Top 45 Jimmy O. Yang Quotes

I just want to keep working and have a roof over my head.

My publicist actually told me about the book. She’s half-Indian, half-Dutch, and she was like, ‘You’ve got to do this book. It’s called ‘Crazy Rich Asians.”

I went back to Hong Kong for the first time in 17 years and I was culture shocked in Hong Kong.

When a Spanish actor does an accent, that’s sexy. When Peter Sellers did a French accent in ‘Pink Panther,’ that’s funny – he got nominated for a Golden Globe. How come whenever an Asian actor does an accent, he’s stereotyping?

If you think about writing a book, or when I did, it seems daunting, but when I began writing, it just started flowing.

One of the hard things coming from an immigrant family – or any family that doesn’t believe in the arts – is that you have to disappoint your parents. That’s hard for people to do if you’re a good kid.

It’s maybe a better thought to change the perception of an accent than to avoid it all together.

I went to college as an economics major because that was the easiest major that could still please your Asian parents, and then, much to their dismay, I became a stand-up comedian.

Comedy and drama are like two different sports; they both require athleticism but they’re different.

I went to school for economics, and especially in Asian culture it’s not really a viable job for my family to be an artist.

I was competitive ping-pong player. I played in youth tournaments, under the age of 13.

I guess I’ve lived my whole life as an outsider.

The great thing about the comedy world is that everybody is somewhat of an outsider. That’s the community where outsiders feel like they’re insiders.

Nate Dogg is my favorite artist. I cried more when he passed than when Michael Jackson did.

When ‘Chappelle’s Show‘ came out, if you didn’t watch it on Wednesday night, you had nothing to talk about in high school the next day.

To get noticed you need to work a lot and have a bit of luck. And I’m here to say that it’s possible.

I studied economics and thought I wanted to play with the stock market – my dad was a financial adviser – and I was going to go down that path. I was an intern at Smith Barney.

When you are in America, at least for me, as an immigrant, I try to be as Americanized as I could. I just want to be an actor, I don’t just want to be an Asian actor necessarily.

But I try to play everything very authentically, even if it is an accented immigrant, Jian Yang, that I play on ‘Silicon Valley.’

I’ve heard other actors saying they don’t want to play a character with an accent at all. To me, that’s kind of an insult to somebody like me who did have an accent.

If you want to do standup, you have to go on stage. That’s the only way to get good – stage times.

Just because I don’t speak English with an accent anymore doesn’t mean that I’m better than the people who do.

Certain stories, like my mom leaving when I was 15-years-old to go back to China because she didn’t quite assimilate like we did, that was a moment that was very sad in my life.

I worked at Big 5 Sporting Goods, selling shoes and stuff like that, for a couple of summers.

I’m generally pretty excited about new gadgets, new tech, A.I., stuff like that.

Maybe my job on this planet is to make the Asian accent sexy.

I tried a bunch of things, like Jiu Jitsu boxing classes. I don’t know why, but I did.

My job is to go into that audition and be good enough of an Asian actor – or an actor in general – to land that role so they don’t have to go out and hire a white guy. My job is to make sure I capitalize on these opportunities that other people created.

I’m just a quirky, funny dude.

Nico Santos I’ve known from Bay Area stand-up, and he lives right by me so we hang out all the time.

I obeyed my parents’ rules inside our Chinese household while I pursued my dreams in the American world outside.

Why is it when a white actor or even a black actor does a British accent, it’s considered art?

Growing up, my dad was ‘get a real job, don’t go pursuing your dreams, that’s how you become homeless.’ So, do I pick my family or do I pick my own happiness, and how much does my own happiness depend on my family?

When I became an American citizen, nothing’s changed because I’m still Asian.

I don’t know why people feel the need to do this to me, but my friend asked my dad, ‘Aren’t your proud of Jimmy now that he’s a successful actor?’ And my dad was like, ‘No, not really. I wish he was a scientist.’ I guess scientist is more noble in the Asian culture.

When I was on the playground, people were calling me Jackie Chan.

That’s what’s great about standup comedy: the instant feedback. You get up on stage, you tell a joke, if it doesn’t work, come back the next day with a better version of it.

You know something like ‘Patriots Day’ that I did a few years ago, which is a drama, is very different than comedy. That was super rewarding. I want to do more of that and also my own writing.

With a lot of pop music, they just have one song and a good beat, but there’s not necessarily that much talent.

For once in my life, I wanted to flaunt my Asian side instead of hiding it to fit as somebody else… ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ made me want to get in touch with my roots, instead of running away from them.

Look, to be honest, when certain movies like ‘Ninja Assassin‘ came out, that had a sexy, sexy Asian man with a six-pack, that made some people think, ‘Maybe I should go out there and date an Asian dude.’ And that did pretty good for us in a way of representation.

When you’re 1 out of 5 Asian people on TV, all the pressure is on you and you have to represent.

You’d see Asian faces on TV, but it was so rare, especially in the comedy space – that for me was Ken Jeong doing stand-up… it’s amazing that I can call him a friend now and a colleague.

One of my first big paychecks, I used it to buy a Rolex. I bought a used 1968 vintage Rolex. I was too cheap to buy a new one.

I remember the first couple of TV things I did, I was really nervous.