Join us on the Dorkaholics channel as we dive into the world of Interior Chinatown with none other than Jimmy O. Yang, who stars as Willis Wu! In this exclusive interview, Jimmy shares his insights on bringing Charles Yu’s acclaimed novel to life, his thoughts on the deeply layered themes of identity and representation, and what it means to portray such a unique and complex character. Whether you’re a fan of Jimmy’s comedic brilliance, a lover of thought-provoking storytelling, or simply curious about Interior Chinatown, this interview is packed with laughs, heartfelt moments, and fascinating behind-the-scenes stories.
Hi Jimmy, my name is Andrew from Dorkaholics, where we believe there’s a dork in everyone, and it’s our responsibility to bring that dork out into the world. The series adapts a novel written as a screenplay, so with the actual screenplay for the series, there’s two sources of materials to draw from. Was there anything that you brought as an actor to your character and the series that wasn’t directly included in the source material?
Jimmy O. Yang: Oh, wow, great question. It was a blessing to have Charlie on set, he wrote the book and he wrote the show, so any questions we had, I can just directly go to him behind the monitors. I think that’s more maybe a Charlie question because he was so kind and welcoming and interested in my story and we chatted about how I related to the story, the book, and how a lot of times my career paralleled Willis’ life. So maybe some of that inspires certain pieces in this TV version of Willis Wu, but a lot of it, truly every episode I was able to draw a lot from my own experience to inform Willis’s journey.
