, You're like,

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Speaker 1: where am I going to sleep? It didn't click for me.

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Speaker 1: I was like, where am I gonna sleep? I don't know.

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Speaker 1: All I had was the audition date, you know, at

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Speaker 1: that school. And so I I then just I mean

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Speaker 1: there was a cab drive that that drove me around

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Speaker 1: for a little bit. Uh, and he offered me some weed,

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Speaker 1: which was really uh funny. I was like, what, like, yeah,

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Speaker 1: but what's going on? Like okay? Um? And and I

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Speaker 1: ended up, yes, staying at Central Park near Columbus Circle,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, it was in the middle of

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Speaker 1: summer and so it was hot, so it didn't need anything.

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Speaker 1: And but I remember, like, you know, talking to some

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Speaker 1: some people that that were there that were you know,

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Speaker 1: experiencing homelessness themselves, and and they were like they gave

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Speaker 1: me ideas like you know, if a newspaper while people

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Speaker 1: why people, why did they use that so it you know,

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Speaker 1: it keeps them warm somewhat and what have you. Um.

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Speaker 1: And so I didn't need that, thank god. But the

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Speaker 1: next day I was like, rightly, you gotta pull it together.

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Speaker 1: This can't happen. I should actually say I did have

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Speaker 1: a place to stay, but the person that I was

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Speaker 1: supposed to stay with at least that you know, the

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Speaker 1: first couple of nights, I didn't pick up the phone

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Speaker 1: when I called, and so there was this sense of like,

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Speaker 1: well and here, maybe they'll they'll pick up later. And

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Speaker 1: that's why at two am, I was like, oh my god,

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Speaker 1: where am I going to sleep? Okay? This is now,

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Speaker 1: this is This makes me feel better because I was like,

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Speaker 1: you got off the plane and you don't you have

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Speaker 1: no like, you haven't thought about anything. This makes it

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Speaker 1: a little better for me. Yeah. Yeah, that I should

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Speaker 1: have prevented by saying that. And he happened to be

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Speaker 1: a flight attendant and so he had to take a

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Speaker 1: trip and so that's why he wasn't available, and so

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Speaker 1: that's the whole reason why I experienced that. And so

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Speaker 1: then after a week of this, then he finally picked

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Speaker 1: up the phone and then I was able to stay

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Speaker 1: after a week. So you you mentioned there you had

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Speaker 1: an audition that you said the studio. Now is this

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Speaker 1: HB Studio? Yeah, my goodness. So for those of you

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Speaker 1: who don't know, HB Studio basically was training all of

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Speaker 1: the best actors in New York City for years and years.

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Speaker 1: My favorite book that I studied, I never met her

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Speaker 1: Udha Haggins. Respect for acting. I studied that at school.

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Speaker 1: My favorite book still to this day, it's in my

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Speaker 1: office still here. You obviously you you have to be

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Speaker 1: doing something there or be connected to the right people

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Speaker 1: in Australia for for you to even get an audition there.

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Speaker 1: So you get accepted, Yeah, I got accept it. Yeah. Um.

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Speaker 1: And it was to be in Buddhist class and and

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Speaker 1: so I really, you know, it was desperate to to

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Speaker 1: be around the best. And so I remember what my

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Speaker 1: mentor in Australia had said. You know, when you meet

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Speaker 1: someone and you you see that their work is excellent,

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Speaker 1: work with them. Do whatever you can to say I'm

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Speaker 1: going to work with you. I'm gonna work with you.

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna work with you. And so really deciding and

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Speaker 1: to take that road of studying UM and and being

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Speaker 1: in in her class really changed my life. It isn't

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Speaker 1: the most um you know, prestigious school, and what happens

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Speaker 1: more like a working man school, you know, even though

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Speaker 1: the alumni is like al Paccino, Cynthia, next sent I mean, Babarah.

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Speaker 1: So it goes on and on and on. But it's

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Speaker 1: because they welcomed everyone and they believed everyone should have

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Speaker 1: access to this kind of work. Um. And so I

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Speaker 1: made the decision pretty early on actually to only work

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Speaker 1: with the best because when I was landed there, all

338
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Speaker 1: I wanted to do was just party because I was like,

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Speaker 1: I'm in New York City. I can't believe this. Oh

340
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:08,000
Speaker 1: my god, this is great. This is a fantastic this

341
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Speaker 1: fantastic game whatever from the cab drivers. This is the

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Speaker 1: cab driver Like, what are you talking about? This is

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Speaker 1: I've made it. I've made it. And so I I remember,

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Speaker 1: actually pretty early on, I was in a class in

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Speaker 1: the Shakespeare class with Jeffrey Owens, who was teaching you know,

346
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Speaker 1: legendary guy. It was a ten am class and I

347
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Speaker 1: lived in the East Village and the school is in

348
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Speaker 1: the West Village, and I had to leave my house

349
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Speaker 1: by nine thereabouts. Mind you, I had like a red

350
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Speaker 1: mohawk at the time, and I got to school on

351
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Speaker 1: rollerblades even in the snow. I mean, hello, crazy Aussie,

352
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:55,199
Speaker 1: just like coming throw guys coming through. Um. And I

353
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Speaker 1: had to leave at and I remember i'd gone out

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Speaker 1: the night before and I kept pressing snows remember thinking,

355
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Speaker 1: you know what, Leo, if you can't get up, if

356
00:23:05,240 --> 00:23:08,480
Speaker 1: you can't get your ass up, and go to school

357
00:23:09,280 --> 00:23:13,320
Speaker 1: for the reason why you left everything in Australia because

358
00:23:13,600 --> 00:23:17,359
Speaker 1: you're too busy going out and partying or doing you know,

359
00:23:17,400 --> 00:23:19,399
Speaker 1: trying to experience this other side of New York and

360
00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:22,919
Speaker 1: not the real reason why you've come here. Then you

361
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 1: just accept it for the next month, you go, you

362
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:28,360
Speaker 1: part of your balls off, you do it, and then

363
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Speaker 1: you get on a plane and you go back to Australia,

364
00:23:31,119 --> 00:23:33,439
Speaker 1: or you make the decision and you make the choice

365
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Speaker 1: now that you show up for yourself, you show up

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Speaker 1: for what you came here to do. You give it

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Speaker 1: your all, and then you see what happens. And that

368
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Speaker 1: really was the moment that really changed my life. Um,

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Speaker 1: not only did I decide right there and then that

370
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Speaker 1: I would make the commitment to myself to the work,

371
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Speaker 1: to you know, the platform that that's been given to

372
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Speaker 1: me at that moment and for the rest of my

373
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Speaker 1: life what I would be doing, but also me realize, like,

374
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Speaker 1: what are you doing sleeping on the floor, Leo, Like,

375
00:24:03,320 --> 00:24:07,040
Speaker 1: get it together, get it together? Like yeah, at the beginning,

376
00:24:07,040 --> 00:24:09,720
Speaker 1: it was sure, it was fun. Yeah whatever I did this,

377
00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,280
Speaker 1: I slept here in the park, yeah whatever, you know,

378
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Speaker 1: And I kind of imagined that i'd go back and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: back in the day, this is what I did, you know, Like,

380
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,040
Speaker 1: but there in living in I realized like, nah, I

381
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:25,399
Speaker 1: don't want to do this, you know, get your finger

382
00:24:25,440 --> 00:24:28,680
Speaker 1: out of here, as Leo and let's go um. And

383
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:31,480
Speaker 1: so that that really was a big turning point for me.

384
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Speaker 1: And then after that it was, you know, every week

385
00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 1: figuring out how I work, how other people work, um,

386
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Speaker 1: And I started to take a lot of ownership of

387
00:24:40,240 --> 00:24:43,320
Speaker 1: my own discovery of what it meant to be in

388
00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:46,960
Speaker 1: my own craft, what it meant to feed my own beast,

389
00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:53,080
Speaker 1: and what my beast likes to eat. Right, that's so awesome.

