To introduce "Big Fish in the Middle Kingdom" listeners to my NEW, globally-focused podcast "If I Knew You Better", I decided to share this particular China-related episode with actor Raymond Ma. Raymond has worked with everyone from Ali Wong & Awkwafina to Chuck Lorre & Aaron Sorkin.

To introduce “Big Fish in the Middle Kingdom” listeners to my NEW, globally-focused podcast “If I Knew You Better”, I decided to share this particular China-related episode with actor Raymond Ma. Raymond has worked with everyone from Ali Wong & Awkwafina to Chuck Lorre & Aaron Sorkin. He was born in Hong Kong & lives in Los Angeles. He’s talented, kind, and very funny, and if you've seen US television, you've seen Raymond somewhere. His credits include “Lost”, the plays Chinglish and Joy Luck Club, hit comedy “Fresh Off The Boat”, where he played Randall Park’s father, among many other shows. I first became aware of Raymond by name from his recurring in what remains my favorite TV show ever, "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” from Aaron Sorkin.

Whether on TV with an often hilariously deadpan persona, or sitting with him just chatting, Raymond totally cracks me up. And speaking of funny, his current projects have him working with some of the funniest people in the work the movie Always Be My Maybe, with Ali Wong and Randall Park (again) that comes out in the summer, and recently he’s wrapped roles on the new Chuck Lorre (“Big Bang Theory”) TV pilot, AND a TV commercial with the hilarious Awkwafina.

Raymond gets very candid in the talk. We talk about racism and how that has and hasn’t affected him, the value of sometimes subverting racial expectations in the name of art, and he even talks about being homeless for a brief time, which inspired his beautiful, award-winning short film as director and producer titled “I Don’t Have A Phone”.