Stephanie Hsu was waiting for the universe to give her a sign.
She’d already been hooked by the premise of “Laid” — in which Ruby, a millennial party planner, discovers that all of her exes are dying and must track them down — after Nahnatchka Khan, one of the television show’s creators, pitched it to her.
Then the writers’ strike happened and Hsu, an Academy Award nominee in 2023 for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” started to waver. That is, until she crossed paths with the comedian Ali Wong, who worked with Khan on the sitcom “Fresh Off the Boat,” and asked her what she thought.
“Ali just stopped in her tracks,” Hsu recalled, “and was like, ‘She’s one of my favorite people. I would recommend anyone to work with her if they got the opportunity to do so.’”
That was sign enough.
In a video call from her home outside Los Angeles, Hsu talked about a few things she feels firmly about, like New York City, white rice and Adrienne Maree Brown’s book “Emergent Strategy.” These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
Asian Food
When I’m traveling and in a place that isn’t particularly well-known for their Asian food, I really crave it. I had a period where I was uber-healthy, and I swore off white rice. And then the pandemic happened, and I was like, what fool am I? My ancestors for hundreds of thousands of years have been eating white rice. This is not a poison food.
Farmers’ Markets
I worked on a farm when I was in college, and it changed my life. It taught me the lessons of abundance outside of monetary value — the amount of labor it takes to grow a radish, and the deep care taken by farmers who are trying to go against the system and farm in healing, regenerative ways.
‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho
It’s just this beautiful book about whatever treasure that your soul is guiding you toward. And through all the loneliness and all the sacrifices you make along the way, that there is a blanket of protection around you.
‘Emergent Strategy’ by Adrienne Maree Brown
I used to buy stacks of this book just to hand it out to people because I love it so much. Adrienne is an incredible activist and writer, and this is sort of a set of offerings and guidelines about healthy ways to organize, in political movements but also in community.
Kim Krans’s ‘Wild Unknown’ Tarot Decks
It’s a really nice way to get outside of your own mind and leave it up to chance. And also to think of someone you love and pull a card for them in case they need a little blessing.
Friends/Family
My friends do feel like my chosen family, and they also do feel like my lovers. I’ve received such nourishment from my friends ever since I was a kid. I was an only child and grew up mostly with my mom, and school was always the best place in the world.
New York City
I lived in New York for 11 years, and I moved out during Covid, and then all of a sudden a year ago I was like, oh no, what did I do? Especially as I become more entrenched in the world of Hollywood, I find myself really craving the New York that raised me when I was just starting out as an artist. I like to say that in L.A., it feels sometimes that you’re nobody unless you’re somebody. And in New York, you could be nobody, but you’re still somebody.
Cold Plunges
I have a club called Chilly Willies with some of my friends, and we jump in the ocean or the river at all times of the year. Even if it’s January, I will find the fire in me to do it, because I know on the other side I will feel so powerful and good and refreshed and healthy.
Synchronicity
In terms of my career, pretty much everything I’ve ever said yes to, it’s like a little moment of synchronicity that helped me really make the decision. When I met the Daniels [aka Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the directors of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”], I was filming an episode of a show called “Nora From Queens,” and they were my directors. I fell so deeply in love with them artistically that I followed them out to L.A., not knowing anything. And within a week of me getting to L.A., they called me and they were like, “Hey, we’re working on a movie. Is that something you’d be interested in?” And that was “Everything Everywhere.”
Being Bad at Technology
I am very famously known among anybody who has ever received my phone number that I am horrible at texting. I dream of having a landline.