390
00:24:53,520 --> 00:24:56,560
Speaker 1: I love that story. Are you starting to work outside

391
00:24:56,560 --> 00:24:59,480
Speaker 1: of the studio at this point? How does that transition

392
00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 1: start to work for you from doing the work, putting

393
00:25:03,080 --> 00:25:08,000
Speaker 1: in the effort, and then also started to play other roles. God,

394
00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:11,120
Speaker 1: I love that you're making me connect the dots from

395
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: back there, um, because it was it's a mixture of magic. Really,

396
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,200
Speaker 1: it's a mixture of like when you show up for yourself, right,

397
00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:23,520
Speaker 1: and you show up for yourself and you don't know

398
00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:26,919
Speaker 1: what's going to happen, that you show up with the

399
00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:30,919
Speaker 1: belief in yourself, and you show up with the work

400
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 1: on your craft and respect for it, then other things

401
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:37,480
Speaker 1: start to fall into place. And so one of the

402
00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,679
Speaker 1: things that happened was I met someone that was like

403
00:25:41,720 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 1: at a cafe and it was you know, definitely one

404
00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,800
Speaker 1: of those moments of like, you know, everyone's drinking coffee

405
00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,000
Speaker 1: and like they got berets, and like it kind of

406
00:25:50,000 --> 00:25:52,399
Speaker 1: felt like that you were wet, but you know what

407
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: I mean, like in the eighth Village, Tompkins Square Path,

408
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,880
Speaker 1: like all that stuff, and and and someone had told

409
00:25:58,920 --> 00:26:01,959
Speaker 1: me about like that they that there was an abandoned

410
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:05,960
Speaker 1: school and that a friend of theirs was going to

411
00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:10,159
Speaker 1: put up a production, a Shakespeare production, and he thought

412
00:26:10,200 --> 00:26:12,960
Speaker 1: it was going to be Hamlet, but he wasn't sure.

413
00:26:13,359 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 1: But back in the day, there was at this story

414
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:18,840
Speaker 1: it still is around now backstage right, And so that's

415
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:21,320
Speaker 1: where a lot of people would get you know, their

416
00:26:21,359 --> 00:26:24,600
Speaker 1: their their auditions, especially when they're starting off. And it

417
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,719
Speaker 1: was a non union project, and so I would scour

418
00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:32,760
Speaker 1: that all the time, and I found that one posting

419
00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:35,159
Speaker 1: and so I connected the dots. I went back to

420
00:26:35,240 --> 00:26:37,280
Speaker 1: that dude in the cafe and was like, hey, you know,

421
00:26:37,320 --> 00:26:39,280
Speaker 1: he's that the guy and blah blah blah blah. And

422
00:26:39,280 --> 00:26:41,640
Speaker 1: then I went off and I auditioned and I got

423
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:46,040
Speaker 1: the role of Ozdric. Uh. And I played Ozdric as

424
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:51,400
Speaker 1: a drag queen on roller blades. Yeah, okay, follow me, Yeah,

425
00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,879
Speaker 1: stay with me. I like it because the director and

426
00:26:54,960 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 1: I were chatting about, you know, what it is that

427
00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:01,040
Speaker 1: he wanted to do with the production in and you know,

428
00:27:01,080 --> 00:27:03,520
Speaker 1: and I love that stuff. I love someone being like, yeah,

429
00:27:03,560 --> 00:27:05,879
Speaker 1: let's flip the swit like the script, let's do it.

430
00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 1: Let's figure out how you are going to add value

431
00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:12,480
Speaker 1: to this production. And so I had shown up in

432
00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:18,119
Speaker 1: role blades. I can't believe that with a mohawk, and

433
00:27:18,119 --> 00:27:21,000
Speaker 1: and I did the piece, you know, first of all

434
00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:23,280
Speaker 1: without rollers. But then I said, hey, you know, I've

435
00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:24,679
Speaker 1: got this idea. What do you think if I do

436
00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:26,520
Speaker 1: it like this? And like I said, it was an

437
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:30,439
Speaker 1: abandoned school. Um. And so I would roll a blade

438
00:27:30,480 --> 00:27:35,159
Speaker 1: around as I would would do the my audition and

439
00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:38,120
Speaker 1: and then speak. That ended up being part of the show. Um.

440
00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:42,119
Speaker 1: And so that was my first kind of transition into

441
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:45,679
Speaker 1: doing work and being paid for work. And it was

442
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,399
Speaker 1: still at the time that I was still sleeping on

443
00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,159
Speaker 1: the floor. Um. And so there was one night that

444
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:54,560
Speaker 1: I was like, I I'm going to sleep here in

445
00:27:54,640 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 1: the theater, in this abandoned school because I made more

446
00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:02,399
Speaker 1: sense for me to be there. I didn't have to

447
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,560
Speaker 1: be anywhere, you know. And and that's kind of my

448
00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,200
Speaker 1: first moment of realizing like how much it fed me,

449
00:28:09,760 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 1: how much doing this kind of work in the most obscure,

450
00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:20,040
Speaker 1: strange way but yet magical for me. Everybody else may

451
00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: maybe like horrified, but for me, it was so magical

452
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:27,359
Speaker 1: to connect those dots. And that kind of was the

453
00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:30,600
Speaker 1: turning point for me, because then after that then I

454
00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:33,840
Speaker 1: was like super hyper focused on getting into Shakespeare in

455
00:28:33,880 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: the Park and super focused on trying to figure out

456
00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:41,600
Speaker 1: what and how what I needed to do to have

457
00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:46,000
Speaker 1: longevity in this business. And so from there it went

458
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:49,160
Speaker 1: off and I got Shakespeare in the Park welfth Night,

459
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:54,200
Speaker 1: and I really enjoyed that audition process. I really enjoyed that, um,

460
00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:58,320
Speaker 1: the process of rehearsal um. You know, I really I

461
00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 1: thought that I had made it. I was like, I've

462
00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:01,640
Speaker 1: come here to do shakes me to the Park, New

463
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,840
Speaker 1: York conquered. He'll be yes, I'm you know, spear carrying

464
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: number three. Um, but I did not care, you know.

465
00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 1: I mean, there was the possibility of understudying someone, but

466
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:15,440
Speaker 1: I was like, whatever, I've made it. Here we go. Um.

467
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,480
Speaker 1: And then at that same time is when I got

468
00:29:18,760 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 1: my first film audition. And the film audition was for

469
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:24,960
Speaker 1: a movie called The Perfect Score. I've done one indie

470
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:26,960
Speaker 1: film before that, but this was my first kind of

471
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: bigger Wait, this is your first film audition The Perfect Score? Yeah, yeah,

472
00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,040
Speaker 1: my first real film audition. The one before, I guess

473
00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: it was like an indie film, a New York indie

474
00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:41,440
Speaker 1: film that kind of, you know, was more of a

475
00:29:41,520 --> 00:29:45,960
Speaker 1: homegrown project. This was my first like, hey, this script

476
00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:49,200
Speaker 1: has done, this has been financed, you know, here we go,

477
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,800
Speaker 1: my first Hollywood film, so to speak. So his first audition,

478
00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 1: he ends up landing the role in The Perfect Score

479
00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:02,040
Speaker 1: cast alongside Scarlett Johansson Chris Evans Christensen. What kind of

480
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:05,640
Speaker 1: a moment was that for you? Oh? You know what?

481
00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:09,480
Speaker 1: It was a moment like, I swear to god, it

482
00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:13,600
Speaker 1: felt like I was in fame, Like I swear, I

483
00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:16,760
Speaker 1: should you not? So I'm in I'm at the public

484
00:30:16,840 --> 00:30:20,000
Speaker 1: theater right and I am, like I said, I'm like

485
00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:23,479
Speaker 1: so chuffed. I'm like, yeah, man, I've made this is

486
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:27,560
Speaker 1: so great. And I go to the bathroom and i

487
00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,080
Speaker 1: see thirteen miss calls and I'm like, what the fuck like?

488
00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:35,840
Speaker 1: And mind you how I got the role was so

489
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,120
Speaker 1: you know, when I said, hey, I've I learned how

490
00:30:39,160 --> 00:30:41,880
Speaker 1: to feed my beast, right, I look, I was. I

491
00:30:41,880 --> 00:30:45,440
Speaker 1: started to be open to the receptors of that as

492
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 1: an artist, like what can feed me? You know, new perspectives.

