How ‘American Born Chinese’ Assembled the Delightful ‘Asian American All-Star Game’

Nearly a full month before their series premiered, the American Born Chinese team was invited to the White House to screen the new Disney+ show, in celebration of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. When I ask the cast—which features a couple of new Oscar winners, no big deal—and creative team what it was like to watch their work in the presence of President Joe Biden, everyone is incredibly humble.

In fact, they’re so modest that all they can tell me about the experience are the snacks and table settings, along with what kind of footwear I should wear, if I should ever be lucky enough to attend a screening at the White House.

“If you are going to the White House, don’t wear heels,” Yann Yann Yeo, who plays mother Christine Wang, tells The Daily Beast’s Obsessed over Zoom. “You’re going to walk a long way just to get to the hall. It’s a mile-and-a-half walk.” Noted.

Chin Han, who plays opposite Yeo as family patriarch Simon Wang, tells me that the napkins at the White House in particular are “amazing.” Gene Luen Yang, the creator of the original American Born Chinese graphic novels and executive producer of Disney+’s adaptation, gleams as he raves about the popcorn bags, which were stamped with the show’s logos. Everyone is as playful and hilarious when reflecting on the screening as they are honored and touched, which is the true ethos of American Born Chinese.

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There are heartwarming parts of the show—like new student Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu) standing up for his pal Jin Wang (Ben Wang), after Jin’s bullied by the entire high school—but there are also wonderful bursts of glee, like Jin’s horrible attempts to flirt with his crush, Amelia (Sydney Taylor). That balance is reflected in our conversation. When the cast and EPs chat with me, about half of our conversation is spent joking about popcorn, while the other half is spent ruminating on how meaningful it was to “build the Asian American all-star game.”

None of this has even touched on the two fantastical elements of the Disney+ action comedy. First, these high-school leads are dipping in and out of Chinese mythology, where gods (like the Monkey King, Sun Wukong, played by Daniel Wu) and goddesses (like Guanyin, portrayed by the excellent Michelle Yeoh) battle to find their place in the human world. Then, there’s the contributions behind the scenes, thanks to the fact that almost everyone involved in the Best Picture-winning Everything Everywhere All At Once—from Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan to Stephanie Hsu and James Gong—is involved in the series.

Ahead of the release of American Born Chinese on May 24, the cast (Wang, Yeo, Han, and Taylor) and EPs (Yang and Melvin Mar) chatted about working with legends like Yeoh and Lucy Liu, crafting a clever coming-of-age storyline, and why now is the perfect time for a show like American Born Chinese.

President Biden hosted a screening ahead of American Born Chinese’s premiere on Disney+. What was that experience like?

Melvin Mar (Executive Producer): It was an honor. For a show called American Born Chinese coming out in the month of May, it was really important to make a statement that was: We’re here. We’re visible. And the White House also loved that message. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-career experience. We should talk about Gene’s American Dream here, starting from his graphic novel being photo-copied at Kinko’s, all the way to the White House. That, in itself, is an American Dream story.

Gene Luen Yang (Author and Executive Producer): The whole thing was just unbelievable.

Chin Han (“Simon Wang”): It was such a surreal experience for us. We were gobsmacked and speechless to be in the presence of the president. Then, to have [the series] be shown to a room of a very, very supportive audience, who followed the entire story, who tracked all the emotional beats, who understood what we were trying to achieve—that was very heartening for us.

Lucy Liu directed Episode 6, which has some amazing fight scenes. How did she get involved? And what was it like working with her as a director?

Mar: Lucy’s been a friend of mine for a little bit. Along with being an amazing actor, she’s a director. One day, we were having a cup of coffee, and I said to her, “Would you like to direct an episode of American Born Chinese? It would be an honor.” She was like, “Absolutely.” It was that simple! It falls in line with what we were doing here, which was trying to build the Asian American all-star game, both behind and in front of the camera.

Sydney Taylor (“Amelia”): She’s one of the best directors I’ve worked with, I think because she was an actor to start. She really knows how to communicate what she wants in a scene, and she takes it very seriously. She’s very direct—but in the best way!

Before the episode, she sent us all this very long email to be prepared, that she also wants to have fun, but know your lines. Everyone came to set that week on their game. You can’t disappoint Lucy Liu!

