Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Jimmy O. Yang on 'Big Pimpin' as the American dream, and importance of immigrant characters
Jimmy O. Yang says his character Jian Yang on HBO’s “Silicon Valley” is just a younger version of himself. At age 13, he immigrated to Los Angeles from Hong Kong. He learned English and American culture by watching BET.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readJimmy O. Yang says his character Jian Yang on HBO’s “Silicon Valley” is just a younger version of himself. At age 13, he immigrated to Los Angeles from Hong Kong. He learned English and American culture by watching BET. He gave up a finance job to pursue comedy. Along the way, he worked as a strip club DJ and a used car salesman. He tells his story in a new memoir “How to American.”
Comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang at KCRW. Photo by Amy Ta.
