TV: Fresh Off the Boat: Randall Park on humanizing the immigrant experience

Although Randall Park calls Fresh Off the Boat ultimately “just a fun, heartfelt show,” he emphasizes the importance of simultaneously shining light on the immigrant experience.

“I think it’s really important right now, especially in today’s climate, to be able to humanize the immigrant experience [and] to present immigrant characters and an Asian-American family in a multi-faceted way,” he told EW. “Everyone can find something that they identify with when they watch our show. But at the same time, they can see things that are different that makes this family different and unique.”

Park (who plays Louis Huang on the ABC sitcom) also mentions that “it means the world” to him when people, especially kids, come up to him and tell him that they watch the show with their family.

“People are so happy a show like this exists because they get to sit down with their family and watch. I think it’s important to me, in part, because I have a family now – I have a kid, a five-year-old daughter. Family time means so much to me.”

Watch the full clip at the link below for more from Park.
Season 4 of Fresh Off the Boat airs on Tuesday nights at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

 

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“Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.”
— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, 2009.