493
00:30:49,120 --> 00:30:52,120
Speaker 1: And I've never done yoga, so I go do yoga.

494
00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,640
Speaker 1: And I had auditioned already tried to audition for this role.

495
00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:01,440
Speaker 1: You know, I scoured the breakdown of all the auditions

496
00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:06,000
Speaker 1: I'd scoured backstage. I'd learned that every movie needed to

497
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:10,080
Speaker 1: have a film permit, and they got film permits by

498
00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,880
Speaker 1: going down to city Hall. And so from there you

499
00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:15,120
Speaker 1: were able to find out the phone number of a

500
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:18,000
Speaker 1: production and there was a name so you could call

501
00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:23,000
Speaker 1: and call someone. I mean, you love this, yo, I

502
00:31:23,080 --> 00:31:28,840
Speaker 1: was like laser focus. Yeah, and so anyone out there,

503
00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:31,400
Speaker 1: That's what I'm saying, Like, you can do it man. Anyway,

504
00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: So I I find out about this project. I had

505
00:31:34,040 --> 00:31:36,840
Speaker 1: heard about the perfect score they were looking for, you know,

506
00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:39,960
Speaker 1: a character that was originally um, you know, it's just

507
00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:43,480
Speaker 1: a teenager, uh, and then assumed as a white character.

508
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: But I submitted, and then it came around again a

509
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:48,840
Speaker 1: couple of months later and it was you know, um,

510
00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: an African American guy, and then and then nothing. I

511
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: submitted again. Then it said a Latino or African American

512
00:31:56,520 --> 00:32:00,520
Speaker 1: or white, and then it said open ethnicity. And I

513
00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,880
Speaker 1: was like, guys, I gotta fall under that, Like come on,

514
00:32:04,800 --> 00:32:09,520
Speaker 1: I'm purple, you know. And so then at that time,

515
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,880
Speaker 1: I go to that yoga class and someone I just

516
00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 1: got to know that was just happened to be next

517
00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: to me, and she is a baby print agent and

518
00:32:19,520 --> 00:32:22,200
Speaker 1: you know you you go to have tea or hang

519
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 1: out afterwards after you again, that's how I discovered that.

520
00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:27,200
Speaker 1: And so I said to him, you know what, there

521
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,280
Speaker 1: was this audition that I have been trying to submit for.

522
00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:33,880
Speaker 1: I think that they would be more receptive to it

523
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:36,600
Speaker 1: if it came from under the banner of an agency.

524
00:32:36,640 --> 00:32:39,400
Speaker 1: And she's like, you do realize it is literally for

525
00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 1: babies and for prints for baby magazine. That's what she does.

526
00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,040
Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't care, just go through it.

527
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,160
Speaker 1: And you know, she submitted me and I got in.

528
00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 1: But anyway, so then ye she calls me like thirteen

529
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:59,000
Speaker 1: thirteen miss calls and I was like, what is going on? Say?

530
00:32:59,120 --> 00:33:03,240
Speaker 1: I hear the voicemail and she says, hey, after after class,

531
00:33:03,360 --> 00:33:05,960
Speaker 1: come meet me. She's like, you got the You've got

532
00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:09,200
Speaker 1: the role. They're they're talking about offering you this three

533
00:33:09,240 --> 00:33:12,400
Speaker 1: picture deal and this and that, And I never experienced

534
00:33:12,400 --> 00:33:13,960
Speaker 1: any of this stuff. I was like, what is this

535
00:33:14,080 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 1: even moving? Right? And so then I go out there

536
00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:19,440
Speaker 1: and I at the public Theater at the time. There

537
00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:22,880
Speaker 1: was these glass doors and with a with a railing

538
00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 1: on it, and I went up to and I just

539
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:28,760
Speaker 1: kicked open the door and asked door plays like kicked

540
00:33:28,800 --> 00:33:31,959
Speaker 1: open the door, like you know, like, oh, I've made it.

541
00:33:32,000 --> 00:33:35,160
Speaker 1: Here we go. So that was my experience. It was

542
00:33:35,480 --> 00:33:37,960
Speaker 1: super wild man. And you know, I've got to say

543
00:33:38,000 --> 00:33:42,400
Speaker 1: like I went through a bit of a a crisis

544
00:33:42,440 --> 00:33:46,440
Speaker 1: at that time because here I was someone that had

545
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 1: gotten my dream of being in a part of the

546
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,200
Speaker 1: Shakespeare in the Park production, and I thought, for life,

547
00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:58,000
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna be doing theater for life. Then I

548
00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:02,520
Speaker 1: get this movie and it's you know, an ensemble role,

549
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,800
Speaker 1: and it's one of the leads, and I was so torn.

550
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 1: So I went to go to see Heidi Griffiths at

551
00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:11,560
Speaker 1: um Jordan's Faylor at the Public there were the Carson

552
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:16,480
Speaker 1: directors and I said to them, you know, like, oh

553
00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:18,480
Speaker 1: my god, I feel so sad that I had to

554
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:22,800
Speaker 1: tell them this. And they were like, are you crazy,

555
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:27,840
Speaker 1: Like what are you talking about? Like, oh, sweet child,

556
00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:31,960
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? And and and they really

557
00:34:32,000 --> 00:34:34,319
Speaker 1: put it into perspective for me that were like, Leo,

558
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:38,800
Speaker 1: you know your spear carrying number three, and it's wonderful

559
00:34:38,800 --> 00:34:41,239
Speaker 1: that you are part of this. But no one is

560
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:44,840
Speaker 1: going to go see an Asian Hamlet. They're just not

561
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 1: going to see that. They're not going to go see

562
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:52,400
Speaker 1: a Black Hamlet. They're going to see Denzel Washington as Hamlet,

563
00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:57,040
Speaker 1: or or they're gonna see Leonardo nam as that. That's

564
00:34:57,080 --> 00:34:59,879
Speaker 1: the perspective you've got to you've got to start to look.

565
00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,920
Speaker 1: And I thought, oh shit, okay, I'll do that. And

566
00:35:04,960 --> 00:35:07,520
Speaker 1: they said, go off and do that, Go do the movies,

567
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,560
Speaker 1: Go do these things that you need to do, and

568
00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:14,600
Speaker 1: then come back and then play this. And I thought, right,

569
00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:16,880
Speaker 1: that's what I'm gonna do. So HI do if you're listening.

570
00:35:17,440 --> 00:35:24,000
Speaker 1: I want to come back. That is so awesome. Oh god,

571
00:35:24,160 --> 00:35:27,080
Speaker 1: I love By the way, did the did the baby

572
00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:30,960
Speaker 1: print agent take ten percent? Oh yeah, oh yeah, she

573
00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:33,320
Speaker 1: talked ten percent? Let me tell you. And I remember

574
00:35:33,360 --> 00:35:38,520
Speaker 1: actually going into I actually broken my own deal. I

575
00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:41,600
Speaker 1: was like the one on the phone with business affairs,

576
00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,280
Speaker 1: you know, being like, yeah, okay, we'll hold on please,

577
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,400
Speaker 1: and then I put you know, put them on hold

578
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:51,279
Speaker 1: as if like I'm my own assistant. And then there

579
00:35:51,280 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 1: were these the other baby Print agents and I'd be like,

580
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:56,360
Speaker 1: what are we gonna do there? What does the schedule

581
00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:00,160
Speaker 1: f mean? They're like I don't know. And I was like, well,

582
00:36:00,200 --> 00:36:03,560
Speaker 1: like just double it. We did literally went in and

583
00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:05,920
Speaker 1: said and then just try to double it. We was

584
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:09,840
Speaker 1: so like, just went for it. It was great, get it.

