Korean-American actor Steve Park doesn't have the robust résumé that some of the people we've featured in this column can claim. Whose fault that is makes for a fascinating question — one that Park has had the courage to ask, which may in itself constitute the answer. Park is a gifted and emotionally open actor who's likewise a talented comedian; he was a series regular on In Living Color, where he met and married his wife, actress Kelly Coffield, and while the show didn't serve as a springboard to huge fame the way it did his fellow cast member Jim Carrey, he likewise didn't become synonymous with shrill, joke-free comedies, and got to ply his trade in a number of TV sitcoms without half the country cringing at the mere mention of his name. In 1996, coming off of his greatest screen performance, he was accorded the rare opportunity to become a guest star on Friends — at the time the highest-rated show on television, and one which, by no means coincidentally, was coming under some criticism for its portrayal of contemporary New York as a lily-white yuppie enclave no more ethnically robust than Omaha, Nebraska. While filming his episodes, Park witnessed an ugly racial incident involving the crew, and detected a certain callousness and arrogance in his fellow actors; and, rather than do what 99% of Hollywood would do in that situation — keep his mouth shut and collect his paycheck — he chose instead to pen a deeply felt and brutally honest article called "Struggling for Dignity," in which he attacked the industry for its retrograde views of Asian-Americans and its highest-paid stars for ignoring the often brutal and inhumane treatment of their lesser-known fellows. Since writing his 'mission statement,' Park has struggled to findfilm work. He turned in a memorable cameo as a villain on the clever Venture Brothers cartoon, and he's currently appearing in Rocket Science, his first big-screen role in a decade. It doesn't take much speculation to conclude that daring to call out the entertainment industry on its casual racism and failings of basic decency is the reason he hasn't gotten much work lately, but hopefully his own struggle for dignity is behind him, and enough producers and directors will see in him what the Coen brothers did in his most famous role.
Where to see Steve Park at his best:
DO THE RIGHT THING (1989)
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, tension between Korean-Americans and African-Americans was at an all-time high following a handful of violent confrontations. Ice Cube crudely dramatized it in his song "Black Korea," and when Spike Lee chose to make it a factor in his powerful drama of racial conflict in New York, he used Steve Park as the face of the Korean immigrant population. Park's role as Sonny was his big-screen debut, and it's also the first hint that he was a talented actor as well as a comic.
FALLING DOWN (1993)
Ironically, given his later role as a de facto spokeman against Hollywood's still-lingering racial prejudices and ethnic stereotyping, one of Steve Park's biggest movie roles was that of Detective Brian, a policeman assigned to the "D-FENS" case in Michael Douglas' 'angry white male' action-drama. Like many people who saw Falling Down, Park's character (and, without a doubt, the actor himself) must have had a pretty hard time figuring out what a guy like Douglas's peevish upper-middle-class defense contractor had to be pissed about in the first place.
FARGO (1996)
As Mike Yanagita, Steve Park can fairly be said to play perhaps the key role in the Coen brothers' brilliant portrayal of small-town crime gone bad. The appearance of the character skews the entire movie, and plays a key role in determining the character of Marge Gunderson; Park took a great deal of heat from certain quarters of the Asian-American community for taking the role, which was short-sightedly perceived as stereotypical by some who missed the deep irony contained in the character. Time will tell if it turns out to be the first of many great performances by Park, or simply an unforgettable role of a lifetime.
— Leonard Pierce