American Born Chinese's Daniel Wu reveals what its like playing the Monkey King for Disney+

“We did this kind of old school,” Wu says of Disney+'s American Born Chinese

Image credit: Disney+

Feature by Ashley V. Robinson Popverse video producer

Published on May 23, 2023

Actor Daniel Wu is known for bringing big action to every role he plays. From Sunny in AMC's Into the Badlands to his mythical turn in Disney+'s new streaming series, American Born Chinese, based on the graphic novel of the same name by creator Gene Luen Yang. Wu steps into the legendary shoes of the Monkey King for the series.

Fortunately for us, Popverse’s Ashley V. Robinson was able to catch Wu during the most recent New York Comic Con ahead of American Born Chinese's Disney+ debut on May 24, 2023.

“We did this kind of old school,” Wu tells Popverse about how he played the Monkey King on set, “I had prosthetic make up on. Three to four hours a day of that. Especially in episode four where the whole episode is in Heaven, so there's all these mystical creatures all over the place.”

Here is our full seven-minute interview with Daniel Wu:

“But at the heart of it is the story of a kid trying to figure out his identity”: Watch Disney+'s full American Born Chinese panel from New York Comic Con.