-You know my first guest from her work
in "Crazy Rich Asians" and "The Farewell."
Now, she's voicing a character in the new Disney movie,
"Raya and the Last Dragon,"
which is in theaters and available with Premier Access
on Disney+ starting March 5th.
Here is Awkwafina!
Ah! -Hey, hey!
-It's so great to see you.
Thank you so much for doing this.
You have a lot going on that I want to talk about.
First off, you were born and raised in Queens,
but you spent most of the past year on the other side
of the world in Australia. -Yes.
-You were out there working on a new Marvel movie.
-Yes. -Now what was it like,
first of all, being in a foreign country
in the middle of a global pandemic?
-A little discombobulating, I think.
You know, the way that they did quarantine there is, like,
you know, they bring you meals and stuff,
and there would be a nurse that would call and, you know,
for, like, I guess mental-health checkups and she would call
and be like, "How's your day going,"
and in the beginning I was like,
"You know, it's fine. I got to go.
But then, like, a couple days go by and I'm just like,
"You know what? It's not too good."
-"Do you have a couple minutes here?
Now that I have you. Anyway, have you --"
-Let's take advantage of this service, yeah.
-"Are you watching any of the reality shows on Bravo?"
Just start talking to her.
Why not? -Yeah, it's like "90 Day," man.
-"I need company, I need people,
I need friends, I need something."
You're finally back home to New York City
for the first time. -Yes.
-Is that the longest you've ever been away from New York?
-This is the longest I've ever been away, yeah, for sure.
-I know you also missed your grandmother.
She still lives in New York, and you called her your best friend.
I was just curious.
Does she also consider you to be her best friend?
-I think she considers a lot of people to be her best friend.
I think she's definitely told the delivery guy, you know,
"You're my best friend." -No.
-Yeah, she's loose with it. She's loose with it.
She's one of those people that she'll just call any friend --
-She just throws it out there?
-Yeah, I don't know if that's like a best friend.
I feel like more time, and, you know,
maybe, like, you know, maybe, like, your granddaughter.
Maybe that could be like a best friendship.
-I want to be her best friend.
-You could definitely be her best friend.
I don't think she would at all have any reservations,
you especially. -Hi, Grandma.
Call me. I'm down to be besties.
You got to do something very cool recently,
an honor for any New Yorker.
You became the official voice of
the 7 train here in New York City for a while.
That had to be exciting.
You also put your own spin on the subway announcements.
-Oh. Yes. -I'll show you what I mean.
Here's one of them.
-This is Vernon Boulevard, Jackson Avenue.
Hey, fellas, stop manspreading.
Thanks and have a great day.
-Come on.
We have one more. Here's another one.
-This is 82nd Street, Jackson Heights, and please remember,
a train car is the worst place to clip your toenails.
[ Laughter ]
-Wait. First of all, how -- how exci-- This is a major deal.
-Yeah, yeah. I mean, that was awesome.
I think it was the first time
the MTA had someone, like, voice the announcements
in all MTA history, I think.
-What kind of reaction did you get from people?
-Well, I think, the first couple weeks it was, like,
a lot of excitement, especially for people
who actually knew who I was.
You'd be like, "Oh, my God! Awkwafina's on the train."
And then I think it devolved over a couple weeks,
especially during, like, peak rush hour in the morning
and the night -- I mean, you know, the evening.
I'd get a lot of like, you know, "No one asked for this."
And it's like, "This is the last thing I want to hear
on, like, a horrible commute home."
So eventually, I was just like,
"You know, I'm sorry." You know, I felt bad.
-No way! People loved it. It's funny. It's so cool.
-Good, good.
-I want to talk about your new Disney movie,
another Disney movie.
This one's called "Raya and the Last Dragon."
Can you set up the movie and tell us about the character?
-Yeah, so the movie is a very special movie
that I haven't really seen anything like it.
It's an adventure throughout the movie,
throughout this kind of broken land called Kumandra,
and there are these universal truths kind of like
of trust and unity and divisiveness that,
since the very beginning, since I was involved,
always seemed to kind of ring true, and obviously, Raya,
our first Southeast Asian Disney Princess,
voiced by Kelly Marie Tran,
and I play the last dragon, Sisu.
And we kind of team up to go on this journey
throughout Kumandra to try and fix it.
-You're also starring in another Disney movie very soon --
I am so excited about this --
the remake of "The Little Mermaid."
-Yeah.
-You're the voice of Scuttle.
-Yes. Yes.
-This is bizarre.
We have a picture of you as a little kid.
Look at this.
-Oh, man.
-First of all, the cutest thing ever.
Second of all, you're wearing a "Little Mermaid" shirt.
-Yep.
-What would you have said if someone told that kid,
"Hey, one day you're gonna actually be
in 'The Little Mermaid'"?
-I mean, I think if you went up to that kid and you were like,
"Kid, you're gonna be in 'The Little Mermaid,'
I think I would have called the cops, to be honest.
[ Laughter ] Like, who does that, you know?
-Yeah, I guess, yeah. That's true. That's true.
-Keep it in for a little while longer.
-"I'm from the future and you're gonna be in the movie."
-"Hey, kid, come here. Come into this bush."
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, my God. Bush, oh, my gosh.
-I think that kid really would not have believed it.
-That's so cool.
-Yeah, it was such an iconic movie growing up for me.
You know, all the Disney movies were.
So, you know, to know that I can be in especially a reprisal
of my favorite one, yeah, crazy.
-We can't wait for that,
and congrats on "Raya and the Last Dragon."
-Thank you. Thanks. -Sisu, I love it.
I want to show everyone a clip.
Here is Awkwafina as Sisu in "Raya and the Last Dragon."
Take a look.
-Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I-I didn't see ya there.
[ Laughs ] Not too bad. Just a little dusty.
Let me get that for ya. [ Laughs ]
-Sisu? Y-You are Sisu?
-And you're people.
What's your name?
-Raya. I-I'm Raya.
-And you're not made of stone, which means --
-It worked! -We did it!
Do you hear that, Peku? It worked!
I didn't mess it up!
Is that food? -[ Grunts ]
-I was so focused on saving the world,
I forgot to have breakfast today.
-Awkwafina, everybody.
"Raya and the Last Dragon" is in theaters and available
on Disney+ with Premier Access starting March 5th.