585
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:12,239
Speaker 1: But I learned that you have to ask. You have

586
00:36:12,320 --> 00:36:16,799
Speaker 1: to ask. Um, this movie send your career in an

587
00:36:16,960 --> 00:36:20,160
Speaker 1: entirely new direction. I do have to mention. The next year,

588
00:36:20,560 --> 00:36:24,120
Speaker 1: he gets cast in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

589
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:32,120
Speaker 1: with notably my old boss coworker Ken Kappas. Oh yes, yes,

590
00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:37,479
Speaker 1: from the pilot. Yeah, what a what an amazing guy

591
00:36:37,560 --> 00:36:42,759
Speaker 1: he is? Huh, what an amazing gem he is. I

592
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 1: am so grateful that you know, he is such a

593
00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:53,360
Speaker 1: kind and gentle soul with you know, fantastic, fantastic you

594
00:36:53,360 --> 00:36:57,200
Speaker 1: know ability and taste. Really, I mean he cost me

595
00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:01,880
Speaker 1: and it cost you what doing no, but it was

596
00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,799
Speaker 1: it was a mixture of not only Ken Corpus, but

597
00:37:04,880 --> 00:37:07,960
Speaker 1: also Deborah Martin Chase, the producer of Sisters of the

598
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:11,960
Speaker 1: Traveling Pants. It was a you know, based on books,

599
00:37:12,760 --> 00:37:16,520
Speaker 1: pre existing books, and the role was written as a

600
00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:20,960
Speaker 1: blonde hair, blue eyed guy. And it was because Deborah

601
00:37:20,960 --> 00:37:24,920
Speaker 1: Martin Chase had seen me in the Perfect Score, you know,

602
00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,319
Speaker 1: she really and Ken had decided that, you know, there

603
00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,439
Speaker 1: is opportunity here to expand the story and to really

604
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 1: delve in deeper and what would what would it be

605
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:40,480
Speaker 1: like if I came on board the film and it's fantastic.

606
00:37:40,480 --> 00:37:43,880
Speaker 1: I mean, the Sister of the Traveling Pants um audience

607
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,719
Speaker 1: and the fans are just you know, fanatics that are wonderful.

608
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,319
Speaker 1: They gave me belief and hoping myself that the industry

609
00:37:51,120 --> 00:37:57,399
Speaker 1: would want to see actors and characters like me. And

610
00:37:57,520 --> 00:37:59,800
Speaker 1: it made me believe that you know, even though something

611
00:37:59,880 --> 00:38:02,880
Speaker 1: is written a certain way, when if you get wonderful

612
00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:06,720
Speaker 1: minds together, then a whole new world can be cracked open.

613
00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:09,480
Speaker 1: Little did I know that not everyone things like that,

614
00:38:10,200 --> 00:38:12,160
Speaker 1: you know, And I was very lucky that my early

615
00:38:12,200 --> 00:38:14,360
Speaker 1: in my career that I was kind of helped along

616
00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,239
Speaker 1: by people like that, and it really you know, said, yeah,

617
00:38:17,280 --> 00:38:19,600
Speaker 1: it really did set my my career in a new

618
00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:22,240
Speaker 1: track because of that. You know, you talked early on

619
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,839
Speaker 1: about not seeing a lot of people that looked like

620
00:38:26,000 --> 00:38:31,560
Speaker 1: you in in the film as a kid that spoke English,

621
00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:33,840
Speaker 1: that spoke English, that was a big deal to that

622
00:38:33,880 --> 00:38:38,359
Speaker 1: spoke English, that lived in a world like mind, having

623
00:38:38,400 --> 00:38:41,080
Speaker 1: experiences like mind, Sorry going no. Do you do you

624
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,760
Speaker 1: think that this this opportunity and sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

625
00:38:44,800 --> 00:38:47,799
Speaker 1: Do you think that that began to maybe crack that

626
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:52,360
Speaker 1: door open a little bit for other Asian actors and

627
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:55,680
Speaker 1: and for for viewers as well to see a more

628
00:38:55,880 --> 00:39:00,840
Speaker 1: diverse canvas if you will. Yeah, you know, it's I

629
00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:03,920
Speaker 1: have to say that. Um. You know, throughout my career,

630
00:39:04,960 --> 00:39:08,280
Speaker 1: people have you know, consistently come up to me and

631
00:39:08,600 --> 00:39:11,600
Speaker 1: talk to me about how impactful it was to see

632
00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 1: my face on the poster of a movie. But we'll

633
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:17,719
Speaker 1: be like, oh my God, Like, I never knew that

634
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:21,479
Speaker 1: we could have our face up there. I never knew that.

635
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,200
Speaker 1: And there are people in this industry that have come

636
00:39:25,239 --> 00:39:27,319
Speaker 1: up to me and said, oh, because of seeing you

637
00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:30,160
Speaker 1: and that I have now been decided to take on

638
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,360
Speaker 1: this career and what have you. And sister of the

639
00:39:32,440 --> 00:39:35,520
Speaker 1: Driving Pants also did did do that. And I'll give

640
00:39:35,560 --> 00:39:38,640
Speaker 1: the example of just how one mind was was changed.

641
00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:42,440
Speaker 1: So you know, as you can imagine, people were very

642
00:39:42,719 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 1: they're rabid fans of the book. You know obviously as

643
00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:47,359
Speaker 1: to why they made it into a movie. You don't

644
00:39:47,360 --> 00:39:49,640
Speaker 1: want to mess with like fourteen year old girls, man,

645
00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,200
Speaker 1: like fourteen year old girls, and they found out was

646
00:39:52,360 --> 00:39:57,040
Speaker 1: something like that is it, mate? You better watch out?

647
00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,879
Speaker 1: And I had no idea. And so I remember when

648
00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:04,080
Speaker 1: I did the film, and um I would get these

649
00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:08,400
Speaker 1: this fan mail and um no, always fans because I

650
00:40:08,440 --> 00:40:10,560
Speaker 1: remember this one girl wrote to me and it was

651
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:13,279
Speaker 1: in like you know, bubble writing with like you know,

652
00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:16,960
Speaker 1: love hearts over the eyes and that kind of stuff, right,

653
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:21,440
Speaker 1: but it was vicious. It was like, I don't see

654
00:40:21,480 --> 00:40:25,200
Speaker 1: you as this character. You don't look like him. What

655
00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:28,440
Speaker 1: makes you think that you can play him? You're ruining

656
00:40:28,600 --> 00:40:32,120
Speaker 1: this Like that, and I just was like, whoa. And

657
00:40:32,160 --> 00:40:34,319
Speaker 1: it was really kind of a strange feeling. I was

658
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:36,120
Speaker 1: like kind of looking over my shoulder, being like, oh

659
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:37,920
Speaker 1: my god, is this fourteen year old girl going to

660
00:40:38,000 --> 00:40:43,600
Speaker 1: be the one that like? But but then, but then

661
00:40:43,760 --> 00:40:47,720
Speaker 1: actually the film came out and that same girl wrote

662
00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:52,359
Speaker 1: to me and she said, I'm sorry that I said that.

663
00:40:52,880 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: I saw the film and you were wonderful in it.

664
00:40:57,000 --> 00:40:59,960
Speaker 1: You know, you made Brian more than what I thought

665
00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,480
Speaker 1: he was going to be. And you know that basically

666
00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:05,400
Speaker 1: now that she was on a fan and on board,

667
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:11,360
Speaker 1: and I remember being like, what, like, I this random person,

668
00:41:11,840 --> 00:41:14,560
Speaker 1: their mind has been changed? And I think so. I

669
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:16,680
Speaker 1: think I think it did change people's minds after that

670
00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,680
Speaker 1: a little bit, I have to say, you know, it

671
00:41:19,960 --> 00:41:42,240
Speaker 1: must have. I think, yeah, you continue on a number

672
00:41:42,280 --> 00:41:44,760
Speaker 1: of roles. I want to talk a little bit about

673
00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:49,880
Speaker 1: West World. I was so blown away by the story,

674
00:41:50,200 --> 00:41:56,319
Speaker 1: first of all, and the potential I don't know, political

675
00:41:56,800 --> 00:42:04,520
Speaker 1: or geopolitical ramifications of this created world, the class and

676
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:10,279
Speaker 1: money and control, and um, did you were you given

677
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:14,920
Speaker 1: the opportunity to read the script before you auditioned? M

678
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:19,879
Speaker 1: uh no, hell no, are you kidding me? So far?

