Eddie Huang on Asian American representation and writing diverse stories: 'Those are the people that give me strength'

Eddie Huang's feature directorial debut is Boogie, a partially autobiographical story about an Asian American high school basketball player in New York City. The writer, restaurateur, and newly-minted director recently spoke with Yahoo Entertainment as part of our Game Changers series, and discussed how his work in all mediums has propelled Asian American visibility forwards.

"You look at the progress that's happened since I kicked that door down," Huang said, referencing his NYC restaruant BaoHaus opening in 2009, and his memoir Fresh Off the Boat dropping in 2013. "And now I feel there are a lot of Asian people speaking, and it's really good, and that snowball is rolling and getting bigger."

"The stories I'm writing, they're always going to have Asian leads and Asian characters, but I also want to continue to have Black leads and Latino leads and perhaps gay leads ... because that is the world that I live in."

Watch more from Huang in the Game Changers video above.

Video Transcript

EDDIE HUANG: I would like to make work that has space for all Americans. And that still has a very strong East Asian spine because that is who I am.

- (SINGING) All in.

- Beef and broccoli isn't stupid. It's fed neighborhoods and sustained us. But Chinese people could be so much more if this country didn't reduce us down to beef and broccoli.

KEVIN POLOWY: What appealed to you about everything sort of telling your own coming-of-age story?

EDDIE HUANG: One of my favorite films of all the time is "Goodwill Hunting." And it's not my favorite film. But I would say it's the most formative film for me, because growing up, I grew up in a home with a lot of violence that's well-documented in "Fresh Off the Boat." And when I saw "Good Will Hunting," it just made me feel less of an alien.

And I just said to myself, I can talk about this. And one day, I would love to make a film that could make another kid feel less alien as well. And that film is "Boogie." So for me, it's not me as a director, like, Oh, I love this genre of coming of age.

I just had a very specific goal to tell a story about growing up in a family with quite a bit of violence and a family trying to make sense and reconcile a very East Asian way of life, a very Confucian family unit in America, because that is a very difficult transition.

You couldn't be further apart, and you couldn't be more alien to each other than a Chinese family and American Family. But I do find my life quite beautiful. And I love my experience in America. But because in America, we have so many immigrants.

You can't have one prefix way of life that it becomes more socially acceptable. And it becomes almost our duty as Americans to shop a la cart in terms of our values, our customs, our traditions and cultures that we subscribe to. And I feel like that is the most exciting thing about being an American.

KEVIN POLOWY: And what was the appeal for you in not just telling a story of this young Chinese-American in New York or this young athlete struggling with expectations, but very specifically a story about an Asian-American basketball player?

EDDIE HUANG: When Americans and my neighbors would even see what was going on with me and my dad, it'd be, this is insane, you know, this is crazy. Like, how could they be parenting like this? I was like, no, what you don't understand is that this can happen because we are so sure that our parents love us.

And that is the Asian kind of part of this story, the foundational layer. There's love assumed in that. So I feel like that might be the most Asian part of it is that we may not tell each other much. We may not hug each other much. But the love can be assumed from our actions.

Right now, Asians, we're under attack as well physically. And so it's a time to stand up for ourselves and stand up for Asian culture. I made this film in a place when I wanted to encourage Asians to step outside of our silos and experience other cultures.

And right now, I would say it's important to step out of our silos, reach out to our allies, ask for help, and form those bonds because those bonds are the ones that will protect us. It is very important that we do not isolate in this country and that we participate in this American experiment because it is the greatest experiment running in the world.

KEVIN POLOWY: In terms of the film's role within the industry, it inherently becomes part of a larger conversation we're having about representation. And how important is that aspect of filmmaking for you to create stories that helped propel the visibility of Asians and Asian-Americans on screen?

EDDIE HUANG: The stories I'm writing, they're always going to have Asian leads and Asian characters. But I also want to continue to have Black leads and Latino leads and gay leads and all those things because that is the world that I live in. Those are my friends. Those are the people surrounding me. Those are the people that give me strength and power and make me question things.

Fresh off the boat Baohaus-- those were completely to get Asian-American out of the ice age. We had no representation when I came around. Baohaus was open in '09. And then "Fresh Off the Boat" came out in 2013. And you look at the progress that's happened since I kicked that door down.

And now I feel there are a lot of Asian people speaking. And it's really good. And that snowball is rolling and getting bigger. And it allows me to step to the side a little bit and say, look, I would like to make more intersectional work.

I would like to make work that has space for all Americans that still has a very strong East Asian spine because that is who I am. I will always be who I am-- very proud of it. But I do believe in the universality of East Asian culture. And that's what I hope to bring.

[MUSIC PLAYING]