“For me, there’s always a process of exiting a character. It doesn’t necessarily mean I let go of it; it actually feels like more of an absorption. With Beef, that character made me confront a lot of my own shame. It was interesting to go back and look at parts of Danny that I could relate to, where maybe he was unwilling to really look at himself.”
-Steven Yeun, episode 324 of Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso
Today, we sit with actor Steven Yeun! At the top, we discuss his new Netflix series Beef (3:40), a powerful church scene from the show (12:10), and his personal experience immigrating to the US from Seoul as a child (18:44). Then, we walk through Steven’s coming of age in Michigan (21:35), his memorable audition for The Second City Touring Company (25:56), and his pursuit of on-screen work in Los Angeles (34:22).
On the back-half, Steven reflects on his portrayal of Glenn on The Walking Dead (36:54), the films that followed, including Okja (45:54), Burning (49:42), and Sorry to Bother You (50:58), his transformative experience making and premiering Minari (55:17), and to close, a poem that guided him on set by the great Wendell Berry (1:08:02).
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Show-notes:
- Watch Steven Yeun in Beef on Netflix.
- See his previous work in Nope, I Think You Should Leave, Minari, Burning, Sorry to Bother You, Okja, and The Walking Dead.
- Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
- For more conversations, hear our talks with Bob Odenkirk, Hiro Murai, Natasha Lyonne, Pedro Pascal, Quinta Brunson, Bill Hader, Abbi Jacobson, Tituss Burgess, and Ethan Hawke.
- Order your Talk Easy mug in cream and navy or our vinyl record with Fran Lebowitz.
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Original illustration by Krishna Shenoi. Reference image by John Chong.
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