679
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:24,839
Speaker 1: Down the totem pole. But I did know very early on.

680
00:42:25,200 --> 00:42:28,000
Speaker 1: You know, I've been very lucky to have people in

681
00:42:28,000 --> 00:42:32,520
Speaker 1: my corner that look at me as as I think

682
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:36,200
Speaker 1: an actor, as an artist, as someone that can create

683
00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:39,280
Speaker 1: a character. And so there was the Custo and director

684
00:42:39,360 --> 00:42:41,960
Speaker 1: John poppsy Darius, someone that has you know, for the

685
00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:45,200
Speaker 1: longest time would bring me in on things, you know,

686
00:42:45,280 --> 00:42:50,960
Speaker 1: someone that reflects back to you, like the the idea that, um,

687
00:42:51,040 --> 00:42:54,239
Speaker 1: you can possibly play these roles Like I'd always be like,

688
00:42:54,560 --> 00:42:56,839
Speaker 1: you think I can play this role? Like wow, very

689
00:42:56,880 --> 00:42:59,640
Speaker 1: like I was. I was really flattered, you know, like

690
00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:01,719
Speaker 1: every time it would be a role that I'm like

691
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:06,400
Speaker 1: what wow? Um. And so when this role came around,

692
00:43:07,200 --> 00:43:10,160
Speaker 1: you know, I was in down in the dumps in

693
00:43:10,200 --> 00:43:14,400
Speaker 1: regards to the industry, and I had a really hard time,

694
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:19,759
Speaker 1: you know, trying to uh find and reinvent myself. You know,

695
00:43:20,200 --> 00:43:22,279
Speaker 1: people had seen me for so long as only like

696
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:26,120
Speaker 1: a young teenager. And then again with the industry, there

697
00:43:26,200 --> 00:43:29,000
Speaker 1: just wasn't a lot of opportunity for people that look

698
00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:32,759
Speaker 1: like me. I turned down other roles, and little did

699
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,959
Speaker 1: I know that in turning down those roles, there would

700
00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:39,359
Speaker 1: not be other lead roles that for people that look

701
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:41,560
Speaker 1: like it just didn't exist, and I kept being like, no,

702
00:43:41,680 --> 00:43:43,319
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that stuff. I want to

703
00:43:43,320 --> 00:43:46,280
Speaker 1: do this kind of work. So ironically, in a way,

704
00:43:46,440 --> 00:43:49,440
Speaker 1: the lowest point in my career where really in this

705
00:43:49,520 --> 00:43:53,240
Speaker 1: really hard place that I was at, this little gift

706
00:43:53,320 --> 00:43:57,440
Speaker 1: came in again from someone that has the vision like John,

707
00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:01,239
Speaker 1: and they asked me to come into play this role

708
00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,360
Speaker 1: of Felix of it was just called LUTs at the time,

709
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,120
Speaker 1: and he gave me an idea and a breakdown of

710
00:44:08,239 --> 00:44:10,880
Speaker 1: what the story is and just a little bit of

711
00:44:10,920 --> 00:44:14,399
Speaker 1: information and he basically said, you know, come in and

712
00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:19,160
Speaker 1: you know, go nuts, go go do magic um. And

713
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:22,640
Speaker 1: what I've always loved about going into to see people

714
00:44:22,680 --> 00:44:25,560
Speaker 1: like John Papsida and other other fantastic cast and directors

715
00:44:25,640 --> 00:44:28,839
Speaker 1: or producers or directors that think in this way, they

716
00:44:28,880 --> 00:44:32,760
Speaker 1: always have me in the room with other random types.

717
00:44:33,360 --> 00:44:35,399
Speaker 1: You know, if there was like a sixth year old

718
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:37,960
Speaker 1: you know African American lady and I are playing, are

719
00:44:38,040 --> 00:44:40,719
Speaker 1: going in for the same role as well as you know,

720
00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,239
Speaker 1: a forty year old you know, Latin guy, and we're

721
00:44:44,239 --> 00:44:47,359
Speaker 1: all going in for the same kind of particular role.

722
00:44:48,000 --> 00:44:50,279
Speaker 1: So so I go in for the audition and it's

723
00:44:50,320 --> 00:44:52,600
Speaker 1: a whole bunch of different people and I just was like,

724
00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:55,360
Speaker 1: oh my god, oh shit. But what I wanted to

725
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:57,440
Speaker 1: really play with this character and I thought would be

726
00:44:57,480 --> 00:45:01,520
Speaker 1: really interesting is that this guy that just finding in

727
00:45:01,640 --> 00:45:05,560
Speaker 1: himself his own awakening. One of the questions that they're

728
00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:09,160
Speaker 1: asking was the evolution of sin, and I just thought,

729
00:45:09,200 --> 00:45:11,640
Speaker 1: Oh my god, wouldn't this be I just kept getting

730
00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:14,080
Speaker 1: this image of like a dove. This guy was like

731
00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:18,239
Speaker 1: a dove in this theme park, and so this whole

732
00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 1: idea of like pure and innocence and then disawakening of

733
00:45:21,360 --> 00:45:24,160
Speaker 1: this dove that then has to go out there and like,

734
00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:25,960
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know what he's gonna have to do,

735
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,440
Speaker 1: but like this innocence and then just this birth that happens,

736
00:45:29,520 --> 00:45:34,160
Speaker 1: and so taking that with me and then also the

737
00:45:33,280 --> 00:45:38,040
Speaker 1: the name in itself LUTs, I was like, oh, it's

738
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:41,839
Speaker 1: like lots and lots of love, like and so I

739
00:45:41,920 --> 00:45:45,400
Speaker 1: kind of started to play around with this whole concept

740
00:45:45,480 --> 00:45:49,440
Speaker 1: of you know, having an awakening about love, um and

741
00:45:49,520 --> 00:45:52,439
Speaker 1: in this world where you know, they don't have love,

742
00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:54,960
Speaker 1: or this idea that they don't know how to feel

743
00:45:55,000 --> 00:45:57,799
Speaker 1: love or what that is that I have that. So

744
00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:00,680
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I tried to to hold on

745
00:46:00,800 --> 00:46:05,040
Speaker 1: too as I as I went through the audition process

746
00:46:05,120 --> 00:46:09,719
Speaker 1: and I didn't get access to the script um. And

747
00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:12,480
Speaker 1: even while we were filming, you know, I didn't for

748
00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:14,440
Speaker 1: the first season, I didn't get access to the script.

749
00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:17,000
Speaker 1: I'd just be called in for the scenes I needed

750
00:46:17,040 --> 00:46:19,560
Speaker 1: to do the days I needed to work. All the

751
00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:23,640
Speaker 1: stuff was blacked out around me. So you know, I

752
00:46:23,719 --> 00:46:28,600
Speaker 1: knew that it was written, but literally nothing could see nothing, um.

753
00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:31,960
Speaker 1: And so I was the guy on set where you know,

754
00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:34,560
Speaker 1: we we do these rehearsals and and the writers would

755
00:46:34,560 --> 00:46:37,520
Speaker 1: be there and I'd be like, um, I've got a question. Um,

756
00:46:37,840 --> 00:46:40,920
Speaker 1: you know, why does it say he grabs the door knob,

757
00:46:41,239 --> 00:46:43,759
Speaker 1: like because he's got to leave. I'm like, but why

758
00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:46,160
Speaker 1: did you write that? Like why can't he do this?

759
00:46:46,239 --> 00:46:48,200
Speaker 1: Why can't you do that? Why can't he push it?

