{"id":2859,"date":"2016-10-03T18:12:51","date_gmt":"2016-10-03T18:12:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/10\/03\/from-improv-to-the-cbc-calgarian-andrew-phung-lands-role-in-kims-convenience\/"},"modified":"2016-10-03T18:12:51","modified_gmt":"2016-10-03T18:12:51","slug":"from-improv-to-the-cbc-calgarian-andrew-phung-lands-role-in-kims-convenience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/10\/03\/from-improv-to-the-cbc-calgarian-andrew-phung-lands-role-in-kims-convenience\/","title":{"rendered":"From improv to the CBC, Calgarian Andrew Phung lands role in Kim’s Convenience"},"content":{"rendered":"

ERIC VOLMERS, CALGARY HERALD<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

It did not take long for Andrew Phung\u2019s success story to enter the annals of Canadian improv\u00a0lore.<\/p>\n

Andrew Phung: that\u00a0TV guy\u00a0who\u00a0was discovered\u2026 while performing improv.<\/p>\n

Not\u00a0long after he began filming the CBC\u00a0comedy Kim\u2019s Convenience this summer, the Calgarian\u00a0was keeping his improv chops sharp by performing two nights a week at\u00a0Toronto\u2019s Bad Dog Theatre.<\/p>\n

When he first went into the theatre to introduce himself, he found his\u00a0story had preceded him.<\/p>\n

\u201cA girl said \u2018Are you the guy that got discovered at an improv show? There\u2019s a story floating around that you got discovered at an improv show!’\u201d says Phung. \u201cI said: \u2018Well, yeah, sort of.\u2019 She said \u2018That\u2019s amazing, can you tell me the story?\u2019 So it\u2019s kind of become folklore in the improv scene.<\/p>\n

For Calgarians, the idea that Phung needed to be discovered may seem strange. He has been a consistent presence in the city for more than decade, having joined the venerable Loose Moose Theatre as a 16-year-old. He\u2019s been a go-to guy for hosting and emcee gigs for years, whether it be for corporations or other organizations. He\u2019s topped local \u201cbest-of\u201d lists for his comedic prowess.<\/p>\n

But, the simple fact is, national shows rarely cast in Calgary, or anywhere else other than Toronto and Vancouver. And Phung, who has a two-year-old son and another baby on the way, made the decision years ago to stay in his hometown. Television, he thought, was not in his future.<\/p>\n

But in the summer of 2015, he was performing his two-person improvised action-movie parody called Kill Hard with fellow Loose Mooser Jamie Northan at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. In the audience was writer\u00a0Ins Choi, the man behind the hit 2011 play Kim\u2019s Convenience. He told Phung he liked his performance and thought he would be perfect for the role of Kimchee in the upcoming TV adaptation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked and I was really happy and excited and we exchanged contact information,\u201d says Phung. \u201cI didn\u2019t hear\u00a0anything from him for months. Around February or March, I got an e-mail from the casting director of Kim\u2019s Convenience saying \u2018you\u2019ve been requested to submit an audition.\u2019 I found out later on that when they\u00a0were casting the show he went\u00a0to the casting director with my name scribbled on a piece of paper and told her \u2018he needs to audition.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s Convenience, which debuts Oct. 11 on CBC, expands on Choi\u2019s hit comedy\u00a0about the generational divide in a Korean-Canadian family that run a convenience store in downtown Toronto. \u00a0Kimchee is the best friend of Jung Kim (Simu Liu), who is estranged from his father Appa (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) after a falling out that led to Jung leaving home at 16.<\/p>\n

Now in his mid-20s, Jung attempts to turn his life around as the family rallies to mend hurt feelings.<\/p>\n

While the series is being lauded for its diversity and for presenting nuanced Asian characters, Phung says the humour and tensions of the show should be relatable to virtually every\u00a0Canadian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people have used the term immigrant upbringing, but I don\u2019t think that\u2019s the case. It\u2019s a Canadian upbringing,\u201d Phung says.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIf you have the German grandmother, the Italian grandfather, you understand this play. If you have any ethnic background \u2014 and I think anyone in\u00a0Canada does, every Canadian should \u2014 then you will connect to (Kim\u2019s Convenience).\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Phung admits that it is nice to see Asians being represented on television. During the Emmys last month, screenwriter and producer Alan Yang bemoaned the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood while accepting a comedy writing award for the American show Master of None. He pointed out that the 17-million Italian Americans in the U.S. \u00a0have The Godfather, the Sopranos and Goodfellas, while the\u00a017-million Asian Americans have\u00a0Long Duk Dong,\u00a0a\u00a0reference\u00a0to the cringeworthy, heavily accented foreign student\u00a0from Sixteen Candles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got the call sheet for this character, it was the first time I read a character that was Asian but had a purpose in the world,\u201d said Phung. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t Asian just to be Asian. He wasn\u2019t Asian just to be the friend, or the guy in the office. He had a purpose. It said that he was into basketball, that he runs his mouth a lot, that he was always there for (his friend). I read it and said \u2018Oh, I\u2019m Kimchee.\u2019 I felt like I knew this character.\u201d<\/p>\n

The\u00a0son of a Vietnamese father and Chinese mother, Phung says he can certainly relate\u00a0to the pressure of living up to the expectations of immigrant parents, a recurring theme in Kim\u2019s Convenience.\u00a0At 16, Phung says he became a lifelong\u00a0\u201ca student of comedy\u201d by joining Loose Moose Theatre. But Asian parents want their kids to be lawyers, doctors or engineers, Phung says. When he told his mother he wanted to act for a living, she burst into tears.<\/p>\n

But over the years, the family has gotten used the idea. In November, Phung will also have a recurring role on Comedy Network\u2019s\u00a0The Beaverton, a Toronto-shot series based on the satirical website. With every success comes a little more acceptance.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy parents love it,\u201d Phung\u00a0says. \u201cThey were suspicious when (Kim\u2019s Convenience)\u00a0got offered. They just couldn\u2019t believe that someone would hire me and move me to Toronto and pay me money to be on a TV show. They\u2019ve always thought\u00a0this was a side thing. Over the past few years, my mom and dad help me with my taxes, we kind of do them together. They were seeing how much I was making from acting and they were like \u2018What?! People pay you to do this?\u2019 So, yeah, they are pretty proud. When aunts and uncles see me on TV, they are so proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kim\u2019s Convenience debuts with back-to-back episodes Oct. 11 on the CBC.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ERIC VOLMERS, CALGARY HERALD It did not take long for Andrew Phung\u2019s success story to enter the annals of Canadian improv\u00a0lore. Andrew Phung: that\u00a0TV guy\u00a0who\u00a0was discovered\u2026 while performing improv. Not\u00a0long after he began filming the CBC\u00a0comedy Kim\u2019s Convenience this summer, the Calgarian\u00a0was keeping his improv chops sharp by performing two nights a week at\u00a0Toronto\u2019s Bad … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFrom improv to the CBC, Calgarian Andrew Phung lands role in Kim's Convenience - Thunderbird Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thunderbird.tv\/2016\/10\/03\/from-improv-to-the-cbc-calgarian-andrew-phung-lands-role-in-kims-convenience\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"From improv to the CBC, Calgarian Andrew Phung lands role in Kim's Convenience - Thunderbird Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ERIC VOLMERS, CALGARY HERALD It did not take long for Andrew Phung\u2019s success story to enter the annals of Canadian improv\u00a0lore. 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