Confidence. That's huge as an actor. Confidence can get you a long way. Maybe it's a cultural thing, being Korean, but my first reflex has always been to exude humility - but it doesn't help you in acting. For acting, humility isn't the best thing. It'll weaken your work. So it's a head game for me. "Can I really be confident in knowing my skill set is down? Can I perform like I own this role?"
I’m stupidly curious. I will go and touch anything until I find out that it’s very harmful.
At the end of the day, if you can't say a line right, it does not matter who your contacts are.
Maybe it's a cultural thing, being Korean, but my first reflex has always been to exude humility - but it doesn't help you in acting. For acting, humility isn't the best thing. It'll weaken your work.
Having read the source material, I had to have drawn from that. As a fan, I wanted to remain true to that character, but it was really cool because, as we were figuring these characters out, I realized that there was a lot more backstory, rather than what I had gotten just from reading the book. Glenn doesn't really get much of a backstory there. He's just seen as this kid who is put in this situation, not knowing where his mind-set is, but then you slowly see him start to develop.
I've always loved drama. This is a blessing because I can show a little bit of what I can do, and hopefully more, in the future.
You can say that all you want, but even in the little time that I've been in this industry, I've learned that it isn't exactly what you expect, so you've got to have a level head. I thought people would dig it. I thought people would enjoy it. It's AMC. I thought people would be fans. But, I did not think we would be the best new show on television.
Many people, not just Asians, are more concerned with hustling and getting to meetings with contacts to gain success.
Whatever I lack in size and strength and speed, I kind of make up for in being grittier. When it comes to something like basketball I'm definitely not the best guy on the court, but I love elbowing and pushing people out or boxing them out.
The biggest challenges are in the same vein. It's about retaining all that stuff. Also, the physical stuff is not as easy as we originally thought. I play a lot of sports and I remember saying, "Oh, I'll be fine, running around or doing anything."
Yeah, it's scary. During filming, it wasn't just jitters from being the newer guy there or the greenest guy there. It was also fear of not messing up such an important character.
I remember the first day I got there, they started the take and after four takes I was on the ground, on my back, with a banana and a Twizzler in my hand, and my face was green, and they said, "You can't get back on set for another 30 minutes." That was a, "Welcome to Atlanta," and that put everything in perspective.
If anything, the way that you feel is a direct indicator of how far we've come from our symbiotic relationship with nature. In that way, when someone hangs a mirror to every single blemish that's on us, it makes you really reassess what your morals are.
If you work in Chicago in the improv scene, anyone is happy for you if you get a job.
I want to stretch myself. Another reason why I'm so fortunate is that this is a drama and I've been brought up in comedy.
If you ask any of the other actors, they'd probably say nice things because they're nice people, but I was always like, "Oh gosh, I hope I'm doing this right." I was very hard on myself, and I continue to be. That's why it's sometimes hard for me to digest watching myself on television. There is some pressure.
There's no drama. There's nothing. Everyone is there to work, everyone is really kind and everyone is very helpful, especially to me. I went in there, hoping to learn. I could have easily been put on some project with somebody who really doesn't care about teaching or sharing. But, while I was there, all of the cast were very helpful. I would constantly ask questions.
People think that Detroit is this barren wasteland. While there are parts that are not as nice as others, the misconception is not true. It is definitely not a thriving community in Detroit, but it is getting there. There is a lot of heart and love in this city.
It is tough, every time. The ensemble is great. I would always ask Andrew, "Is this how Hollywood is? Is this how every TV show and movie is?" And he was like, "No, dude. This is not. Do not get used to this. Be thankful that this is how your first gig is."
I'm glad that people have responded well to it, so far. I'm thankful for that. But, I'm also excited now that I have a better grasp of this character than I did before. I want to take it even further and really explore who Glenn is.
What brought me to L.A. was work! I moved to Chicago after college - I went to Kalamazoo - did my nerd thing, graduated, and moved to Chicago to pursue improv.
I'm not much of a horror fan. When it comes to ghost stuff and demon stuff, I can't watch that.
I took up boxing to get in shape for filming because it's grueling - all the running, the heat, the yelling, the crying that we do.
It was so ridiculous. We were just sitting there, thinking about how ridiculous it was because we literally had stray hairs on us. The camera couldn't pick up all the details, but we had some crazy things. We had huge slabs of fat on us and bits of nails and hair. It was disgusting. But, there's also the beautiful parts of it.
Yeah, it's been pretty gnarly. It's fun. It can only be fun, unless you're really squirmy about that. Honestly, during that guts episode, they didn't tell Andrew and I anything. They just put trenchcoats on us and said, "All right, just stand right here and we're going to put this stuff on you."
