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Daniel Eagan

Gene Luen Yang’s graphic novel American Born Chinese has been a bestseller since it was published in 2006. Now Disney+ has adapted the book into an eight-part series streaming worldwide starting May 24.
Yang admits he never thought his novel would reach the screen.
“Everything that’s happened has really been an unexpected blessing,” he says.
“It’s not a direct adaptation. Certain changes had to happen. We updated the time frame from the 1990s, when I was growing up, to the 2020s. During that time the conversation about what it means to be an Asian-American has changed.”


The story follows high-schooler Jin Wang (played by Ben Wang) as he tries to navigate life in suburban California.
Jin has typical teen problems: a crush on the unattainable Amelia (Sydney Taylor); parents (Yeo Yann Yann and Chin Han) whose marriage may be in jeopardy; and the casual bigotry of his classmates.
That’s before Jin learns that new student Wei-Chen (Jim Liu) is actually the son of Sun Wukong (Daniel Wu), the Monkey King of legend. What unfolds is a dizzying mix of teen angst and supernatural myths.

Yang was involved in the adaptation from the start. So were writer Kelvin Wu and Melvin Mar, one of the executive producers.
“My part was really figuring out how to put this team together,” Mar says. “First, Gene and Kelvin needed to be on the same page. The script attracted directors Destin Daniel Cretton and Lucy Liu. At that point, someone said, ‘I think Michelle Yeoh should play Guanyin. Why don’t we call her?’”
Oscar-winner Yeoh accepted two days later, joining what Mar called the equivalent of the Asian-American all-star team. Along with Yeoh and Daniel Wu, the cast includes Oscar-winner Ke Huy Quan, Oscar-nominee Stephanie Hsu, veteran actor James Hong, and comedians Jimmy O Yang and Ronny Chieng (Crazy Rich Asians).

Daniel Wu, who jokes that he watched monkey documentaries as research, thinks his Monkey King is different from earlier interpretations.
“Most people are used to the Monkey King from Journey to the West – one who’s younger, who’s rebellious and rambunctious and trying to prove himself to gods who don’t accept him. So he’s angry,” he says.
“But he’s a father now, and his son is acting up a lot. Sun Wukong doesn’t like that, but he learns you have to allow people to forge their own path in life. You can’t control everything. Once I figured out that aspect, the way to play this character became very clear to me.”
“Both Melvin and I grew up with the Monkey King,” Yang points out. “I heard those stories from my mom when I was a kid. They’re one of the connections with the place my mom left. We all knew we wanted to do right by those characters. The entire writing team read Journey to the West again and again.”

According to Yang, Yeoh, a practising Buddhist, had a deep connection to her role as Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy.
“I remember her pulling me aside at one point and saying, ‘Guanyin wouldn’t do this,’” Mar recalls. “I’m like, ‘Great, let’s get Kelvin. You can yell at him.’”
Kelvin Wu expanded the roles of Jin’s parents Christine and Simon. She pushes him to assert himself at work, where he has been passed over for promotions. He worries that her efforts to start a herbal medicine company will put them in debt. Neither one can talk freely to the other.

Their problems are so deeply rooted there seems no way to solve them. Their scenes give the series an unexpected emotional depth.
“Their kind of disconnect obviously doesn’t happen overnight,” Chin Han says. “It’s quite insidious. It creeps up on you, that slow dissonance between a couple. Their son Jin is very integral to how this couple can find a way forward.”
“Their communication seems to have broken down,” Yann Yann says, “but if they couldn’t communicate when they first met, they would never have married. Chin Han and I actually spent a lot of time discussing our experiences, things we saw growing up with our parents. That helped with our relationship.”

“I think it also helps that we come from the same part of the world, from Southeast Asia,” Chin Han adds. “We share cultures and traditions that allowed us to converse almost in shorthand. Like me, Yann Yann comes from the theatre. We love the process of rehearsals, of exploring these characters more deeply.”
Chin Han had an added burden: his character doesn’t talk much to begin with, let alone about his emotions.
“For an actor, text is wonderful to play with, but subtext is even more challenging,” he says. “When you get to the heart, it can be very gratifying. One of my favourite films is The Remains of the Day with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson. What they can say without speaking is so real. It’s not just craft or technique.
“In our own lives there are many times we are unable to express what we feel. For example, Simon at work: his coworkers all speak English, but he still feels like he’s speaking a different language – even when he’s trying to talk about something simple like NFL football. It’s a constant thing he has to navigate.”

