featurefeature

STEVEN YEUN SHARES HIS JOURNEY FROM METRO DETROIT TO THE LAND

OF THE WALKERS

The fi rst thing that strikes you about Steven Yeun is that he is truly a down to earth, Midwestern kid from Michigan who loves his family, friends, Detroit and the Red Wings. He also happens to star in a hit television series on AMC called The Walking Dead. Just like his character Glenn, Yeun was born in

Korea and moved to the United States with his family. But unlike the character he portrays, Yeun was 5 years old and his father was taking a job with his uncle’s clothing store Jean and Top. “Those years were interesting. I was the only Korean kid pretty much in my entire elementary school,” Yeun recalls. “I just loved it. It was the time of rat tales and mullets, and I had great friends.” His parents also own a pair of beauty supply stores in nearby Detroit. “It was awesome, right off the main strip where we ended up catching a Red Wings victory parade,” Yeun says. “This sealed the deal with me and my brother as obsessed fans.” Shortly afterward, his family moved from Taylor to Troy where they reside today. Yeun went into college with the intention to become an attorney or doctor, acting was not on his radar.

“Before college I was into music,” Yeun says. “When I got to Kalamazoo

College, my school had an improv show Monkapult, and I was blown

away. It looked like so much fun.” It was at that show that Yeun’s

passion shifted. He worked his way through classes and auditions with the

determination to get on the improv team. Sure enough his sophomore year, on the

second try, he made it. “Ever since then I

cover story

WALKING TO FAME

AMB46_33-48.indd 42 12/20/13 12:52 PM

“Walking Dead was one of the first big things that Steven had booked. Sort

of being dropped into Georgia in the 120 degree heat, right into the middle

of the action, right in the middle of the show,” Nicotero says. “Since that first

episode, I’ve seen him grow and mature as an actor, just as his character has

grown and matured. So, it really has been fascinating for me to watch.”

Yeun’s favorite highlights? “There’s a scene in season three where

Glenn busts through a chair and kills a Walker. I think that was a really

great moment for the character and as an actor for me. It was a turning

point for Glenn, and as myself as an actor I just realized I could just go

there. I could totally push myself to that place. It was really cool.”

Yeun is quick to acknowledge his appreciation to find mentors

in Nicotero, cinematographer Mike Satrazemis and acting veterans Jon

Bernthal, Andrew Lincoln and Jeffrey DeMunn. “I think just getting to

work with all the people I have been able to work with – Mike Satrazemis,

all our directors and Greg Nicotero, who is the backbone on this. He is

doing multi-hyphenate work at this point, and he is so good.”

“One of the things that I love about Steven is that he’s a

tremendously collaborative actor,” Nicotero says. “Given my role in the show

that I’ve moved from makeup effects to producer to director, for me, what

is exciting about him is that he has fantastic ideas about his character. And

as his character Glenn moves forward in the show, he and I have both been

very dedicated to making sure that the character is real, that the character is

reliable, and that the character makes good and smart decisions.”

“There are so many people who have enriched my experience

there. All the producers and when it comes to the actors, I remember

showing up for the first season and saying, ‘Hey Jeff, Andy, do you guys

mind if I just kind of ask you questions and be a sponge around you?’ Yeun

says. “They were like ‘Of course!’ People would help.”

Next up for Steven Yeun? Mike Cahill’s new feature film I

Origins debuting at Sundance 2014. Yeun co-stars with Michael Pitt and

Brit Marling. And as for long-term goals, Michigan is definitely a part

of the big picture. Yeun would love to film here. He and his brother also

hope to continue the entrepreneurial spirit of his family by opening

their own business together in Detroit. — Jennifer Champagne

amctv.com/shows/the-walking-dead

have always loved performing. It was very organic on how it all came to

be,” Yeun says. “There was never any real moment where I was like ‘Oh, I

wanted to be an actor.’ One step opened the way to the next step, and it all

came together.”

After graduating with a degree in psychology, Yeun spent four

years in Chicago training and working with The Second City comedy

troupe. “I was very fortunate. I also got to do a lot of shows with Stir-Friday

Night, which is an Asian American comedy troupe,” Yeun recalls. “I ended

up doing a couple of comedy tours at Second City.”

While in Chicago, he worked on his craft and took classes.

“Chicago was really my growth period and my grad school,” Yeun adds.

Then in 2009, he woke up one morning and just decided that he

was going to move to Los Angeles. “I thought that it was the right time.

I had a gut feeling,” Yeun says. “I told everybody that I was leaving, so I

couldn’t back out.” He left that October and drove to L.A. Once he got

there, he freaked out. “I thought I was never going to do anything because

it was so big and terrifying, but somehow in about five or six months The

Walking Dead came along and I booked that,” he adds. “It’s pretty crazy. I

can only be really thankful.”

Yeun’s advice to other Midwestern kids with the dream of a career

in Hollywood: The key is to know yourself. “Knowing yourself and your

abilities and how hard you want to work for this,” Yeun explains. “One of

the ways you can better know yourself is putting yourself up against other

people or putting yourself in an environment that makes you collaborate

or you’re watching your peers as they push the boundaries.”

He credits Go Comedy! in Ferndale as such an outlet. “Move to

Chicago to get better, by the time you move to L.A. you will be so prepared,”

Yeun says. “For me, having those four years in Chicago, when I moved to

L.A. it was such a fast roller coaster that it really armed me in a good way.”

That roller coaster ride? Landing his first acting gig, a breakout

role of Glenn Rhee on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and working with one

of film’s most heralded directors Frank Darabont and renowned makeup

effects wizard turned series director/executive producer Greg Nicotero.

“Working with Darabont was great. He is such a mind, such a

genius. We would get first draft pages that someone else had written. ‘This

is great’ and then we would read Frank’s rewrite of it,” Yeun recalls. “Oh my

god. I didn’t even know that it could get better than it did, but he just blew

the other version out in the rain. He helped me know what good writing

was. He’s an amazing writer. He’s brilliant.”

“It’s been a great journey for me as a character. Glenn has risen

from this comic relief, little kid type of situation to a lover, a fighter and the

kind of a man who is figuring himself out. It’s been great to play that arc

with him,” Yeun adds. “At the same time, it has been really fun to grow with

the character; as the character gets more experience, Steven the actor gets

more experience. It’s been really interesting as to how art is imitating life

at this point.”

Greg Nicotero agrees with the Glenn/Steven parallel 100 percent.

“It’s been a great journey for me as a character. Glenn has risen from this comic

relief, little kid type of situation to a lover, a fighter and the kind of a man who is figuring

himself out.” – Steven Yeun

Steven Yeun

| 43

AMB46_33-48.indd 43 12/20/13 12:52 PM