How to make your way to Hollywood. The story of Jimmy O. Yang
Jimmy moved from Hong Kong to the USA when he was 13. Now he is 31, he’s on the cast of HBO’s series Silicon Valley, has his own stand-up show, and wrote a book about immigration.
LinguaTrip.com’s co-founder Marina Mogilko has visited Jimmy and discussed the life of an immigrant in the USA and his acting career with him.
About the book
You wrote the book How to American: An Immigrant’s Guide to Disappointing Your Parents, which tells how a Chinese immigrant feels about living in America. Why did you decide to do it?
I wanted to share my experience, to tell people about stereotypes, and explain how it feels to live in the USA. I also wanted to support these people, who have just moved to America and face various difficulties. At some point, it’s important to understand that you are not alone and that everything will work out. Many people succeeded, and I’m one of them.
There’s a part in the book which describes how your mother was furious when she found out that you’d bought a T-shirt for $50.
God yes! Mother always tries to buy things for a reasonable price. I was never allowed to buy things at full price. Probably, it’s rooted in the Chinese mentality. We are very thrifty.
About parents
Your parents were not supportive of your interest in stand-up. They pictured you in financial sector. It’s what you say in the book. When have you realized that they began to appreciate your work?
I’m still not sure. Yesterday my father visited my performance. After the show, he approached me when everyone was taking photos and said: “I’m Jimmy’s father”. It was funny. I think he knows that people come to see his son. But he still doesn’t get some of my jokes — his English is not that good.
About English
I don’t hear any accent when you speak. How did you get rid of it?
I spoke English when I moved to the USA but I had an accent. To get rid of it, I watched a lot of TV-shows and tried to repeat after the tv-hosts. I liked shows about hip-hop. These experiments had a fantastic influence on my pronunciation.
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I’ve noticed that you use Google Translate. Why?
I don’t read in Chinese very well. Google Translate helps with that. It’s cool that I can upload a photo and translate the text from it.
About Hollywood
At first, you performed for free. When have you realized that you can earn from your stand-up?
It was a gradual process. At first, I performed at colleges and was paid a little, a thousand dollars was the maximum. I made it to the big stage and bearable paychecks 5–6 years later.
When did you start acting in TV series?
In 2012 I got an episodic part in the 2 Broke Girls series. My part was just a couple of lines, but I felt lucky. Later, there were other episodic roles in other series. But I never thought that in a couple of years I will do something like Silicon Valley on HBO.
What advice can you give to immigrants who want to make their way to Hollywood?
It’s not as scary as it may seem. To get noticed you need to work a lot and have a bit of luck. And I’m here to say that it’s possible.
It’s important to have people who set an example. For me, for instance, it were such people as Bobby Lee and Ken Jeong. And it’s necessary to learn acting. Acting is not an inborn talent.
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