Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
My background is in broadcast television - I used to be a travel host for BBC, Discovery, and National Geographic.
I was one of three kids of colour in our school. There was a young black brother and sister, and me. So we stood out.
People look to cinema to spread the word and to tell these wonderful, outrageous stories or true-to-life documentaries.
I can manage it if I don't make it in Hollywood. I've got nothing to lose, which is the great thing. There's no pressure.
I was raised on Hong Kong movies with Asian stars, so I'm still learning about Hollywood underrepresenting certain people.
Movies were the one thing that I loved my entire life. So I always knew that I wanted to get into acting - I just didn't know when.
Never feeling really at home in any one country is always challenging. You realise that you have to lean on yourself and to own it.
'Crazy Rich Asians' and 'A Simple Favor' were each a master class in filmmaking, and I had so much fun working with all my costars.
There's no real test of how Asian you need to be to be able to own your Asianness, and it's always going to be an area of contention.
I've got so much respect for 'Bond.' It's such an iconic cultural behemoth. I love the whole story - Ian Fleming's stories are amazing.
There are some sour people out there, but we should be getting together and fighting for something bigger rather than Asians against Asians.
I learned in life from a very young age that I soaked in a lot more from people that I respected and could learn from rather than a textbook.
The one thing that I learned very young was to own my identity. And, I knew, I'm Asian through and through. There's nothing I needed to prove.
Asian men are sexy, confident, and passionate - and three-dimensional. We want the opportunity to portray roles that reflect who we are in real life.
The joy of tasting different cultures is it gives you a broad perspective, and you don't judge people from stereotypical characters you see in films.
I've been to every single Asian country apart from Myanmar, on work, listening to human interest stories, giving me a broad outlook on all Asian cultures.
Everybody's had problems with their family. Everybody's had the pressures of finding the right love or not loving the right person because other people say so.
I want to tell amazing stories that inspire, that bring you out of your reality, give you dreams to be bigger and better than yourself. Hopefully, I can be that conduit.
When it comes to Eurasians, are we not allowed to embrace either one of our cultures we feel more attached to? Or decide within ourselves that I am Asian and I am proud to be Asian?
We've all been that young love, trying to impress the in-laws or having these crazy cousins that we're related to by blood - we can't choose them as sort of friends, but they're there.
I was very lucky: a lot of people go through the college system not knowing what they want to do. Thankfully my parents were very supportive of my choices and pretty much gave me free reign.
In 'Crazy Rich Asians,' Singapore will be seen as it should be seen, without CGI, without the altering of the images to be more Chinese - a representation of Singapore as we know it and love it.
I've lived 16, 17 years of my life in Asia, and that's most of my life. I was born in Asia - I've lived cultures that are synonymous with Asian culture - but it's still not Asian enough for some people.
The fact is, I'm half-British, half-Malaysian. For an Asian who's grown up in America to be commenting on how Asian I am when they've never left America... does that make them more or less Asian than me?
You could say mixed-race Eurasians have the exact same struggles as a character like Rachel Chu has had: not feeling at home in supposedly their motherland; not being white enough; not being Asian enough.
I'm definitely more Asian than a lot of people who have never been to Asia. But by blood and by race, they instantly say I deserve to be Asian. I've worked really hard to be Asian, and I think I'm Asian enough.
When the success of 'Crazy Rich' hit, it's like everybody knows exactly who you are, and the way that they speak to you is different. I've stayed the same throughout. It's just people's perception of you changes.
Some people don't even say hello. They come up and say, 'Can I take your picture?' and I'm, like, 'Why?' And they say, 'Oh, you're that guy.' And I'm, like, 'Why do you want a photo of me if you don't even know my name?'
The only reason I left the salon was really to chase these dreams of either being an MTV host or a travel host. I loved the idea of doing something fun and interesting for a living, and that is what got me over to Malaysia.
You can hit the proverbial roof at certain areas in the industry unless you venture out. And I never really set out in my career to stay in one place. I wanted to go out and try new things. Luckily, I've had that opportunity.
It was quite strange that people were saying I wasn't Asian enough. It's like, 'Oh, you're not Asian enough to play an Asian role.' So what does that mean for people who come from mixed heritage? I grew up in Asia; I'm Malaysian.
Bali is one of those places you can just keep going back to, and everything is there: the infrastructure, the culture, the art, the beautiful villas. My wife Liv and I go there quite often because we know that when we do arrive, it's like an instant holiday.
Growing up in Malaysia, there wasn't really a problem with representation. We saw faces like ours on screen because Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, China and Hong Kong all have their own film markets. It was only until I went back to the U.K. when I realized, 'Where did all these faces go?'