Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Oregon is home to me.
I've done retail before.
You rarely see a Filipino family on TV.
I'm so Filipino. I'm fluent in Filipino.
Superstore' is, like, my fifth acting job.
I hate that femininity in a gay men is a 'stereotype.'
First of all, Asian representation hardly exists to begin with.
I'm from the Philippines and I moved to this country when I was 16.
Everything you could imagine Michelle Yeoh being, she lives up to that.
Within the Filipino community, everybody knows somebody who's undocumented.
I never thought an opportunity like 'Crazy Rich Asians' would ever come my way.
I've gotten auditions with as little as two hours' notice. Those don't go so well!
My mom is definitely crazy. She would totally be a stage mom if I was a child actor.
Femme people exist, and they are layered and they are complex and they are intelligent.
I think any immigrant who comes to this country also knows somebody who is undocumented.
When I worked at Dior, Paris Hilton and Kathy Hilton came one time and they were kind of crazy.
My dad was undocumented for a period of time, my mom was also undocumented for a period of time.
I don't think people should be afraid of portraying people with accents, especially Asian accents.
My brother joined the Army. He served multiple tours in Iraq and now lives in Texas with his family.
I had a rough start when I moved to L.A. I couldn't find a job, so I couch-surfed for the first two years.
It's really mind-boggling to me when I think about where I started and where I am now. It's kind of insane.
When I got that role of Mateo in 'Superstore,' it was such a huge victory for me, professionally and personally.
I want to show people out there that there's such a huge spectrum of people within the queer and Asian community.
People with accents exist and just because they have an accent doesn't mean they're less intelligent or what-have-you.
We, Filipinos, are really great about keeping a positive attitude and seeing the silver lining in all things. We're survivors!
I should have been born a crazy rich Asian because I do have expensive taste. I have champagne taste but I'm on a beer budget.
It still baffles my brain that I actually get to portray a character on American television that's this gay, femme-y Filipino guy.
I never thought in a million years I'd be involved in a project that celebrated the fullness of my identity of being queer and Asian.
It wasn't until I worked on 'Crazy Rich Asians' that I all of a sudden have this Asian crew of friends that I became super close with.
I thought my high school would either be like 'Beverly Hills 90210' or 'Stand and Deliver' - it was just a run-of-the-mill high school.
We all need to call upon our lawmakers to create a path to citizenship for hard-working, law-abiding undocumented people and their families.
I did stand-up comedy for a long time in San Francisco, and then I was like, 'You know what? I'm going to move to Los Angeles and try and make it!'
My intent when I moved to L.A. was to get in good with the comedy clubs and, eventually, try to break into Comedy Central and have my half hour special.
I miss Philippine mangoes, you just can't get them here. Mangoes, you can't get lanzones here, you can't get siniguelas, all these fruits that I grew up with.
Shows like 'Superstore' and certainly 'Pose' are leading the way and showing queer people of color in a much more complex, nuanced light that we've never seen.
Never in a million years would I have imagined that this is how my life would have ended up. I just thought I would be living in the States, doing a regular job.
I came out to one or two people in high school and then it wasn't until I was a freshman in college that I was fully out of the closet. It was like the late '90s.
A lot of people know me from my character that I play on 'Superstore,' Mateo, and I'm not interested in playing straight roles. I'm all about playing queer roles.
I lost my accent pretty quickly, so everyone assumes I was born and raised in America. But I'm very much still in touch with my Filipino roots. That will never go away.
I always thought that when I got into this business that I was going to have to downplay my Asianness and downplay my queerness, which is not an easy thing for me to do.
What I've come to find out is it doesn't matter if you're selling a $10,000 gown or toilet paper: The everyday sort of humdrum of customer service and retail is the same.
Especially when you're queer and you're a person of color, you're so used to being the token on set. Inevitably you have to answer dumb questions from someone. You're the 'other.'
Ellen DeGeneres is a huge influence in my life. She's one of the reasons why I wanted to do stand-up comedy. I was a big fan of her stand-up before she even came out of the closet.
When I moved to L.A., I had no intention of really pursuing acting. I wanted to focus on stand-up. It's crazy to me that my acting career took off much faster than my stand-up career.
I think I understand why most actors and actresses are insane, because having to go through an emotional roller coaster as your job every day of your life would make somebody absolutely loopy.
My brownness is something that I can't hide. There are some straight-acting or straight-passing queer people out there, but I'm not one of them. This is something I would rather not have to hide.
My family always believed in me, even when I didn't. Having that love and support made me not afraid of failing. I knew my mom would be proud of me just for taking a chance and pursuing my dream.
I often get asked which 'Superstore' episode is my favorite. That's such a hard question to answer. It's like being asked: Which of your children (and by children, I mean shoes) do you like best?
I like making adobo, because it's easy and it keeps in the fridge for a while. Or I'll make pasta with bolognese - something I can make a big batch of and can keep eating for the rest of the week.
The fact that I am a Filipino actor playing a Filipino role is crazy. Filipinos are the second largest Asian minority in the United States, and we're hardly represented in the media and on television.