On campaigning for deeper storylines on The Walking Dead: "I was like, 'Yo! Give me a story line where I go to kill this guy.' (That didn't happen.) To be quite honest, as an Asian person, sometimes accessing your own humanity when you're outside in the world is not that easy. Because you're usually kind of just shrunken down into your label. To not have that in my real life and to not have that in my show life was frustrating. And so I think it just started this journey of just, like . . . dude, I can't. I've got to feel full. I've got to feel real."
On the constant struggle of code-switching: "I didn't know it while I was living through it, but you're constantly code-switching. You're constantly trying to fit into a situation so that you don't disturb it . . . But I think I was tired of not letting people know that I could have dark thoughts. That I could also have anger . . . And that's what I mean about my humanity. We all feel human. But I just wanted to feel all the feelings."