My dad wanted me to be a professional person, which I was - I was a civil engineer. I graduated from civil engineering at USC in California. I became an engineer, and I helped design the roads for the L.A. County Roads Department. And I did that for about one and a half years in a sense to please my parents - to be a 'respectable' person.

My father was a restaurant man, laundry man in his lifetime. And I've often wondered how and why did I become an actor? Where did I get the so-called talent to express myself? And I look back, and I see that my mother was very animated. I can remember that she used to, what she called 'bei zhu.'

Nature, God, Buddha - someone has given me this health. I can break dance still; I can run; I can play basketball. In my mind, I can do anything. As long as I have that spirit, I'm going to keep doing it.

I am very fussy; I am very detailed; I nag a lot. So in a sense, I am like Mr. Ping. I am temperamental, I am emotional, I'm fussy, and I'm very exact. And I want people to not fail; I want them to execute - all those things Mr. Ping wants in other people. Or animals.

Celebrate your successes. Find some humor in your failures.

In rough times, pathfinders rely on work, friends, humor and prayer. They develop a support network.

Well, it's a humor strip, so my first responsibility has always been to entertain the reader... But if, in addition, I can help move readers to thought and judgment about issues that concern me, so much the better.

I just love action movies. People are like, 'What comedy movies did you grow up watching?' And I'm like, 'Not many.'