I can't justify taking one minute of free time for myself. I'm restless to do things. Anything! Hell, I'll watch Top Chef and I think, "God, maybe I could be a chef," I'll watch a dancing show and think, "God, maybe I can be a dancer." I mean, that's how I got into acting. I visited an improv show and thought, "Hey! I could do this." It sounds like arrogance, but I don't think it is... just an ambition to reach out and touch something new.
Steven YeunThe most fun thing about doing the show is that, as a nerd, the fun has been in learning and having it be like a grad school for me, every day. Every moment is a new experience. Every conversation is a new gain.
Steven YeunIt 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.
Steven YeunConfidence. That's huge as an actor. Confidence can get you a long way. 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. So it's a head game for me. "Can I really be confident in knowing my skill set is down? Can I perform like I own this role?"
Steven YeunWhat brought me to L.A. was work! I moved to Chicago after college - I went to Kalamazoo - did my nerd thing, graduated, and moved to Chicago to pursue improv.
Steven YeunHaving 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.
Steven Yeun