Randall Park came from humble beginnings to become the household name he is today, and he had a lot of praise to bestow on Vancouver when Daily Hive caught up with him recently.<\/p>\n
Park was in town this weekend for the East By Northwest (EXNW<\/a>) event, which was held at the Westin Bayshore.<\/p>\n EXNW calls itself the future of racialized global storytelling and entertainment across all continents.<\/p>\n We were lucky to spend 15 minutes with Park, who touched on his career, how the game has evolved for Asian actors, and why he loves Vancouver so much. Park is known for playing Jim on The Office<\/a> and had starring roles in Always Be My Maybe and Fresh Off the Boat, among many others.\u00a0He also plays Jimmy Woo in\u00a0Ant-Man.<\/p>\n Park told Daily Hive that he doesn\u2019t necessarily go out of his way to visit Vancouver, simply because he is already here so much to work, with his family often tagging along.<\/p>\n \u201cI have turned work trips into family trips, where I\u2019m here for a stretch, I\u2019ll bring the family over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI just love Vancouver. It\u2019s definitely like top five places in the world,\u201d Park added.<\/p>\n He said he loves Stanley Park and the Seawall. Among neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Yaletown and Robson were two he said he enjoys.<\/p>\n As far as restaurants go, he also said he likes Phnom Penh, Saku and Damso.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time I\u2019m back here, it\u2019s just so weird. It\u2019s a weird comfort here for me. It\u2019s a very, very special place in my heart. I\u2019d live here if I could,\u201d Park said, adding, \u201cMaybe one day.\u201d<\/p>\n Of his more recent productions, Park was in town to film\u00a0The Audacity<\/a>, and he\u2019ll be back for season two, which will also be filmed here. While his Vancouver praise was genuine, he still calls LA his first love.<\/p>\n Humble beginnings and how far we\u2019ve come<\/p>\n Park\u2019s journey started on the stage. Back in college, he started the LCC Theatre Company, which he said was \u201cfoundational\u201d for him, and he did standup in his early career. He also made a few small appearances on the popular sketch show Mad TV, thanks to another Korean American comedian who we\u2019ve talked about<\/a> on Daily Hive, Bobby Lee.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was all because of Bobby, because I was doing standup at the time. And I met Bobby in the clubs, and he saw me on stage and was just so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n Park said Lee told him he\u2019d get him on TV, not thinking anything of it, maybe even an empty promise.<\/p>\n But true to Lee\u2019s word, he got Park on Mad TV a few times.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me at the time, it was such a big deal because I was hardly on anything,\u201d Park said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I will always love Bobby Lee, and I feel like it goes back to, again, the relationships that are built. When you see somebody in person, and because of that, it\u2019s like, I\u2019m always rooting for Bobby. Just one of those early little breaks that you get.\u201d<\/p>\n On Lee\u2019s podcast,\u00a0TigerBelly, he doesn\u2019t shy away from discussing difficult (and often disgusting) topics.<\/p>\n But one thing Lee touched on was how in his early career, the only way to get a break was to play token, stereotypical roles, sometimes reducing yourself as a performer.<\/p>\n We wondered if Park had to do the same.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was first coming up, roles were limited, and a good percentage of the roles that were available were kind of steeped in some sort of caricature or stereotype,\u201d Park reflected.<\/p>\n \u201cHere and there I did take those roles because I needed to work. I needed a way in. Some of them I didn\u2019t take because I was just like, this is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Park said that even today there\u2019s a little bit of a debate in his head with certain roles he gets offered.<\/p>\n