NICE BOY OF THE WEEK: Reggie Lee, GRIMM’s Snarky Police Sergeant

A few weeks back I participated in a press conference call with Grimm actor, Reggie Lee, who plays the snarky, quick-witted, Sergeant Wu. Throughout the course of the conversation, and recalling meeting him at San Diego Comic Con two years ago, it occurred to me that we had never featured him as a Nice Boy of the Week. Today we are correcting that oversight.

Reggie is loaded with energy and if you are feeling low in spirit, he will bring a smile to your face without even trying. It’s just who he is. Laughter is never far away, and he even makes you forget what was bothering you for a moment. If you could only bottle Reggie Lee and keep him in your pocket, this world would be a much easier place to be in.

In the Q & A, Reggie talked about the sarcastic sergeant that he plays on Grimm, Filipino folklore and the ups and downs of an acting career.

The Sarcastic Sergeant Wu

Even before I started to do any kind of homework on this particular character I needed them to give me, you know, where he’s come from, blah, blah, blah. Even that was very kind of, you know, there are three bullet points; he’s been a cop for this many years, blah, blah, blah, he’s good at his job, all this stuff.

But where I really started to develop him was a line in the pilot where Nick just bumps into me — I still remember this — he bumps into me, like, because he’s staring at of course a creature that’s morphing. He bumps into me and I go, “Well, I guess I should have worn my airbags today.” And from then on I was like, this is a sarcastic dude. He’s sarcastic and sardonic.

So I built from there. I actually researched sarcasm and I went, okay, psychologically where does that come from? And it comes from actually, you know, people that are the most sarcastic are – it comes from an insecurity. I don’t know if you knew that or not, but it comes from insecurity that people are.

So I started to work on why am I insecure? You know, why do I do my job so well? Am I afraid? Am I wanting to be good because there’s that Asian factor that is like, you’ve got to be perfect at what you do. Perfect, perfect, perfect, whatever it is. You’ve got to be beyond perfect. So I started to work with that and it started to get more exciting.

I had never, ever, considered myself sarcastic. I think maybe my friends think I am. But I have never for myself considered myself sarcastic, and it was always something – these witty, sardonic moments that he has, I would always, like, wanted to be so witty and sarcastic. And this is my chance on this show — which is why I think I really enjoy – I enjoy, like, doing the work for it, and no, I’m telling you what, they write all that stuff. So those writers are really great at coming up with these one liners. They’re fantastic.

Monsters of the Philippines

The creators are so wonderfully collaborative. They actually came to me and said, “Do you know any of – do you know any Filipino folklore?” I said, “Yes. We have actually quite a bit.” And so I gave them a list and it included the aswang — which is probably the most popular one in Filipino folklore. So it is something – it was always told, like, you know, amidst relatives, it’s told now, it’s believed in. As a matter of fact, very big in the Philippines. So it’s very real.

There’s so many, but the really – there’s one popular one (legend) called the manananggal — which is also an aswang which is kind of a person that separates in half that goes flying around.

There’s also one called the white lady — which is akin to la llorona, the Mexican folklore that we did — which is really freaky that we’ve all grown up with. So maybe they could do a version of that. You know, who knows? Because I think they really enjoyed doing this one. Hopefully we’ll have another one sometime.

Reggie Shares His Thoughts on the Acting Career

You know, I think underneath the career is the actual art form. So for me it always has been because as you know, it ain’t easy, this one. This career choice ain’t easy. So we go through a lot of disappointments, a lot of no’s before you get a yes. And fortunately for me, I’ve been very fortunate in that I’ve worked consistently. And I’ve only focused on exactly what you’re saying, longevity. And I think what breeds longevity for any career is staying interested. And I think the only way to stay interested in what you’re doing is to dig deeper.

So for anything, whether I’m describing a crime scene for the gazillionth time or whether I’m going through emotional things, I work on it and get deeper. Even with a crime scene. I’ve been a cop for let’s say, you know, over 20 years if now 20 years. So I – there’s no way I can even do enough homework to hit that emotionally, to feel what it’s like to get to a crime scene, to see a body cut in half, to have to describe it……and to have to try to solve it.

So for me I think that’s it, you know. To stay emotionally invested. I think a lot of — especially being on a series — it’s easy for you to kind of put yourself on automatic pilot. And it can be a crutch to do it that way because I think then you start – you stop becoming interested. And II always want to stay interested.

So fortunately I’ve been around very healthy acting coaches and people that work and even our cast — a joy to work with because we’re all interested. You know, we all kind of are older and have been through careers at this particular point and hopefully there’s more.

Fortunately I feel like as I get older the roles are getting more interesting, and specifically being minority — being Asian — I feel like they’re getting – they are more Asian-Americans that are working that are older than younger. So I love it. I love where I’m going and I hope to stay interested.