Steven Yeun Quotes

What I learned, in the two months that we shot, I don't think I could have learned in two to four years of drama school. It's invaluable to me, and that's been the most fun. It's been nice to let this be a learning experience in everything.

Whatever I lack in size and strength and speed, I kind of make up for in being grittier. When it comes to something like basketball I'm definitely not the best guy on the court, but I love elbowing and pushing people out or boxing them out.

I'm glad that people have responded well to it, so far. I'm thankful for that. But, I'm also excited now that I have a better grasp of this character than I did before. I want to take it even further and really explore who Glenn is.

I felt like I've needed to ask my parents up until about four years ago about everything. They have helped me tremendously, I came out of college with no debt. Everything they made, they just poured into my education.

People think that Detroit is this barren wasteland. While there are parts that are not as nice as others, the misconception is not true. It is definitely not a thriving community in Detroit, but it is getting there. There is a lot of heart and love in this city.

I took up boxing to get in shape for filming because it's grueling - all the running, the heat, the yelling, the crying that we do.

I like documentaries because there's nothing to nitpick or criticize about scenes if they aren't just right. It's about honesty and real-life circumstances coming out. Granted it can be swayed by how people tell that story, but overall, I like it because it is true.

At the end of the day, if you can't say a line right, it does not matter who your contacts are.

I got to go to New York Comic-Con. I've never been and I've heard it's crazy, so I'd love to see it. To be quite honest, I'd like for people to want us to be there, too. I'm hoping. I'm knocking on wood, so we'll see.

Maybe it's a cultural thing, being Korean, but my first reflex has always been to exude humility - but it doesn't help you in acting. For acting, humility isn't the best thing. It'll weaken your work.

I was more into music, before I got into college. In high school, I used to play guitar and sing. I did a lot of that. But, when I graduated and went to college, I remember my freshman year and this girl from across the hall, who is one of my good friends to this day, had a brother who was in the school improv team. We went to go watch a show and it blew my face off.

Well, my parents originally wanted me to become a doctor - that's why I was in school; I was pre-med, and I graduated with a degree in psychology and a concentration in neuroscience. Really, the plan was for me to go to med school.

If you work in Chicago in the improv scene, anyone is happy for you if you get a job.

Having read the source material, I had to have drawn from that. As a fan, I wanted to remain true to that character, but it was really cool because, as we were figuring these characters out, I realized that there was a lot more backstory, rather than what I had gotten just from reading the book. Glenn doesn't really get much of a backstory there. He's just seen as this kid who is put in this situation, not knowing where his mind-set is, but then you slowly see him start to develop.

Maybe it was just me shorting myself to hedge my expectations. As a fan, I was excited about the project. If you look at the body of work for the people involved, I was excited about the project, but I didn't really know. There were people saying, "I think we're going to be part of something huge."

It is tough, every time. The ensemble is great. I would always ask Andrew, "Is this how Hollywood is? Is this how every TV show and movie is?" And he was like, "No, dude. This is not. Do not get used to this. Be thankful that this is how your first gig is."

Yeah, it's scary. During filming, it wasn't just jitters from being the newer guy there or the greenest guy there. It was also fear of not messing up such an important character.

Yeah, it's been pretty gnarly. It's fun. It can only be fun, unless you're really squirmy about that. Honestly, during that guts episode, they didn't tell Andrew and I anything. They just put trenchcoats on us and said, "All right, just stand right here and we're going to put this stuff on you."

The biggest challenges are in the same vein. It's about retaining all that stuff. Also, the physical stuff is not as easy as we originally thought. I play a lot of sports and I remember saying, "Oh, I'll be fine, running around or doing anything."

There's no drama. There's nothing. Everyone is there to work, everyone is really kind and everyone is very helpful, especially to me. I went in there, hoping to learn. I could have easily been put on some project with somebody who really doesn't care about teaching or sharing. But, while I was there, all of the cast were very helpful. I would constantly ask questions.

I'm good at keeping secrets, but if it's not something super serious I usually tell people not to tell me because I'll tell someone else.

If you ask any of the other actors, they'd probably say nice things because they're nice people, but I was always like, "Oh gosh, I hope I'm doing this right." I was very hard on myself, and I continue to be. That's why it's sometimes hard for me to digest watching myself on television. There is some pressure.

You can say that all you want, but even in the little time that I've been in this industry, I've learned that it isn't exactly what you expect, so you've got to have a level head. I thought people would dig it. I thought people would enjoy it. It's AMC. I thought people would be fans. But, I did not think we would be the best new show on television.

It was so ridiculous. We were just sitting there, thinking about how ridiculous it was because we literally had stray hairs on us. The camera couldn't pick up all the details, but we had some crazy things. We had huge slabs of fat on us and bits of nails and hair. It was disgusting. But, there's also the beautiful parts of it.

I remember the first day I got there, they started the take and after four takes I was on the ground, on my back, with a banana and a Twizzler in my hand, and my face was green, and they said, "You can't get back on set for another 30 minutes." That was a, "Welcome to Atlanta," and that put everything in perspective.

I grew up in Michigan, so I played hockey, football and basketball. I played a little bit of lacrosse, too. My brother played more lacrosse and ran track.

I was a psych major in college and I actually owned two white lab rats. I had to train them and I took them home so that's just kind of missing for me.

To be honest, at that point, just being so fresh to L.A., I was in the mind-set of just getting work, at all costs. But, if you take a step back from it, it's just such a blessing to be able to play somebody like Glenn. Me being Asian American, it's nice to have something to play that's not so very stereotypical. It's also nice to have somebody that I identify with.

I've always loved drama. This is a blessing because I can show a little bit of what I can do, and hopefully more, in the future.