The star ofFresh Off the Boathas madeAlways Be My Maybe, a rom-cominspired by his own life.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Were discreetly in the shadow of the Marina Freeway.
And it was just horrible.
It didnt last long.
Casually offering up personal mortification is just part of Parks style.
After they fight at a Burger King, their relationship goes into a freeze that lasts into adulthood.
At 45, Park radiates stability, like a well-built house.
Park has mentally sketched out a route for a drive around L.A. today.
I have that small-town mentality, he says.
My town just happens to be this big city.
You kind of have to so that do what you love.
He was still working there at 32 while on MTVsWildn Outwith Nick Cannon.
Maybe it was embarrassing, but he had student loans to pay.
I needed it, Park says.
MTV is not known for paying super-well.
Park participated in online grid diversity showcases, but they often felt like exercises in futility.
There wasnt much follow-through early on.
I remember doing the CBS showcase in 2006, and it was kind of shocking to me.
Their comedic sensibility was so dated and so steeped in that minstrel tradition.
I think the people running it really got a kick out of that.
When it was Parks turn, they said, Nerd, tech guy, child molester.
It was really traumatic for me, Park says.
I was just used to being everything.
It was a rude awakening.
He has his regrets.
I was the villain of the show, he says.
I dont know what I wouldve done.
There was unreasonable pressure on the show: How long would they have to wait again if it failed?
But the show succeeded, and helped usher Asian-American representation into a new era.
Wu spiraled on social media, eventually explaining that the pickup had prevented her taking another dream job.
But, he says, if it keeps going, hell be thrilled too.
The regularity of the job helped him pay off his student loans and break free of credit-card debt.
I feel like Im at a good place for myself, he says.
Which Im gonna do.
I dont need your money.
says Duk Hee Park, his mother.
She has a moist rag in her hand from cleaning.
She asks me if I want anything to eat: some fruit, maybe?
Look at this, says the actor, gesturing toward a flap of wood bending upward off the floor.
Oh, well, thats where we glue it.
I dont wanna go through that.
Whatever his age, hell always be his mothers baby.
They settled down in L.A. in 1970 and had Randalls brother, Daniel, a year later.
Park tells me his mother wanted him to be a doctor or a scientist.
I ask what she thought of her sons career choice.
I never worried, she says.
Yeah, you did.
We argued a couple of times, she admits.
He hated me those days.
I didnt hate her.
You had anger towards me.
They were so against it.
And I was so dependent on their approval.
Well, I mean, I still am.
And I think over time I was like,Oh, I cant even tell them about this.
Because show business is a long road, okay?
My day, entertainment is not easy.
Its long way to get there.
Especially as a minority.
Thats why I kind of against you.
In many ways, Marcus fromAlways Be My Maybeis a version of Park who never left home.
(Park also rapped with the group Ill Again.)
They would set up a bar on the end, and his parents house became a local theater.
Take a picture of this.
Oh my gosh, says Park.
Im just kidding, says his mother.
No, you werent kidding.
You could take a picture of it.
That is pretty, he admits.
I take the photo.
This is so pretty, says his mother.
(The name blends initials from the founders camp-counselor nicknames.)
(I made one with cranberries that actually, I thought, turned out really good, says Wong.
The person who won made chocolate fried rice.)
Eventually, she joined an improv group Park was in called Stage Ninjas.
(It was not a good name, says Park.)
The group didnt last, but their friendship did.
Every show was just packed with these Asian-American kids wanting to see reflections of them onstage, says Park.
It was such a magical thing.
There would be a line snaking all the way down to Sproul Hall three people deep, says Golamco.
Wed have to turn people away.
Wed have to put out extra chairs.
There was a hunger for it.
(I dont remember why.)
At the time it was me figuring out what that means and my place in the Asian-American community.
Always Be My Maybeis an LCC production with a Netflix budget.
They were chatting, and he floated the idea of their doing a rom-com together.
And then he was like, No.
I think it should be something we write together and that you and I star in together.
I think you guys are probably responsible for the movie happening.
I dont think it wouldve happened without that article about the article, says Park.
They dont have to be the Asian person in the movie, says Wong.
We reach ourlast stop of the day as Park pulls into the driveway of his home in Studio City.
Did you tell him where we went on our first date?
asks Jae Suh at their dining-room table.
We went to go seePlanet B-Boy, the 2007 documentary about competitive break dancing.
Thats not a date movie, admits Randall.
But I knew she liked dance movies.
And I thought,Well feel like we won at the end of this.
I knew he was the one after the third date, she says.
We had gone to see a movie; it wasJuno.
I just thought,If I could laugh like this for the rest of my life, thats it.
Thats what I want.
I can tell shes the spikier one.
Whereas Randall tends to like everything, shes more willing to lodge a contrarian opinion.
There are Asian actors we dont know or even socialize with, so its nice, you know?
You dont need the solidarity anymore, he says.
Enough of this support and loving each other.
I ask if there are any feuds we can talk about.
Not as long as that things recording, he says, laughing.
Theres definitely grumblings here and there.
Once they become full-blown feuds, then were really onto something.
Still, hes hoping to return to the things that fueled him creatively, like his off-kilter web seriesDr.
Miracles, where he plays a doctor who can cure any ailment with his semen.
(He likes absurdist stuff like Tim RobinsonsI Think You Should Leave,PEN15, andBig Mouth.)
He would love to play Columbo in a reboot.
He doesnt know martial arts, but hes a good actor.
Werner wants to cast him, but its basically between him and this white guy, says Park.
He finds out that the other guy gets this Bruce Lee role.
And the community finds out about it, and the communitys furious.
But he is this killer.
And Werner obviously will know about a world like that.
And Werners, like, inspired by that, and he sets it up.
So the whole movie is leading up to this big fight.
Its super-dumb, Park says, and maybe exactly right.
Always Be My Maybepremieres on Netflix on May 31.