760
00:46:48,280 --> 00:46:51,120
Speaker 1: Like I would just always be that guy that's asking

761
00:46:51,160 --> 00:46:53,080
Speaker 1: all these questions. I'd be like, I'm sorry, I have

762
00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:56,280
Speaker 1: to because there is no access to any other parts

763
00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:58,600
Speaker 1: of it. And so many times they they they'd have

764
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:02,760
Speaker 1: they'd say, I wish I could tell you, I wish

765
00:47:02,840 --> 00:47:05,839
Speaker 1: I could tell you, I just I just can't. But

766
00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:08,000
Speaker 1: but if you feel that you go for it, you

767
00:47:08,360 --> 00:47:10,680
Speaker 1: just go for it and then the director will will

768
00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:14,399
Speaker 1: will reel you in in that way. And so that's

769
00:47:14,480 --> 00:47:17,440
Speaker 1: kind of how it started. And I would every time

770
00:47:17,480 --> 00:47:22,200
Speaker 1: I would go into set, two things would happen. My

771
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:25,279
Speaker 1: I needed to have an entry point each time. And

772
00:47:25,320 --> 00:47:27,960
Speaker 1: so I recognized that after we did the pilot that

773
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:30,080
Speaker 1: was like a six month break and then we you know,

774
00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:33,960
Speaker 1: started shooting the series, that it was going to be

775
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:38,280
Speaker 1: really sporadic for me. And so I was discovering opera

776
00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:42,239
Speaker 1: at the time, and it was just something that I

777
00:47:42,280 --> 00:47:47,279
Speaker 1: happened to stumble upon. Then started to use opera as

778
00:47:47,400 --> 00:47:51,800
Speaker 1: my way into two play lot interesting getting into westwell,

779
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:56,400
Speaker 1: because they needed to have a feeling of change. Everything

780
00:47:56,640 --> 00:48:00,640
Speaker 1: just changes the vibration. And so what we shot in

781
00:48:00,680 --> 00:48:03,080
Speaker 1: Santa Clarita, it took me forty minutes to drive up there.

782
00:48:03,120 --> 00:48:05,239
Speaker 1: I would listen to opera and it would be a

783
00:48:05,560 --> 00:48:08,840
Speaker 1: way of changing everything, and then I would receive the

784
00:48:08,840 --> 00:48:14,399
Speaker 1: script and go in with that mindset. Wow. Yeah, it's

785
00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:18,200
Speaker 1: interesting too because the show itself and some of those

786
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:22,359
Speaker 1: early scenes in the lab, is that the right word

787
00:48:22,440 --> 00:48:26,880
Speaker 1: in the lab Lab and the body shop. The body shop,

788
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:31,600
Speaker 1: they yeah, yeah, kind of have an operaretic feel to

789
00:48:31,760 --> 00:48:38,400
Speaker 1: them in a way. And your preciseness of movement within

790
00:48:38,440 --> 00:48:46,719
Speaker 1: a world of robots basically very interesting, fascinating. Thanks man I,

791
00:48:47,160 --> 00:48:49,560
Speaker 1: it was you know, so much of that first season

792
00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:53,120
Speaker 1: everyone was asking am I a host or am my humans?

793
00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:58,440
Speaker 1: And you know, I didn't know. The creators wouldn't tell

794
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:02,120
Speaker 1: me either. They just played this scene and these are

795
00:49:02,120 --> 00:49:04,279
Speaker 1: the boundaries, and there's you know, and this is what

796
00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:08,800
Speaker 1: we're talking about. Um. But one thing that I will

797
00:49:09,200 --> 00:49:13,839
Speaker 1: never forget is that Jonah would always say to me, Leo,

798
00:49:13,960 --> 00:49:18,520
Speaker 1: this is entertainment. All of this is happening and all,

799
00:49:18,840 --> 00:49:21,000
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, it's entertainment. You've

800
00:49:21,000 --> 00:49:25,080
Speaker 1: got to entertain. And so that was my the way

801
00:49:25,120 --> 00:49:30,080
Speaker 1: I interpreted that was everything that you do on screen

802
00:49:30,400 --> 00:49:37,960
Speaker 1: has to be breathtaking, has to be super hyper focused,

803
00:49:38,239 --> 00:49:42,040
Speaker 1: because the scenes that we did were super quiet, were

804
00:49:42,120 --> 00:49:44,880
Speaker 1: very quiet, and they could be very boring, and they

805
00:49:44,920 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 1: could be, but I needed to find something that that

806
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:51,440
Speaker 1: would heighten it. And so that also, to me, was

807
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:56,040
Speaker 1: the reason why I used opera as well, because it's

808
00:49:56,080 --> 00:50:00,319
Speaker 1: life or death. You know, like everything that this guy

809
00:50:00,360 --> 00:50:03,920
Speaker 1: that Letts was doing was life or death. I'm a target.

810
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:10,239
Speaker 1: Or what I also saw was I now see humanity

811
00:50:10,320 --> 00:50:14,560
Speaker 1: and love in something else that I've never seen. And

812
00:50:14,640 --> 00:50:17,400
Speaker 1: so then that is the awakening for me. And once

813
00:50:17,640 --> 00:50:21,799
Speaker 1: once you see that, you can never unsee that. So

814
00:50:22,120 --> 00:50:24,800
Speaker 1: that's what I held onto as as I was filming.

815
00:50:26,320 --> 00:50:30,279
Speaker 1: I love that nominated for a SAG Award for Outstanding

816
00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:36,560
Speaker 1: Ensemble for a Drama Series. That must have been fun, right,

817
00:50:37,000 --> 00:50:40,080
Speaker 1: Oh man, it was so fun, And I've got to say,

818
00:50:40,160 --> 00:50:42,920
Speaker 1: like it was so wonderful. I worked, you know, a

819
00:50:42,920 --> 00:50:46,839
Speaker 1: lot with Tandy Way, and her leadership is something I'm

820
00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 1: never going to forget, like her lovely way of including everyone,

821
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:56,120
Speaker 1: of really kind of cheering on everyone. And so when

822
00:50:56,239 --> 00:50:59,160
Speaker 1: when that nomination came by, I remember she called me

823
00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:03,000
Speaker 1: and she and she said we did it. We did it,

824
00:51:04,080 --> 00:51:09,200
Speaker 1: And I was like, wow, like we you did? Like

825
00:51:09,280 --> 00:51:12,640
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? Right? But just her way

826
00:51:12,680 --> 00:51:15,759
Speaker 1: of you know, really kind of bringing everyone in and

827
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:20,320
Speaker 1: saying no, it was like all at what we're talking about,

828
00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:22,520
Speaker 1: like this evolution of sin, of these themes, and that

829
00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:25,840
Speaker 1: would have you that stuff bled out onto the set

830
00:51:25,920 --> 00:51:30,040
Speaker 1: like we would talk about humanity. We would talk about

831
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:35,280
Speaker 1: what it means to be human between ourselves. In between tapes,

832
00:51:35,800 --> 00:51:38,560
Speaker 1: we would talk I was just having kids at that time,

833
00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:41,960
Speaker 1: and she had kids already, and we would talk about,

834
00:51:42,320 --> 00:51:45,560
Speaker 1: you know, what it means to now be in the

835
00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:49,160
Speaker 1: presence of another soul that is here. And I was

836
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:53,000
Speaker 1: just trying to figure out what's happening, you know, Like

837
00:51:53,040 --> 00:51:54,680
Speaker 1: I was like, what are you? What's going on? And

838
00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:58,680
Speaker 1: this is crazy, you know, and and so a lot

839
00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:02,000
Speaker 1: of that was also like involved in the scenes, and

840
00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:05,120
Speaker 1: so it was so wonderful to hear when she called

841
00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:07,200
Speaker 1: me and was like, we did it. It It was wonderful.

842
00:52:07,800 --> 00:52:09,920
Speaker 1: It was great. It was a great feeling. Pretty part

843
00:52:09,920 --> 00:52:15,080
Speaker 1: of that uh in you hosted HBO celebration of the

844
00:52:15,080 --> 00:52:21,200
Speaker 1: Asian Pacific American Visionaries Showcase. How cool was that to

845
00:52:21,280 --> 00:52:25,080
Speaker 1: be a part of that competition and that celebration. First

846
00:52:25,120 --> 00:52:28,319
Speaker 1: of all, is wonderful to know that um HBO was

847
00:52:28,600 --> 00:52:32,359
Speaker 1: backing something like this right um where they're looking for

848
00:52:32,480 --> 00:52:36,080
Speaker 1: to give opportunities and give breaks to people and and

849
00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:40,399
Speaker 1: specifically people that of the A p I community so

850
00:52:40,440 --> 00:52:45,080
Speaker 1: that they can learn to in a way make refined work.

