All smiles, perched in his gaming chair during our interview, Izaac Wang rattles off the fun things he does in his spare time, such as crafting theater performances at his fine arts high school, sharing memes on his secret Instagram account and playing popular online video games like Valorant. He wants to avoid the notion that he’s the same as Chris, his on-screen counterpart in the film Dìdi, written and directed by Sean Wang (no relation).
“I’m very cool.” the actor says. “For the characters I play, I think of it as me, but in a multiverse—like Spider-Man. Chris is just me, if I was less awesome than I am right now. He’s a more vulnerable, immature, younger version of me, going through a difficult stage in his life where he’s surrounded by a community of people that aren’t as accepting as the people I have around me right now.”
In Dìdi, a mid-2000s era coming-of-age tale loosely based on the filmmaker’s upbringing, Wang’s character Chris is a complicated 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy trying to navigate the adolescent pitfalls of growing up. Chris yearns for a sense of belonging as he listlessly winds down the last days of summer before starting high school. However, despite his best efforts to try and fit in, Chris’s deep-rooted insecurities cause him to constantly blunder in his relationships with not only his crush, but also his friends and family.
Izaac Wang with director Sean Wang on the ‘Dìdi’ set.
Iris Lee / © Focus Features / courtesy Everett Collection
It’s a nuanced role to capture, but a testament to Wang, who manages to emote the adolescent innocence and crass duality that Chris oscillates between on screen. According to Wang, who is 17 years old, it wasn’t much of a challenge to depict the ennui of a soon-to-be high school freshman, considering those days weren’t far behind him. “Sean is an incredible director.” Wang says. “It didn’t feel like I had to try to come across a specific feeling in a way [that would elicit] notes. One of my favorite notes to make fun of, because he always said it, was, ‘Do a scene as if you just got betrayed by one of your closest friends.’ That’s how we got through most of the dramatic stuff.”
The other director’s note that kept him anchored to the spirit of a wayward teen? “Be less cool,” Wang smiles. “I try to be more confident. My dad always taught me that if you bring confidence into something you’re not confident about, you can still be confident about it. But with Chris, I had to tone that down because he’s immature and vulnerable. I had to tell myself, ‘Dammit, I have to be less cool.’ So, I guess you can say, in fact, that I am pretty cool.”
Born in Minnesota to a Chinese pharmacist father and a Laotian mother, the actor was headed to Los Angeles by age three. Though Wang’s paternal grandparents added a bit of a thespian streak to the family lineage, having spent time performing Chinese theater prior to moving to the States, it was not his family that initially decided their son should join the industry—it was fate. While running a new pharmaceutical shop in Moorpark, Wang’s father, Peter, the CEO and co-founder of Honeybee Health, randomly struck up a conversation with a frequent customer who just so happened to be a kids’ talent manager. “It was a happy little accident, and from there on out, I’ve just slowly been gaining the passion to be an actor,” Wang says. This happenstance eventually led to roles in Good Boys, Clifford the Big Red Dog and a supporting role in Raya and the Last Dragon, before he landed this first leading feature film role in Dìdi.
“I remember thinking because I had so many callbacks and me and Sean bonded really well that, if he doesn’t hire me, I’m going to blow up his house,” Wang says, jokingly. “I was going to quit. But then when I actually booked the job, I was ecstatic.”
Taking on the responsibilities of a leading role meant new opportunities for the teen to hone his craft. His first challenge came when he had to perform a heated argument with legendary actress Joan Chen.
While Dìdi primarily centers around Chris’s clumsy hijinks, the true emotional anchor is the fraught and tender relationship between mother and son. At the film’s apex, tensions arise when Chris’s mother, Chungsing (Chen), pleads with her son to make better life choices. Chris, unable to grasp her concerns, hurls a flurry of insults at her before running away. Chen’s quiet resilience, alongside Wang’s emotional fervor, perfectly encapsulates the tug of war between parental expectations and adolescent rebellion. “It’s funny because that crazy car yelling scene was my first time meeting Joan Chen.” Wang remembers, “And I can never rehearse to the same level that I can act; it’s a bit difficult sometimes, especially for dramatic scenes like that one.” To nail down the tense emotions needed, Wang’s instinct was to dive right in, no practice required, while Chen took a more seasoned approach. “Joan really wanted to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse,” Wang says, “But then, I was like, ‘We could also just do it.’ But it all ended up working out, and we got a good scene out of it.”
Reflecting on the deeper thematic reasons for the constant strife between mother and son, Wang adds: “Chris has all this built-up teenage angst and rage inside of him that he just hasn’t been able to get rid of, and the only person there to rant to is his mom. It’s not that Chris despises his mom, he just doesn’t understand her. And she doesn’t understand him. But the whole thing with that scene is that you finally see the moment Chris and his mom realize that the only way to understand each other is by talking it out, not yelling at each other. The monologue that Joan has later is incredible.”
Familial struggle is a resonant topic for Wang in his own life, as is the first-generation Asian American experience. There’s a delicately-balance to that portrayal, including themes packed with complexities that require a skilled hand. Wang knew he had to bring Chris’s frustrations to life in a distinctly real way and he looked to his own family for inspiration.
“My mom immigrated here when she was young, and the same goes for my dad,” he says. “They had to learn how to be American [while growing up in Minnesota] in the 1990s. My mom and I used to butt heads over the most random, pointless things, mostly because we have the same personality. We’re both super stubborn and don’t give up. But the whole process of filming this movie bonded us together,” Wang admits. “And it wasn’t something that was an a-ha moment. It was over time. Whenever my mom and I would butt heads, my dad was also like our therapist—until he got tired of us—and then got us an actual therapist, that helped a lot. But being together for one month while she was my manager on set and working with her every day, I grew closer to her, mostly I think because of Chungsing and Chris’s story.”
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Luckily, all that work and butting of heads paid off. Wang received a Gotham Award nomination for his role, which both surprised him and affirmed his choice to move forward with his acting career. “I think of myself as chill,” he says. “I don’t get too high or too low. My brain lets me take things in without freaking out too much. But when I found out I was nominated for Breakthrough Performer, the news hit me like a truck. This acting journey has been a crazy ride and tough at times. Doubt is a monster I’ve fought with all along the way. But being recognized like this, knowing people appreciate my work, makes me feel like I’m on the right path. This is the most inspiring, encouraging— and every other synonym I can’t think of right now—news for me, and it’s fuel for my fire to keep growing. I’m still learning, and being in this profession is a privilege, so I want to do as many jobs as I can. But a well-written script that is meaningful to me and to others is always a winning combo.”
Now that’s pretty cool.