Page 31 of The Sitcom Star
“Oh, shit.”She stopped on the sidewalk and gestured between them.“I haven’t kissed anyone—outside of work—since before COVID.Just so you know, I did a rapid test today, because I knew I was meeting people later.It was negative.”
“I do my best to be safe, too,” he said.“I had it once, at the beginning of this year.It wasn’t too bad, but I know next time, it could be different.”
Maddie began walking again.“Before” for her was not just before COVID, but also before the show.It was weird that something terrible had coincided with her big break.
Her world would never be the same again.
And right now, she just felt lucky to be in this moment with Adrian.
“That’s adorable,” Jen said to Maddie.
They were on a video call, and Maddie had finished relaying the details of last night.Not every detail, of course, but Jen got the picture.
“But that sandwich is justwrong,” Jen added.
“Oh, come on,” Maddie said.“Live a little.”
Jen guffawed.“I can’t believe you’re the one who’s saying that to me.Look at you now!Having impromptu kisses in the park and late-night fried chicken.Seriously, the only reason you thought eating that sandwich was a good idea was because you’re high on love.”
Love.
That made Maddie pause.It was too big of a feeling for someone she’d only reconnected with two weeks ago.What, exactly, did Adrian want?What didshewant?
For so long, she’d focused on her career at the expense of everything else.She’d run on hope and hard work.She wasn’t entirely sure she knew how to have a relationship—and maybe it was too early to be thinking about that.They needed to get to know each other better.
And she couldn’t forget what had happened with Harley.Adrian seemed completely different from her ex, but still, her past made her cautious.Not everyone showed their true colors right away, and Harley had initially been a supportive partner.But he’d stopped being supportive when he felt like she was outshining him.Some men couldn’t handle an ambitious woman who was starting to reap the rewards of what she’d sowed.
Yet despite her slight anxieties about where this was going, she was content to just see how the next few weeks went.
Adrian was rubbing off on her.She felt relaxed, and she was only drinking two cups of coffee a day…and she wasn’t getting random twitches.Nor did she have nights with less than six hours of sleep.And when her heart started racing, it always had something to do with Adrian.
Yep, Maddie Ng was doing just fine.For now.
In Conversation: Justine Hsu
JustineHsuisallsmiles.
“Look, I just can’t help it,” she says.“I’m living my dream.”
Hsu is most famous for her role as the oldest of the Chu siblings onChu’s Restaurant.Paula Chu, a grouchy plumber, spends most of her time scowling, but she has a soft spot for the woman who owns Frankie’s Brews.Season 2 of the sitcom is now available on Netflix.
“Growing up,” Hsu tells me, “I can’t say I really saw characters like me on screen: fat, butch Asian lesbians.I can’t imagine telling thirteen-year-old Justine that one day, this would be my life.I’m so thankful.”
Hsu grew up in the Toronto area, the middle child of Taiwanese immigrants.“I was definitely a theater kid.Actually, I realized I was gay the same year I realized I wanted to be an actor: when I was eight.My parents were more upset about the acting business than the fact that I liked girls, to be honest.My mother said she was relieved she didn’t need to give me a sex talk since I wasn’t going to get pregnant—not that she gave my straight siblings a sex talk, either.”She laughs.“It’s all good.Mom’s my biggest fan now.”
Hsu’s first role—not counting her stint as a nativity goat at the age of five—was the nurse in a high school production ofRomeo and Juliet.Until she was cast onChu’s Restaurant, she worked full-time at a catering company, with the occasional acting gig.
“Have you seenParty Down?”she asks.“Well, it wasn’t like that.At all.”
Unlike her character onChu’s Restaurant, Hsu is known for being a sharp dresser, and she gushes over her new blazer and frames.She has an excitable, infectious energy, and when I ask her what she’s watching right now, she’s effusive about her love for the newA League of Their Ownseries.
Jen Fu, one of the co-creators ofChu’s Restaurant, is similarly effusive about Hsu’s audition.
“Within seconds,” Fu says, “we knew.We had to have her on the show.”
Hsu admits that before she got the role, the lack of opportunities was wearing on her—she hadn’t had an acting job in well over a year—and she’d considered quitting the business.
“That call…it happened at just the right time for me.”
