James Chen can be spotted all over TV screens lately. Season two of Marvel’s “Iron Fist” premiered on Netflix on Sept. 7, 2018, and fans are hoping to see his character Sam Chung bring the superhero Blindspot to the screen soon. His character Kal will be back in season eight of “The Walking Dead” where he says to expect a whole new dynamic in the community. Chen will also be seen as techy extraordinaire, Ian Lynn in the new CBS drama series “FBI” and on the big screen James can be seen starring in the upcoming independent film “Fluidity”.
Get to know this talent from Long Island and find out what he has to say about his time with Tracy Morgan in “The Last O.G.” and with the hilarious Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson on “Broad City”.
Colleen Bement: Let’s start with “Iron Fist“. What are you allowed to share about season two, and what’s in store for your character Sam Chung?
James Chen: So Sam Chung works at the Bayard Community Center in Chinatown. He works a lot with the community there. He helps create programs and whatever the community needs. It’s interesting, there’s actually a lot of artwork and set dec in that location about reading programs and donation drives. It is mentioned in the first episode and follows through the season about how there’s been a donation at a clothing drive, at the Baird Community Center which actually features into Colleen’s plot. There’s something very interesting that happens from her past.
The community center is like a hub for all the activity in Chinatown, including some of the less savory characters. Even though they are less savory, they are still part of the community. I don’t think this is giving anything away. It’s eluded to in the trailer. There is a powerful woman named Mrs. Yang who organizes events at our community center.
CB: So is your character going to be a vigilante superhero? Is that to be?
JC: That’s such a juicy question. It’s so topical. I’m super glad you asked it because I think on the internet all these comic book and fan communities are really abuzz about that because yes, my name is Sam Chung who is Blindspot in the comics. One thing that I think is fantastic about that is the potential to have a character like that on screen. I don’t know that there are any depicted Asian superheroes on screen, except for maybe Benedict Wong who plays Wong in “Doctor Strange”. For me personally, I would find it incredibly exciting because I, Sam Chung, is an immigrant from China. He’s a nerd, self-educated at Columbia, created his own super-suit, and he’s a fighter and a gymnast. I also went to a nerdy school to study a nerdy sciency-thing. I’ve always been into martial arts and I’m doing MMA right now. I just feel like I’m ready to be shot out of the Blindspot cannon.
Kind of on a more important note, I feel like it is just excellent representation and visibility for Asian Americans and Asian actors and Asian characters on screen. I feel like we’re in this “Crazy Rich Asians” phase and this John Cho searching phase, and certainly as an actor auditioning in New York and LA, I’ve also seen an uptick in not only the quantity of roles for Asian characters but also those characters that are better written; more fully developed. I just love that everyone’s having this conversation and I think we should keep that going.
CB: Tell your fans about your role as Ian Lentz in the new CBS series “FBI“.
JC: It’s interesting his name was originally Ian Lens but I believe they’ve changed it to Ian Lynn. That’s how recent and fresh this news is. Ian works for the FBI. He’s part of their technical team. Any time there’s a piece of technology equipment involving electronics as opposed to biological or forensics. Technically that’s part of a C.A.R.T. Computer Analysis Response Team, and I help assist Peregrym and Sisto. Anything they need I’m there to assist and support and solve these extremely time-sensitive cases as efficiently as possible. Giving them a lot of attitude and sass along the way.
CB: I think Kal is still alive in “The Walking Dead”, right? Will fans see any more of Kal in season nine?
JC: Yeah, yeah. There has been in advertised in “The Walking Dead” publicity and trailers, there has been a lot of change in the community after the season eight finale, and you can see me in the trailer in season nine. It’s an evolution of the apocalypse.
CB: So, you’ve jumped into comedy now with “Broad City” and “The Last O.G.” What is it like to work with Ilana and Abbi? What is it like on set on “The Last O.G.”?
JC: Oh my God, it is awesome. It is so cool. I feel very grateful that I’ve always had extremely professional rewarding satisfying fun enjoyable work experiences. I love the people I work with; from the cast to the crew. There’s just an extra element with Abbi (Jacobson) and Ilana (Glazer) that it feels so warm and personable. They’re so generous as human beings and as collaborators and as your boss. My scenes were with Ilana but Abbi was directing. Ilana is from Long Island, like me, we grew up in neighboring towns, I don’t know if it was that or if she’s just awesome–we just clicked right away. I feel like I could talk with her about anything, they’re so down to earth. It’s even more impressive because they’re so accomplished and they’re so young.
CB: What about “The Last O.G.”?
JC: Oh wow, that was really cool. We shot that scene in Astoria which is where I used to live, and it was opposite Tracy Morgan, and Mr. Maldonado, who plays Tracy’s cousin on the show and is one of the writers on staff, who are explosively funny people. I grew up watching “30 Rock” and I fricking love Tracy Morgan. He is just so funny and the premise that they have for this episode I think you’re really going to love. They were super cool. What I love about comedy is they have the scripted scene and we do it, but after we really nail down what’s written, ya know I was working with Pete Chapman, the director, he said great- we got that one, now let’s try to play it this way, let’s riff over here in this area. It’s extremely inventive which I think they very smartly open it up to you because that’s how they know you can get really spontaneous comedic moments, and Tracy’s crushing it obviously. That was really cool. I was a little star struck.
CB: You speak Mandarin and train in MMA. That’s a badass combination. Just curious: Which is more difficult? MMA or Mandarin?
JC: Learning Mandarin 100%. For so many reasons. The writing system is completely different from the Roman alphabet system. I had this awesome driver from the airport, LAX this morning, and we were speaking Spanish all the way to the hotel and I was telling him it’s so much harder learning Mandarin because at least the alphabet is the same learning Spanish. With Chinese, the writing system is just ancient and incredibly complex. I think for a Westerner it’s that much harder because the grammar’s weird and it’s an entirely new way of thinking.
I always thought those two were a pretty good combinations. Mandarin and MMA. Personal interests of mine. I always wanted to get closer to my Chinese heritage. We spoke English growing up because my parents speak different dialects of Chinese, so I was thrilled when I could finally study Mandarin in college. I grew up watching those Kung Fu movies and action movies and I’ve done years of Kung Fu training before so to come back to Martial Arts what I think is in the vein of Bruce Lee of what’s highly functional with MMA that covers all aspects of like kicking, punching, trapping, grappling, getting aggressively closer ranges of combat.