Interior Chinatown: Tzi Ma on Picking Roles, Communication & Future

Posted in: Hulu, TV | Tagged: Interior Chinatown, Tzi Ma

Interior Chinatown: Tzi Ma on Picking Roles, Communication & Future

Interior Chinatown star Tzi Ma discussed education being just as important as picking your roles as an Asian actor, dream roles, and more.

Published Sun, 24 Nov 2024 15:37:08 -0600
by Tom Chang
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Tzi Ma has been fortunate enough to be in show business for the better part of 45 years and is still heavily in demand. Since his debut in 1979's Cocaine Cowboys, the actor's been a part of over 130 projects, including some major franchises like RoboCop, MacGyver, Star Trek, Rush Hour, Nash Bridges, NYPD Blue, ER, Law & Order, 24, MCU, American Dad!, Criminal Minds, Once Upon a Time, Veep, Star Wars, Bosch, and Kung Fu. On top of his upcoming Western, The Gunslingers, Ma currently stars in the Hulu miniseries Interior Chinatown, from Charles Yu (who also wrote the book the series is based) and Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Reservation Dogs), as Joe Wu, an Asian American father, and martial artist in the twilight of his life, who has big dreams for his son Willis Wu (Jimmy O. Yang), a struggling actor who works as a server trying to make a better life for himself beyond the cliched roles and stereotypes. The actor spoke to Bleeding Cool about his acting approach and why communication is important for success and the kind of work he hopes to focus on in the future.

Interior Chinatown Star Tzi Ma on How You Can Forge Your Successful Path in Hollywood as an Asian Actor

Bleeding Cool: There seem to be two schools of thought for the Asian actor experience: Either it's better to be seen as anything at all and put yourself out there versus I want the parts so I can present myself and my community in the best possible way. Given how long you've been in the business, how do you feel about the roles you got then compared to now? Do you find a lot more variety in what's available to you?

There are two parts to that story. Number one is: What kind of actor do you want to be? Do you want to be an actor where you're a puppet? "Okay, do this there. You see this line here, and don't bump into furniture." That's one way. Another is to be an artistic contributor. That is something you can bring to the table, and because of your experience of "who and what you are" and your understanding of it, you may not find that same thing on the other side of the table.

The other side of the table is writing assignments. The producer said, "Today, we're going to write an Asian episode, but do you know anything about our community? Do you have any friends who are Asians?" In that sense, you want to be able to be helpful. You want to be able to say, "You know what? If this is the case that we're in, does this character ring true to you?"

Here's my suggestion: If this person is coming from this background, he is from a particular Asian culture. He's not Japanese but happens to be Chinese, so we do not bow, or do we keep on bowing? [laughs] The Chinese bow from their neck up, right? We do not get on our knees. It's very common in Japanese, so you can get on your knees, right? If you're Chinese, you don't get on your knees. This is important for you to be on your knees, particularly with men, right?

All those things and try to find some appeal in a romantic situation. Those things have always been challenging for all of us because back in the day, it was rare you find particularly, the Asian male who's going to be in a romantic situation. We can continuously explore whether we can find those areas where we can go, "Okay, why don't we see if there is some spark, fire, and sexual tension so that we continue to build." That's one way to do it.

The other thing I believe is that when you continue to do things you want, you start developing good taste. You say, "If you do something you don't believe in, you will be a terrible actor." They would say, "That actor is terrible because look at him! He doesn't believe what he's doing or saying." When you find the truth in those scripts, people would say, "You know what? That actor's good." If they think you're good, they will continue to hire you! [laughs]. [Producers would be like] "We got to get that guy in the show because he's good, right?!" It's about choice, right?

Nobody twists your arm to do it and the other important thing people should realize is this is forever! When we are long gone, this thing stays. When we do stuff, people go, "Wow!" Five generations from now, "That actor? Whoop! What a piece of work!" [laughs]. We're going to go away, so you might as well do stuff that hopefully lives and passes the test of time. You can see, and we always have a precedence. When we see a movie, we are like," Wow! Really?! They did that?!" In some ways, there are things you can follow. There are things you can see and say, "You know what?! There is precedent, so let's look at it and let's not dwell on the past. History will tell you it never worked."

Are there any names there you longed to work with or a genre you haven't done or perhaps felt like you haven't explored enough of?

Oh, please! The list is too long. I would say the sci-fi genre, I don't get that much of an opportunity and more of the outside-the-box thinking like 'Interior Chinatown,' and those types of shows are much more interesting because the projects I'm typically involved with are based out of more realistic settings. I'd rather explore some of the more unconventional shows, perhaps more fantasy.

Interior Chinatown, which also stars Ronny Chieng, Chloe Bennet, Sullivan Jones, Lisa Gilroy, Archie Kao, and Diana Lin, is available to stream on Hulu.

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