We are surrounded by people with accents because America is a nation of immigrants. Beyond that, the people who made your iPhone and the shirt on your back are probably Asians, and we're really not that disconnected from each other; we have very intimate relationships with the world, whether or not we realize it.

Hong Chau

Categorized in : Nation iPhone World People

I love public transportation! Who wants to sit in a car and be angry at other drivers for eight hours? I'd rather sit on a bus or train and read a book.

Hong Chau

angry car love book

I grew up speaking Vietnamese - that was my first language because my parents didn't speak any English, and I didn't learn English until I started school.

Hong Chau

parents language speak school

I like to be very simple in my lifestyle. My only extravagance is... I buy lots of toys and meats for my dog.

Hong Chau

lifestyle toys simple dog

The first time I went to Chicago was on a family road trip. We had our dog with us, and when we hit Chicago, I couldn't believe how many people kept coming up to us, telling us how handsome our dog was! He's a Rottweiler-Australian Shepherd mix, and he is a good-looking dog, but obviously Chicago is very dog-friendly.

Hong Chau

family dog time people

My parents are Vietnamese refugees; they left Vietnam after the war. They were part of the boat people, and they ended up in a refugee camp in Thailand after being on the water for three days, and I was born at that refugee camp in Thailand.

Hong Chau

parents water war people

I fell into acting because I was really shy, and so at night after work, I took public speaking and improv classes, and I started going to auditions sort of as a dare. That was my version of 'Fear Factor.'

Hong Chau

shy fear work night

My first job out of college was at PBS as an administrative assistant. I thought I would be on the production side of things.

Hong Chau

job thought things college

Giving people the opportunity to sit in a dark theater together and have emotions in public, whether they're laughing or crying - that's what makes me happy.

Hong Chau

me together opportunity people

I love films that aren't just speaking to certain moments in the culture but are something that people can revisit.

Hong Chau

moments love culture people

Public libraries were a huge source of comfort and joy for me when I was growing up. I still spend time there.

Hong Chau

me growing-up time joy

I'm really into ghost towns. I've driven cross-country the past few summers, and I would stop at some ghost towns along the way. They're like a microcosm of America as a whole.

Hong Chau

stop america way past

If anyone has to leave their homeland by boat, they all have difficult stories. But my parents had a difficult journey, and their story always seems like a movie to me.

Hong Chau

parents me boat journey

I don't want anyone to think I took this role in 'Downsizing' because it was the only role available to me. I'm not a passive participant in it.

Hong Chau

only think me want

I did a regional car commercial and an internet potato chip commercial. I was seriously thinking I needed to quit and get a serious job where I can feed myself and it doesn't kill my soul.

Hong Chau

myself car soul thinking

In life, we are all more than one thing, but for some reason in movies, you're either this or that. It reduces the complexity of a human being in so many ways.

Hong Chau

human-being movies you life

That's what I want to continue to do: really odd films, with interesting filmmakers.

Hong Chau

really continue want interesting

For a good part of my childhood, we were super poor and lived in government housing. I don't characterize the American dream as being successful and having a lot of material wealth to show for it. I did fine without it for a really long time.

Hong Chau

good childhood time long

I think that a lot of actors of color have said that it's a wonderful thing to play a role that doesn't have a race and that is kind of open to any sort of interpretation. I completely understand that, but at the same time, I just want Asian characters that are well-written.

Hong Chau

understand think color time

I don't want to put on any gimmicky layers just to give the character more definition. I just want to play good characters. It doesn't matter to me if it's 'open ethnicity' or 'specifically Asian.'

Hong Chau

good me matter character

I grew up around Vietnamese refugees, around people who don't speak English as a first language.

Hong Chau

english language speak people