851
00:52:45,480 --> 00:52:48,520
Speaker 1: Because if you haven't been given an opportunity over the years,

852
00:52:48,560 --> 00:52:51,600
Speaker 1: you don't know how to out keep elevating the work,

853
00:52:51,920 --> 00:52:54,239
Speaker 1: and so it was really important for me too. And

854
00:52:54,280 --> 00:52:56,440
Speaker 1: I was so flattered that they invited me to be

855
00:52:56,480 --> 00:53:00,000
Speaker 1: a part of that because I then started to connect

856
00:53:00,320 --> 00:53:04,279
Speaker 1: with new filmmakers and it's wonderful to be a part

857
00:53:04,320 --> 00:53:06,280
Speaker 1: of that. It kind of gives you fresh eyes again

858
00:53:06,560 --> 00:53:08,640
Speaker 1: in that same way of you know, when I played

859
00:53:08,640 --> 00:53:11,799
Speaker 1: Ozric for the first time or yeah, I was like, Oh,

860
00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:15,360
Speaker 1: this is fantastic, Wow, so passionate about this that it

861
00:53:15,480 --> 00:53:17,400
Speaker 1: was so interesting to be on the other side of

862
00:53:17,440 --> 00:53:20,600
Speaker 1: that and to see these filmmakers that it knew that

863
00:53:21,160 --> 00:53:24,480
Speaker 1: you know, just like bursting out of their skin, just

864
00:53:24,640 --> 00:53:28,799
Speaker 1: wanting to tell these stories and pouring their hard into it.

865
00:53:28,800 --> 00:53:31,000
Speaker 1: It was great. It was super wonderful and and it

866
00:53:31,120 --> 00:53:35,040
Speaker 1: continues on, you know, the HBO Visionaries. I can't wait

867
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:37,279
Speaker 1: to see what they're going to do next. Man. Yeah,

868
00:53:37,719 --> 00:53:39,760
Speaker 1: let me ask you this. Do you feel a sense

869
00:53:39,840 --> 00:53:44,880
Speaker 1: of responsibility in terms of representing both the Asian American

870
00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:50,600
Speaker 1: community the LGBTQ communities through your work or do you

871
00:53:50,840 --> 00:53:54,640
Speaker 1: feel like you're just a guy playing a character, Like

872
00:53:54,719 --> 00:53:58,640
Speaker 1: how important is it for you your identity or is

873
00:53:58,719 --> 00:54:00,959
Speaker 1: it for you just about out the work and trying

874
00:54:01,000 --> 00:54:06,239
Speaker 1: to normalize those aspects of yourself, you know, I it's

875
00:54:06,280 --> 00:54:10,560
Speaker 1: a really interesting question that I hope we can continue

876
00:54:10,600 --> 00:54:12,239
Speaker 1: to be asked over the years, because I think it's

877
00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:16,200
Speaker 1: going to change. So back in the day, UM, when

878
00:54:16,280 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 1: I first started, there was no way that you could

879
00:54:18,719 --> 00:54:22,600
Speaker 1: be someone that is out, that is gay, that also

880
00:54:23,000 --> 00:54:26,800
Speaker 1: that is a non white male as the lead telling

881
00:54:27,080 --> 00:54:32,040
Speaker 1: these non white male stories because everything was centered around that. Um.

882
00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:38,760
Speaker 1: Now I feel like there is more space for stories

883
00:54:38,880 --> 00:54:42,919
Speaker 1: to be told that are focused on other narratives as well,

884
00:54:43,520 --> 00:54:48,160
Speaker 1: And my responsibility within that is to be the best

885
00:54:48,239 --> 00:54:51,120
Speaker 1: actor that I can be to tell the stories, to

886
00:54:51,200 --> 00:54:54,160
Speaker 1: give life and breath to those voices that would otherwise

887
00:54:54,239 --> 00:54:58,480
Speaker 1: be unheard. But I also recognize that I am in

888
00:54:58,560 --> 00:55:01,879
Speaker 1: a position where I do need to say something by

889
00:55:01,920 --> 00:55:04,680
Speaker 1: the very being of who I am, and part of

890
00:55:04,840 --> 00:55:08,719
Speaker 1: that journey for me has also become in has has

891
00:55:08,760 --> 00:55:13,360
Speaker 1: happened in becoming a father. My journey in being a

892
00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:18,120
Speaker 1: father and finding my voice in a community that has

893
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:22,320
Speaker 1: been under served and underrepresented, and to normalize that is

894
00:55:22,440 --> 00:55:24,120
Speaker 1: part of now my journey too, So it's kind of

895
00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:26,759
Speaker 1: a two pronged thing that happens. You know, for the

896
00:55:26,880 --> 00:55:30,680
Speaker 1: longest time, I was only of the thought that you

897
00:55:30,880 --> 00:55:34,480
Speaker 1: do your work as the actor and nothing else can

898
00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:38,840
Speaker 1: come into it. You, by your very presence is political.

899
00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:44,200
Speaker 1: That's that's it, that's your power. And now I feel

900
00:55:44,360 --> 00:55:49,359
Speaker 1: like it's shifting and it's changing. And definitely you, by

901
00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:53,080
Speaker 1: your very nature that's still is very much true, is political,

902
00:55:54,160 --> 00:55:57,080
Speaker 1: by the very nature of who you are in that role,

903
00:55:57,400 --> 00:55:59,480
Speaker 1: doing the work that you do, bringing the life that

904
00:55:59,560 --> 00:56:04,520
Speaker 1: you do. But I also recognize that we have now,

905
00:56:04,760 --> 00:56:07,759
Speaker 1: because of the technology of these different platforms, these other

906
00:56:07,840 --> 00:56:13,440
Speaker 1: opportunities to be the face of or to represent another

907
00:56:13,520 --> 00:56:16,279
Speaker 1: part of the community. And it's important that we do,

908
00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:21,439
Speaker 1: I think, because it's important that we keep showing these

909
00:56:21,760 --> 00:56:24,960
Speaker 1: um these different facets and sides of a community that

910
00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:29,320
Speaker 1: has never been seen and has been marginalized. So I

911
00:56:29,520 --> 00:56:33,120
Speaker 1: now do take more responsibility of that. Part of that

912
00:56:33,440 --> 00:56:38,800
Speaker 1: responsibility is now turned into producing projects, you know, that

913
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:45,200
Speaker 1: where I now see opportunities that like the HBO Visionary Awards.

914
00:56:45,239 --> 00:56:48,640
Speaker 1: But I started to get access to these young filmmakers

915
00:56:48,960 --> 00:56:51,400
Speaker 1: and these these storytellers where I now am able to

916
00:56:51,480 --> 00:56:55,160
Speaker 1: say Oh, actually, that's so interesting. I wrote resonate with

917
00:56:55,280 --> 00:56:57,640
Speaker 1: that I can connect you with these other people to

918
00:56:57,800 --> 00:57:04,000
Speaker 1: hopefully make space in the entertainment industry for that story.

