Angry Reader of the Week: Kulap Vilaysack

"Fuck raisins."


Photo: Andrew Max Levy
Greetings, good people of the internet. It is time, once again, to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Kulap Vilaysack.

Episode 69: They Call Us Kulap Vilaysack

Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.



What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.

On this episode, we welcome actress/comedian/writer Kulap Vilaysack to talk about her deeply personal feature documentary Origin Story. They discuss unearthing family secrets, making art from trauma, and The Good, The Bad and The WTF of airing out your dirty laundry.

'Origin Story' explores Kulap Vilaysack's tangled family tree

Feature documentary follows her quest to meet the father she never knew.



Kulap Vilaysack is an actor/writer/comedian who you might know from her popular podcast "Who Charted?" (She was also on this hilarious Message to the Producers of Hawaii Five-0.) I'm a fan.

Kulap is peeling back the layers of her personal story and directing her first feature documentary, Origin Story, exploring her tangled family tree to find out who she is. She describes is as "a feature-length, international quest with stops in Los Angeles, Minnesota, and Laos to meet the biological father I never knew."

She's currently in the middle of a crowdfunding campaign to finish the film, and asking for help via Indiegogo. Here's the official trailer:

A Message to the Producers of Hawaii Five-0

If you've seen the CBS cop drama Hawaii Five-0, you know that its island setting makes it a easy fit for Asian American actors to regularly get a guest spot -- good guys, bad guys, bit parts, walk-ons, whatever. No one is more aware of this than actors Eugene Cordero and Kulap Vilaysack, who made a video to show off just how naturally suited they are to appear on the show: Hire Eugene & Kulap For Hawaii Five-O!.