“In Korean, the word for ‘confidence’ is jashin-gam. And jashin means ‘self.’ And gam means ‘sense.’ I think we don’t know ourselves, but we are starting to. It can really only come from accepting who we are. I think most of us spent a lifetime running away from that.”

-Steven Yeun, episode 324 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso

From The Walking Dead to Minari to Beef, Steven Yeun has become one of the most singular performers in Hollywood today. With his latest role in the sci-fi romance Love Me, we look back at our conversation with the leading man.

At the top, Yeun unpacks his acclaimed Netflix series Beef (5:09), a powerful church scene from the show (11:30), and his personal experience immigrating to the US from Seoul as a child (18:15). Then, we walk through Steven’s coming of age in Michigan (21:24), his memorable audition for The Second City Touring Company (25:29), and his pursuit of on-screen work in Los Angeles (33:40).

On the back-half, Steven reflects on his portrayal of Glenn on The Walking Dead (36:22), the films that followed, including Okja (48:10), Burning (50:02), and Sorry to Bother You (51:16), his transformative experience making and premiering Minari (55:42), and to close, a poem that guided him on set by the great Wendell Berry (1:08:19).

Thoughts or future guest ideas? Email us at [email protected].

Original illustration by Krishna ShenoiReference image by John Chong.

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