Ben Wang (“Jin Wang”): And [she’s] just the kindest person. Halfway through that episode, I slammed my head into the door. Not on purpose. It wasn’t part of the show. I didn’t do it for a bit. She gave me medicine to help my swelling.

What was it like to watch the Everything Everywhere All At Once team sweep the Oscars earlier this year, having worked together on this show?

Wang: Selfishly, I was like, “Ah, now more people are going to watch American Born Chinese! Yes, this is the best thing that could’ve happened for me!”

Taylor: We weren’t filming when they won, but we were filming when the film came out. Ke [Huy Quan] set up this screening for a lot of the cast and crew, so we got to go see the film together. Me and Ben, like, sobbed through all of it. It was too good! We couldn’t handle it. To see how much hard work went into that film, to see it sweep the Oscars—not just win one or two, but to get seven—was so heartwarming to see and so prideful for all of us attached to the show.

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Mar: It was unbelievable. Michelle and Ke, who we worked very closely with, and Jonathan Wang and the Daniels—they’re your team. It’s like rooting for a sports team. You see those guys, and you’re like, “I need them to win the championship.” They were like the Los Angeles Lakers to me.

Han: We were at the premiere of the movie in downtown LA. I couldn’t be happier for them. [Yeoh and Quan] are such hard workers, on top of being incredibly talented. I just keep wanting to quote lines from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom to Ke, but I haven’t done it yet.

Yann Yann Yeo (“Christine Wang”): When Michelle won the Oscar, I was in Hong Kong. The next day, this lady was like, “You don’t sound like you’re from Hong Kong, where are you from?” I was like, “I’m from Malaysia.” Then, she was like, “Congratulations! Because of Michelle Yeoh!” Like, oh my god, thank you, Michelle Yeoh! Because of you, I get congratulated just for being from the same country as you.

Ben Wang is a fantastic young lead as Jin, who is delightfully awkward with impeccable comedic timing—what was it like to work with him?

Mar: We were lucky enough to have a casting director that I’ve worked with a ton, Leslie Wu. She brought in Ben, and within two minutes of seeing his audition, we locked in. All along, we’ve said that the Ben and Wei-Chen roles are the heart and soul of the thing. We’re in deep trouble if that doesn’t work—there’s no show. The fact that we were able to find Ben and Jimmy, it gives it a complete focus that you can build everything else around it.

Yang: I’ve heard Ben described as the “Gen-Z Michael J. Fox.” And I think there’s something to that! The way he is able to portray vulnerability in a believable-but-funny way, that really draws you in. He’s the perfect actor for that role.

Yeo: If I have a son, I want him to be Ben Wang. That’s totally how I feel. He’s talented, his timing is impeccable, everything. He can sing, he can dance, he can play all the instruments. He can write scripts, he can write songs. I want him as my son!

Han: We can put in the papers for him.

Yeo: OK, I’ll adopt him.

Ben and Sydney, your characters have a coming-of-age romance storyline. Were there any movies that inspired you in portraying that?

Wang: I love coming-of-age comedies. Growing up, and even now, it’s one of my favorite genres. One of my favorite movies of all time is Juno, and I feel like Jin might have a little bit of that Michael Cera awkwardness. It’s a charming awkwardness.

Taylor: My own life inspired the awkward 15-year-old [character]. Personally, I really tapped into my younger self there.

Wang: Well, I just tapped into my present self. [Laughs]

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What do you hope this show teaches young folks who watch?

Han: I hope that it will inspire young kids in any environment, who are disenfranchised or feel they’re on the outside, to know that there’s a place for them.

Yeo: I pray that all the mothers will tell them, “It’s OK. Really, it’s OK. You’re enough.”

Wang: For the character of Jin, it’s a lesson about confidence. Where does it come from? His relationship with Wei-Chen teaches him a little bit. I feel like when I was 15 and lacking a lot of confidence, I had this idea in my head that confidence is something you earn. You become confident by earning it through doing things, or something like that. If you don’t do things, you can’t become confident.

But then you grow up a little bit, and you realize that confidence actually can be manufactured. You can just make it out of nothing! It’s something you can just have. Once you have it, the other things come. Wei-Chen’s character, very much so, has it. He comes into it with that confident spirit, and Jin doesn’t, and the two learn from each other.

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