Quote

Living abroad has heightened my interest in how foreigners regard the strange places we encounter.

I was never very interested in my own experience, I think, in fact, if my films have a common link, maybe it's being a foreigner - it's common for people who are born abroad - they don't know so well where they belong.

I became more interested in the idea of being an immigrant and particularly of being in a country you're not familiar with. And so I began reading migrants' stories. The fact that my father is Chinese - he emigrated from Malaysia when he was about 20 - may have had some bearing on my attraction to the subject.

My father was a diplomat for part of his life and I jumped from country to country and culture to culture.

There is something about being people from your home country in a different country. It bonds you together.

In Britain, you never get away from the fact that you're a foreigner. In the U.S., the view is it doesn't matter where you come from.

I have two sons in America, and all they care about in Chinese culture is Jackie Chan and Jet Li.

I grew up accepting that my nationality was not depicted on TV or film. To be honest, it was something I didn't acknowledge as a kid. But once I realized my love for acting and the possibility of pursuing a career in it, I quickly noticed the absence of Asians in general and thought, 'Well, I'm gonna try to change that.'

I come from the working-class area of Stockholm, and I grew up with Serbian and Chilean people.