Meet Nora from Queens. The TV work of fiction is awkward, klutzy and hilarious. The real woman, better known by her stage name Awkwafina, has a more assured command of her movement, but is possibly even funnier and lights up the room when she enters.
"For me, personally, I think that there's always more work to be done, of course," she adds. "And I think that I've had a pretty exciting ride, and I think that with this show and with the movies that we've seen this year, representation existed in those movies. And that's what I know. But in terms of anything else, I can't be more grateful to do what I love to do. To be recognised at least a little bit for that is enough.
"The only time-crunch I got was just a lecture [about being able to take care of myself], you know, they weren't really making any moves, which I think was fine," she says. "I think that they define success as you being able to take care of yourself and that if tomorrow something happens, they don't have to worry about me."That was where that love came from," she adds. "I loved hanging out with my grandma, [and] living with her in my 20s, you know.
The comedian and actress acknowledges the landscape has changed dramatically from her own childhood, when the first Asian-American sitcom premiered –, which starred groundbreaking comedian Margaret Cho – and lasted just one season.