We’re going through this evolutionary time where Hollywood seems to be prioritising diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexuality…

It took having people get really angry about the industry and our culture in general. In the past few years there has been this very defiant PC culture, and a lot of comedians complain about it, saying that there’s a culture of hypersensitivity. But, for me, if we live in a culture where you’re making jokes at the expense of other people, and you get in trouble for it, that’s how it should be. There should be diversity, there should be equality and there should be representation. It’s not like you’re doing us a favour.

There’s a danger in setting this up as a ‘trend’. I want representation to be something that’s here to stay. And I am genuinely optimistic about where the industry is headed.

You grew up in New York, your father is Chinese-American and your mother was Korean. What was your sense of identity like?

It was a negotiation between two identities. My mom passed away when I was four and, since my dad obviously worked, my Chinese grandmother stepped in to the mother role. I would leave this household that had a crooked Asian supermarket calendar on my wall and all these weird smells, then go to school where I’d listen to TLC. I was an American kid at school, but I was made to feel not American enough.

Then, when I was 19, I went to Beijing and I didn’t feel Asian enough there because I couldn’t speak the language. I think all Asian kids at some point do a pilgrimage to discover their roots, like a bad indie movie. When I was young, I was definitely made fun of for being different and, at some points, I didn’t want to be Asian because I didn’t want to be different. So going to Asia gave me a new appreciation and a respect for where I came from.

What were you like at school?

Quite precocious. From a young age, I was always aiming to get laughs out of adults. When my mom died, I didn’t like the way that adults behaved around me. It just felt awkward for me. One of the first emotions I learned was embarrassment, and I think I learned that a couple of years too young, but it helped me hone this personality as someone who made people laugh. I didn’t want to think about the hard stuff, the dark stuff, I internalised a lot of that. I was a tomboy and I loved music. Then I got in to LaGuardia, which is a famous music and arts high school, and had to travel to Manhattan every day from Queens. That opened my eyes to what a career in the arts could be.

Crazy Rich Asians’ Awkwafina on the power of representation and having an alter ego