I play Wally on Awkwafina is Nora from Queens. Nora
the titular character is my daughter, she lives at home.
She's 26 year old, young woman living at home with
her dad, me and her grandma, play bioretention.
And he's kind of A
caring, sweet dad who really kind of secretly wishes his
daughter would move out of the house and wouldn't
want to be supportive of her inability to land on
something that, really, is going to drive
the rest of her life. And in the meantime so there's
kind of like comic situations that
arise from his tension of him not being able to just
throw her out. While he is also a 50
something widower and Laura
Nora and and Wally lost their, his wife and her mom,
you know, when she was very young And so he's,
during season one, he's getting back into the dating
pool and it's very awkward and very hilarious. I mean,
I love these scenes where Wally's getting back into the
saddle because it's got all this modern Tinder
and stuff like that in it. And I also get to work with all
these great actors that come in, female actors that
come in and Play the various
dates that I'm on that so that's really really fun. The
whole reason I took the job was because of awkwafina
his energy I mean, her energy is like not anyone else's
energy. It's just I don't know that's the first explanation
that I have, how to describe it is is much more difficult.
And and I think part of it is that she has a. She has a
her engine is running on this kind of quirky eccentric.
It's something that's very age appropriate for her. But
and I can't really describe it actually, I don't I don't
know how to describe it. I know that as an actor, she's
extremely comfortable in improv and that that is really
fun for me. I really have It loved that part of it. Lory
and Bon and I all four of us kind of enjoy that. And
I've worked in a lot of really highly disciplined, on a
many disciplined sets. Where you are not allowed to
kinda change the words and stuff like that. So this is
really really fun. One
thing that is great is that she's running the whole. She's
She's the core nucleus energy of the whole thing. Not
only as a character but as the creator of the show or
the central character of the show. So we're all looking
to her for kind of, like I'm looking to her for approval
of what I'm wearing, would your dad wear this? And
am I doing okay? All of that would in a way that I don't
usually do. I don't usually ask for approval from other
actors My performance and stuff but I definitely feel
myself wanting her approval for everything that I'm
doing. And it's because she's in a unique position.
She's a woman that's created the situation around her
and hired lots of wonderful women directors and DPS
and stuff like that. And people behind the camera and
in front of the camera, and the pit there's great free
female energy And she's just I
don't know, I just I just I can't describe exactly Well, I
can I can say that the energy that you see of her in her
weirdness in like crazy rich Asians and all that that's
real that's like a that's like a part of her who she is.
And that is a part of who she is in Awkwafina is Nora
from Queens and it's a part of who she is on the set to.
She's kind of. She's a very focused person, but she's
also kind of all over the place at the same time. Who's
the person who breaks the most on set?
Gosh. I think I don't think it's I think it's an even split. I
think we're all trying to kind of like find the humor that.
Is so good that it makes anyone makes person that
you're working with break. So I don't think anybody
one person is the weakest link in that when it comes to
that. Baldwin and, and Lori
and Awkwafina all have real strong kind of comedic
energy And sometimes they just roll the camera
and all this crazy stuff comes out and you know that
they're not gonna use all of it but it's it's wildly
entertaining to be a part of it to be in the energy of it
all swirling around. It's like, it's like it's like I
don't know how to explain it. Sorry, it's
like it's the most fun that I've had on a set in a long
time and when I say fun, like laughing fun. I always
have fun like doing serious stuff and I [ INAUDIBLE ]
some joy from serious work but this is fun because it's
actually literally fun. It's like really happy fun.
I think the energy of our show is considerably different
from the kinds of shows that I grew up on. When I grew
up. You know, Asian people on the screen were
primarily in kind of subservient positions where they
were in stereotypical positions that weren't particularly
flattering. And they, they there was no dignity. There
was a lot. There's a lack of dignity. There was may be
some dignity here in there. But for the most part I felt a
lacking a kind of dignity and therefore it created a
schism in my own self esteem. When I wanted to
become an actor, not only when I wanted to become
an actor, but just as a person, I thought, well what is
this what it means to be Asian American? Is this what
I'm supposed to be or what people think I am or am I
being made fun of And our show which is a hilarious
comedy, is taking the the comedy away from
that stereotypical kind of positioning. We're not being
laughed at, we are the ones generating the humor and
the humor is coming from a completely different place.
It's coming from a very dignified, and very organic
and real place. This are people who are absurd in
many ways but they are also real people. It's a family
from Queens, they's nothing kind
of. Real life, it's kind of just realistic in that way. The
comedies kind of, it's got a whole life of its own, but
the characters themselves are based on real life
characters and based on a situation that is identifiable,
as realistic.