Cho hadn’t seen the video when we talked, but he understands Minhaj’s sentiments. Cho’s shock of black hair, which was looking extra fluffy and tousled on the day of our call, has been its own trending topic online, and people definitely noticed when he got ripped to play Spike Spiegel in Netflix’s live-action take on the Cowboy Bebop anime series. Others know him by the distinctive mole on his forehead that’s just off center. (When he was a kid, he learned about the mark of Cain; he thought it was cool that he had one too, making him “one of the bad people.”)

At the moment, Cho does have an air of danger about him. But that’s mostly thanks to the mustache-goatee combo he grew for the second season of Apple TV+’s murder-mystery comedy, The Afterparty—a look he says his family doesn’t support, because it’s like “they’re living with a villain.” (This, Cho stresses, doesn’t necessarily mean that he is the series’ new killer.)

“Sometimes when I work with a younger Asian actor, it’s difficult for them to even comprehend…that the majority of the parts that were available to Asian actors existed to make fun of Asians or to denigrate them,” he says. “Absolutely, we’ve made progress from there. But Hasan’s observation, I would agree with. It still exists—that standard for what an Asian has to look like, particularly for men.”

It’s a poisonous problem for young actors. “It took me longer to develop acting skills,” says Cho, “because you spend a lot more time with inferior words.” Beginners are often stuck with one-line, glorified extra parts, “you know, ‘there you go, sir’; ‘soup or salad?’ I spent many years in the ‘soup or salad?’ phase. You don’t grow. I’ve always thought if I could get my hands on some good words, maybe I’ll get good as an actor.”

That said, Cho is amazed at how poised today’s young actors are, remarking how well Isaac handled herself during press junkets for Don’t Make Me Go. Even their comfort onscreen is impressive. “It took me many years to look at the person I was supposed to look at—the flesh and blood person—and to just say my lines,” he says. “My whole career has been trying not to pee my pants and to relax.”

It’s a jarring confession, since Cho radiates confidence and charisma onscreen. For years, he was one of just a few American actors of East Asian descent who was a household name—so ubiquitous that, in 2016, it was his name writer and creative strategist William Yu chose when he created a social movement geared toward pointing out Hollywood’s history of whitewashing and other issues. The hashtag #StarringJohnCho, accompanied by the actor’s face photoshopped over movie posters and stills, became an anthem.

Six years later, inequality is still very much a problem in Hollywood—and it’s also, indirectly, highlighted an issue in my profession. As Cho’s fame changed, so too did the kind of outlets that were covering him, and the diversity of the people who were writing about him for those outlets: Many of those who have profiled the actor in mainstream media in recent years have also been of Asian descent.