919
00:57:04,600 --> 00:57:07,360
Speaker 1: Um So I think, I think, um, it's only going

920
00:57:07,400 --> 00:57:10,400
Speaker 1: to keep growing. Um but I do hope that we

921
00:57:10,880 --> 00:57:13,440
Speaker 1: that you know, we we keep asking this question, and

922
00:57:13,840 --> 00:57:17,640
Speaker 1: in another ten fifteen years it will be different, right,

923
00:57:17,840 --> 00:57:22,200
Speaker 1: it'll yeah, it'll be different. It will be evolved. Who

924
00:57:22,240 --> 00:57:26,120
Speaker 1: knows what. Yeah. I love that you've gotten into producing

925
00:57:26,240 --> 00:57:29,920
Speaker 1: and you're accessing those young filmmakers that HBO is is

926
00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:33,640
Speaker 1: highlighting and isn't that kind of the point. So that's

927
00:57:34,160 --> 00:57:38,520
Speaker 1: that's that's awesome. I can't say goodbye without mentioning, Maggie,

928
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:44,800
Speaker 1: your new show on Hulu with my old pound Angelique

929
00:57:44,840 --> 00:57:50,280
Speaker 1: cabral Uh. Very different by the way, than a lot

930
00:57:50,360 --> 00:57:54,880
Speaker 1: of your other work. Romantic Comedy is very different than

931
00:57:55,040 --> 00:57:59,960
Speaker 1: than West World. I know you play Amy, played by Angelique,

932
00:58:00,800 --> 00:58:04,360
Speaker 1: her fiance. She is a psychic. My question for you

933
00:58:05,120 --> 00:58:09,240
Speaker 1: is our psychics real? Oh? Yeah, I think psychics are real.

934
00:58:09,800 --> 00:58:11,920
Speaker 1: Let me tell you a man, like there are so

935
00:58:12,080 --> 00:58:15,600
Speaker 1: many times that that someone has said something and then

936
00:58:15,640 --> 00:58:19,040
Speaker 1: it happens that you're like That's where some people are

937
00:58:19,120 --> 00:58:21,440
Speaker 1: just more in tune with that kind of stuff, Like

938
00:58:21,680 --> 00:58:23,200
Speaker 1: they can say I feel like this is gonna and

939
00:58:23,240 --> 00:58:26,120
Speaker 1: then it happens, and I'm like, well, that's a little

940
00:58:26,160 --> 00:58:28,840
Speaker 1: crazy that, you know, every time you say it's going

941
00:58:28,880 --> 00:58:30,760
Speaker 1: to happen, it happens. So I've met people like that,

942
00:58:31,480 --> 00:58:33,120
Speaker 1: but yeah, you know, doing that role on like on

943
00:58:33,280 --> 00:58:38,680
Speaker 1: Maggie was like such a interesting muscle for me to use,

944
00:58:39,000 --> 00:58:42,000
Speaker 1: and I wanted to do that. I wanted to swing

945
00:58:42,200 --> 00:58:46,760
Speaker 1: into comedy, and I wanted to swing into something that

946
00:58:46,920 --> 00:58:50,120
Speaker 1: didn't necessarily have to be a network show or you know,

947
00:58:50,360 --> 00:58:52,680
Speaker 1: a streamer show, but I knew I wanted to play

948
00:58:52,720 --> 00:58:56,120
Speaker 1: in the comedy space. And once I started to read

949
00:58:56,280 --> 00:59:00,080
Speaker 1: for Maggie and that started to become a reality, it

950
00:59:00,320 --> 00:59:04,160
Speaker 1: was such an interesting brain shift for me. You know,

951
00:59:04,200 --> 00:59:07,040
Speaker 1: I've never been in a show that's just like an

952
00:59:07,080 --> 00:59:10,000
Speaker 1: episode episodic show. I guess I've never done that before,

953
00:59:10,040 --> 00:59:12,640
Speaker 1: and it's a different beast and the way that that

954
00:59:12,840 --> 00:59:17,760
Speaker 1: comedy rooms are run, and and also we shotted during COVID.

955
00:59:17,840 --> 00:59:21,360
Speaker 1: It was also another weird experience. But I've got to

956
00:59:21,400 --> 00:59:24,040
Speaker 1: say I really enjoyed it. I I really love that

957
00:59:24,160 --> 00:59:27,000
Speaker 1: I stretched myself to play that, and I hope it

958
00:59:27,120 --> 00:59:30,320
Speaker 1: was funny. I hope it was really entertaining for people.

959
00:59:30,800 --> 00:59:34,120
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think Maggie is so fun and so

960
00:59:34,360 --> 00:59:37,160
Speaker 1: great for you to show a different side of yourself.

961
00:59:37,680 --> 00:59:42,280
Speaker 1: You know, you and Angelique together both you know, amazing

962
00:59:42,600 --> 00:59:44,680
Speaker 1: in your own ways. Seeing the two of you playing

963
00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:48,760
Speaker 1: together is super super fun for me. Oh thanks man,

964
00:59:48,840 --> 00:59:50,960
Speaker 1: it was fun. It's fun to play fund to play

965
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:52,680
Speaker 1: with her, fun to play with everyone on that on

966
00:59:52,800 --> 00:59:55,600
Speaker 1: that show, Um and I and I've got to say

967
00:59:55,640 --> 00:59:57,960
Speaker 1: I love that. You know, when when I came on

968
00:59:58,040 --> 01:00:01,320
Speaker 1: board that show that they were really into the improv. Oh,

969
01:00:01,560 --> 01:00:04,880
Speaker 1: there was a lot of impro Oh okay, great, Yeah,

970
01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:09,000
Speaker 1: I was like, great, let's go, you know, um and

971
01:00:09,160 --> 01:00:12,080
Speaker 1: I then I had to learn the boundaries of that,

972
01:00:12,360 --> 01:00:18,840
Speaker 1: you know. I was like, oh, okay, you know, Um,

973
01:00:19,680 --> 01:00:25,240
Speaker 1: you are so delightful and so interesting and I wish

974
01:00:25,320 --> 01:00:28,680
Speaker 1: you nothing but the best coming up. I know you've

975
01:00:28,720 --> 01:00:31,000
Speaker 1: got a bunch more projects. You come back and talk

976
01:00:31,080 --> 01:00:34,680
Speaker 1: to me when Hummingbird comes out, and I look forward

977
01:00:34,720 --> 01:00:36,920
Speaker 1: to to speaking with you again and to continue to

978
01:00:36,960 --> 01:00:39,280
Speaker 1: watch your career. I'm a big fan. So thank you

979
01:00:39,440 --> 01:00:42,000
Speaker 1: so much, Leo for a man. I'm a big fan

980
01:00:42,080 --> 01:00:58,640
Speaker 1: of yours too, cheer. Thank you all right, jis mate Leo.

981
01:00:59,640 --> 01:01:02,480
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for stopping by today. It was

982
01:01:02,560 --> 01:01:04,560
Speaker 1: so great to get to know you and to hear

983
01:01:04,640 --> 01:01:07,760
Speaker 1: your story. I can't wait to see what you come

984
01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:11,840
Speaker 1: out with next. And to you listeners, thanks for tuning

985
01:01:11,880 --> 01:01:15,360
Speaker 1: in to another episode. I hope you have a fantastic

986
01:01:16,080 --> 01:01:18,720
Speaker 1: rest of your week. Don't forget to follow us on

987
01:01:19,080 --> 01:01:21,880
Speaker 1: at Off the Beat, and please go leave us a

988
01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:25,880
Speaker 1: review on Apple Podcasts. Give us five stars, make a

989
01:01:26,000 --> 01:01:29,840
Speaker 1: comment something. I can't tell you how much that helps us,

990
01:01:30,480 --> 01:01:34,000
Speaker 1: And with that I will bid you all in the

991
01:01:34,040 --> 01:01:38,440
Speaker 1: words of shakespeare ade. I don't know if that's Shakespeare

992
01:01:38,520 --> 01:01:49,960
Speaker 1: or not, but we'll see you next time. Off the

993
01:01:50,040 --> 01:01:53,880
Speaker 1: Beat is hosted an executive produced by me Brian Baumgartner,

994
01:01:54,160 --> 01:01:59,320
Speaker 1: alongside our executive producer Langley. Our producers are Diego Tapia,

995
01:01:59,600 --> 01:02:03,800
Speaker 1: Liz Has, Hannah Harris, and Emily Carr. Our talent producer

996
01:02:04,120 --> 01:02:08,280
Speaker 1: is Ryan Papa Zachary, and our intern is Sammy Katz.

997
01:02:08,720 --> 01:02:12,280
Speaker 1: Our theme song Bubble and Squeak performed by my great

998
01:02:12,360 --> 01:02:15,920
Speaker 1: friend Greed Bratton, and the episode was mixed by Seth

999
01:02:16,000 --> 01:02:16,680
Speaker 1: Olandski