Masculinity in Transit: Steven Yeun, John Cho, and the Korean American Diaspora Onscreen Main Menu

Steven Yeun: As Seen on The Walking Dead, Sorry To Bother You, and YouTube

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Steven Yeun, born 1983, is one of today's most promising actors, with his most recent live-action role in Minari (dir. Lee Isaac-chung, 2020) putting him as a strong contender for the Leading Actor Academy Award, being the first Asian American to be nominated in that category. Previously, viewers would know him best for his role as Glenn Rhee in The Walking Dead, the nerd turned heartthrob zombie killer. After seven seasons on the show, he departed and began a film career, gaining critical recognition for his performances in Okja (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2017), Sorry To Bother You (dir. Boots Riley, 2018), and Burning (dir. Lee Chang-dong, 2018), the latter of which will be critically analyzed on this platform.



I was not a follower of The Walking Dead, but I have seen Yeun in ads, promos, and trailers for about a decade now. His cover issue of KoreAm magazine in October 2012 was left both unread but also present on my family's living room table for months. Despite his prolific successes, I best knew him as a recurring guest on CONAN (TBS, 2010 - ). He brought hilarity, charm, self-deprecation, and more than just a smattering of handsomeness to the talk show. But importantly, he frequently spoke about his Korean American identity, the challenges of being a Korean American in society and in Hollywood, and his own ambitions regarding acting. He was instantly relatable and magnetizing in a way I had not encountered with a celebrity before. Yeun himself had his own experience similar to mine with a Korean American celebrity but with the other focus of this project: John Cho. In a podcast with Variety, he recalled:

I’d seen John Cho start popping off, and it was really cool to watch him. He hadn’t gotten the shine that he deserved at the time, and it took a little bit for him over time. I watched him, and I was like, “Wow!” Here’s a Korean American actor that I’ve never seen before, and he’s on the screen, and it’s pretty incredible. He was the first one not to be objectified or fetishized. He was a new version of what an Asian man is seen as. He was something new and fresh and gave me a roadmap to emulate. I thought it was possible for me.

On CONAN: Discussing masculinity, sexuality, and stereotypes

Although I noticed Yeun, I never tuned into The Walking Dead. I didn't make an effort to find other media with him in it nor did I try and catch his interviews on television or in other outlets. However, as a pre-existing fan of Conan O'Brien, I saw his interview pop up in my YouTube Subscriptions screen.

Please scroll through the video gallery to watch one of his many interviews with Conan O'Brien and a video essay where I provide a short critique of how this interview engages with ethnicity and gender. 

This page has paths:

  1. Cho Change: After Columbus Jackson Wright
  2. Portals, Pathways, and Project Proposal Jackson Wright

Contents of this path:

  1. Envisioning Korean American Identity
  2. Adapting Murakami: Burning is Announced
  3. Burning up in Korea: Steve's appearance on Korean TV
  4. Cooking up buzz: Steven Yeun on the Dave Chang Show
  5. Envisioning Korean American Identity: Redux

This page references: