Third-generation Asian American Michael Bow Resurrects His K-pop Persona on “Kung Fu”

The fans asked, and the CW series “Kung Fu” answered. Simon, your favorite K-pop star and undercover warrior, is back for season three. “Kung Fu” follows Nicky Shen (Olivia Liang), a Chinese American who dropped out of college to get in touch with her roots through a journey to an isolated monastery in China. When she returns to San Francisco, she is guided by her martial arts skills and Shaolin values to bring the criminals to justice — a true example of “We protect our community.” 

Simon, portrayed by Michael Bow, died in the first season when Nicky discovered that the K-pop star was hiding information about a mystical weapon. This is by no way Bow’s first rodeo in acting. Bow has appearances in “Maze Runner,” “How to Get Away with Murder,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and “9-1-1: Lone Star.” Bow wouldn’t share the details of his character’s resurrection (no spoilers!), but he did talk to Mochi about stereotypes in Asian American representation and being a third-generation Asian American. 

The Best of Both Worlds

Simon is a seemingly average K-pop idol until Nicky confronts him at a fan meet-and-greet in Vegas. When push comes to shove, he admits to being a trained warrior. Bow approached it like that as well: “I was like, this is my superhero movie debut, being the fun K-pop star and then turning around and fighting the bad guys.”

Bow is a big fan of superhero films and loves the duality of heroes and their secret identities, from Batman to Tony Stark to the roles that Bruce Lee took on during his career. Being new to the K-pop world, he found that there were actually a lot of Chinese K-pop idols, like Simon. 

“Throughout living in Los Angeles, I have just coincidentally met a lot of K-pop stars and become friends with them. I didn’t actually know the ins and outs,” Bow confesses. “I didn’t grow up with K-pop necessarily. When I was cast as a Chinese K-pop star, I told my friend who was a K-pop star and said, ‘Oh my god, I’m playing you. I’ve been doing my character research’ [through our friendship].”

Giving Yellowface the Boot

For those who don’t know, the current CW series is an adaptation of the 1972 show “Kung Fu,” also an action and martial arts series. 

“There’s a lot of history behind the original ‘Kung Fu’ show,” Bow acknowledges. “That was a white actor [David Carradine] playing an Asian Shaolin monk. It was in a time when Asians were not allowed to be the main characters. There were plenty of supporting characters on that show that were Asian, but Hollywood still didn’t accept Asian leading actors.”

With this series, the creator, Christina M. Kim, worked to face that stereotype head-on, Bow notes. Not only did they reboot the show with an Asian American woman as the lead and a cast chock-full of Asian talent, it’s the only primetime show with an Asian cast at the moment — the only other we can think of in the last decade is “Fresh Off The Boat.” More than that, Bow feels that the show makes progress for representation in Hollywood. “There were Asian guys on one episode of TV. There was me, Eddie, and Ben — all of us are Asian,” Bow says. “Maybe just one year ago, two years ago, we would all be auditioning for the same role. Before, TV shows would only have room for one Asian guy, but now it’s like, we’re all in the same one episode of TV and play different characters. Oh my god, there could be three different types of Asian guys?!”

“Kung Fu” is evidence that representation is getting somewhere — even though it is about kung fu, which can be a stereotypical topic for Asian actors. The show is giving Asian actors opportunities to play more nuanced characters. Bow hopes now that “Kung Fu” is breaking stereotypes, other people will think harder about creating multi-dimensional roles for Asian actors. 

Beyond a Stereotype

In addition to Hollywood productions, Bow is a well-known YouTuber and has starred in short films that speak to Asian American experiences. You can catch him on YouTube creating comedic sketches around Asian American topics that SNL wishes they could put on and his opinions on and reactions to anime, superheroes, and Asian American empowerment. 

He notes that Asian roles don’t have to rely on any stereotypes and don’t have to be about their Asianness. “They could just be Asian and part of an Asian family or on a TV show not about Asians but with Asians [starring],” he suggests. 

One role in which Bow garnered much attention was when he worked with Wong Fu Productions on their viral short film “Asian Bachelorette” — Bow portrays the “Soondooboo” bachelor. A satire based on ABC’s franchise “The Bachelor,” the short calls out the lack of diversity on the actual show. 

About the skit, Bow remarks, “I love that we’re breaking the stereotypes of what we’ve represented in the past. Clearly, we were always seen as the side characters, not the romantic interests. I feel like a lot of Asian characters are more like introspective stories of struggling with other issues rather than a journey towards love. We haven’t actually seen many more Asian love interests since ‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ so I’d love to see more of that.”

Being of the Third-GenerAsian

One nuance that Hollywood often fails to capture is the slight differences between generations of Asian Americans. Bow shares that his first- and second-generation Asian peers would make funny comments about how “white” he was. Yet at school, his white friends would treat him like “every other Asian kid.” That’s what inspired Bow to co-write and direct a short called “In Between” with Taylor Chan. (Chan is a fourth-generation Asian American.)

“We were caught in this weird in-between, where we’re not Asian enough for one group, and we’re too Asian for another group,” he explains. “It’s this weird thing where as a kid, you’re like, ‘Wait, do I have to choose, or are you forcing me to pick a side? Am I going to be super Asian? Or am I going to be super white?’”

“In Between” depicts an Asian guy who doesn’t quite fit at his white high school nor the Asian spaces in college. In both environments, he is different — either too Asian or too white. 

“It was really awesome to write the scenes and film them,” Bow shares. “We saw that a lot of people identified with the short — not only Asians. Some people were commenting, ‘Oh, I’m never [seen as] Black enough,’ or ‘When growing up, I didn’t feel Latino enough.’ Not only them but also people that are multiracial, so like Asian and white.” 

Michael Bow’s Top Cultural Moments for Asian Representation

• “Pachinko” — “That show is getting its well-deserved acclaim.”
• “Kung Fu” — Of course!
• “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” — “Finally having an Asian superhero.”
• Glenn, portrayed by Steven Yeun, in “The Walking Dead” — “You don’t have to come onto a show because of some ancient Japanese curse. He was just good at killing zombies!”

Bow’s charisma and eagerness to be an inspiration for younger generations shine both on and off the big screen. Whether he’s playing a part in a TV show or Youtube series, Bow’s love for his craft is something that can’t be missed. We are excited to see him back on “Kung Fu.” 

If you see Bow, be sure to say hi. “I have been invited to things like KCON (the Comic-Con for K-pop) where I’ve had meet-and-greets, and I’ve done photo ops with fans and everything,” he shares. “Whenever someone comes up to me, I am so appreciative, and I just love meeting them. We get to laugh together.”

Cover credit: Bettina Strauss/The CW