'Special place': Randall Park has some very nice things to say about Vancouver
Randall Park came from humble beginnings to become the household name he is today, and he had a lot of praise to bestow on Vancouver when Daily Hive caught up with him recently.
Park was in town this weekend for the East By Northwest (EXNW) event, which was held at the Westin Bayshore.
EXNW calls itself the future of racialized global storytelling and entertainment across all continents.
We were lucky to spend 15 minutes with Park, who touched on his career, how the game has evolved for Asian actors, and why he loves Vancouver so much. Park is known for playing Jim on The Office and had starring roles in Always Be My Maybe and Fresh Off the Boat, among many others. He also plays Jimmy Woo in Ant-Man.
Park told Daily Hive that he doesn’t necessarily go out of his way to visit Vancouver, simply because he is already here so much to work, with his family often tagging along.
“I have turned work trips into family trips, where I’m here for a stretch, I’ll bring the family over,” he said.
“I just love Vancouver. It’s definitely like top five places in the world,” Park added.
He said he loves Stanley Park and the Seawall. Among neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Yaletown and Robson were two he said he enjoys.
As far as restaurants go, he also said he likes Phnom Penh, Saku and Damso.
“Every time I’m back here, it’s just so weird. It’s a weird comfort here for me. It’s a very, very special place in my heart. I’d live here if I could,” Park said, adding, “Maybe one day.”
Of his more recent productions, Park was in town to film The Audacity, and he’ll be back for season two, which will also be filmed here. While his Vancouver praise was genuine, he still calls LA his first love.
Humble beginnings and how far we’ve come
Park’s journey started on the stage. Back in college, he started the LCC Theatre Company, which he said was “foundational” for him, and he did standup in his early career. He also made a few small appearances on the popular sketch show Mad TV, thanks to another Korean American comedian who we’ve talked about on Daily Hive, Bobby Lee.
“It was all because of Bobby, because I was doing standup at the time. And I met Bobby in the clubs, and he saw me on stage and was just so nice.”
Park said Lee told him he’d get him on TV, not thinking anything of it, maybe even an empty promise.
But true to Lee’s word, he got Park on Mad TV a few times.
“For me at the time, it was such a big deal because I was hardly on anything,” Park said.
“So I will always love Bobby Lee, and I feel like it goes back to, again, the relationships that are built. When you see somebody in person, and because of that, it’s like, I’m always rooting for Bobby. Just one of those early little breaks that you get.”
On Lee’s podcast, TigerBelly, he doesn’t shy away from discussing difficult (and often disgusting) topics.
But one thing Lee touched on was how in his early career, the only way to get a break was to play token, stereotypical roles, sometimes reducing yourself as a performer.
We wondered if Park had to do the same.
“When I was first coming up, roles were limited, and a good percentage of the roles that were available were kind of steeped in some sort of caricature or stereotype,” Park reflected.
“Here and there I did take those roles because I needed to work. I needed a way in. Some of them I didn’t take because I was just like, this is crazy.”
Park said that even today there’s a little bit of a debate in his head with certain roles he gets offered.
At EXNW, Park was honoured with the Global Connector Award, and we asked him what it meant to him. The award is given to individuals or organizations “with a legacy of advancing creative talent and building bridges across cultures, industries, and communities in the global entertainment world.”
“It’s always very meaningful. Always a bit of a surprise.”
Park says he likes to just put his head down and work, but that being recognized like this is “really nice.”