Ben Wang compares developing his role as the son to undergoing therapy. “You hear about people re-enacting past traumas. This was like I had to basically relive these exact moments from my own 16-year-old life, for better or for worse.”
Is Ben as shy in real life as Jin? “Sometimes,” he says. “I think I’m a little better than Jin, but there’s a piece of me in certain situations, with certain people, where I can be really still. For this show, it was a matter of expanding that feeling.”

Wang grew up watching Yeoh and Wu movies. “They were in all of my favourites. At first it was surreal to learn that you’re going to be working with them. But when you get on set and find that they’re such welcoming and warm and down-to-earth people, you feel really grateful that you get to be a part of the community that they help foster.”
“Incredibly fun” was how Daniel Wu describes the shoot.
He adds: “As you know, I spend a lot of time in Asia making films, and I spend a lot of time in America making films. But this is the first time I worked on a project where everybody came from similar backgrounds. Although I was accepted in Asia, I was still kind of an outsider. On something like Westworld, I was the only Asian person on set, right?
“This was a situation where we all had similar backgrounds, similar experiences, and we’re telling a story about our experiences. And it was so cool to be a part of. Every day on set was something cool and fun and interesting.”

For his part, Wang is reluctant to say what American Born Chinese “means”.
“There are a lot of different messages crammed into this series,” he says. “But it’s so fun that I think I don’t have to tell people what they should take away from it.
“If they have fun and enjoy it, which they definitely will because it’s that kind of show, all the themes and bigger ideas will be naturally absorbed. That’s what good media does: it’s first and foremost entertaining, but has a real message about how to live.”

Episode seven tackles anti-Asian racism head on. Ke Huy Quan plays Freddy Wong, an actor who early in his career was the butt of demeaning jokes in a sitcom. Kelvin Wu gives the actor a speech later in his life where he can explain for the first time the hurt he felt.
Yang, who was involved in the adaptation from the start, agreed to an open ending for the series.
“We’re hoping we can continue the story for a long time,” he says. “I think the spirit of the book is captured by the television series, but I hope that there are different pieces we can still have conversations about.”
American Born Chinese will start streaming on Disney+ on May 24.


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Disney+ series American Born Chinese, starring Michelle Yeoh, Ben Wang and Daniel Wu, mixes suburban California with Journey to the West

Michelle Yeoh as Guanyin (front) and Ben Wang as student Jin Wang in a still from Disney+’s “American Born Chinese”. Photo: Disney+

From left: Gene Luen Yang, Ben Wang, Jimmy Liu and Sydney Taylor at the premiere of “American Born Chinese”, in New York City. Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Daniel Wu as Monkey King Sun Wukong in a still from “American Born Chinese”. Photo: Disney+

Michelle Yeoh as Guanyin (left) and Ben Wang as high-school student Jin Wang in a still from “American Born Chinese”. Photo: Disney+

Yeo Yann Yann (left) and Chin Han as Jin Wang’s parents Christine and Simon, in a still from “American Born Chinese”. Photo: Disney+

Ben Wang (left) and Jim Liu as student Wei-Chen in a still from “American Born Chinese”. Photo: Disney+

Yeoh (left) and Wu in a still from “American Born Chinese”. Photo: Disney+

Ben Wang (centre) in a still from “American Born Chinese”. Photo: Disney+

The cast of “American Born Chinese” (from left) Chin Han, Yeo Yann Yann, Sydney Taylor, Ben Wang, Michelle Yeoh, Jimmy Liu, Ke Huy Quan and Daniel Wu at the premiere of the Disney+ original series “American Born Chinese”, in New York. Photo: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

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American Born Chinese combines teen angst and supernatural myths as it follows an Asian-American student and his experiences in suburban California
We talk to Daniel Wu, Ben Wang, and other cast and crew of the series for their insight into what for many was a deeply personal filming experience


Disney+ series American Born Chinese, starring Michelle Yeoh, Ben Wang and Daniel Wu, mixes teen angst and supernatural myths as it follows an Asian-American student in suburban California.
