From the Los Angeles Times, this is Asian Enough.

Each week on this podcast, we talk to one Asian American guest about the joys, the complications,

and everything else that comes along with being Asian-American.

I'm Zheng Yamato.

This week, we're revisiting our very first episode, the conversation that kicked off season

one with the actor John Cho.

You might know him as Harold Lee of Harold and Kumar, or as Sulu in the Star Trek movies,

or even as Milf Guy No. 2 from American Pie.

His films also include the acclaimed Indies Columbus and Searching and the highly anticipated

cowboy bebop movie coming this fall.

In this episode, Asian Enough co-creator Frank Chong and I debuted the podcast with a revealing

conversation with John, who opened up about how becoming a father helped him understand

his own parents, how he wrestles with the complexities of fame, and the emotional scars

that racism often imprints on Asian-Americans growing up.

I look around and I think I see, and this is different from our fathers.

Our fathers did not grow up with that.

They come here and they experience racism, but nobody's changing their minds about who

they are.

You know, my dad is Korean, he's a man, he's proud of who he is, he knows who he is,

and you can Ching Chong him to death, he doesn't give a shit.

But us, his sons, were different.

We, when we were soft and malleable, we got told we weren't worth anything, and then

...