Actor Devin Kawaoka is gearing up for a busy month with the return of two major television roles. He plays Charlie, the boyfriend of Brian (Michael Urie), in the Apple TV comedy Shrinking, alongside Jason Segel and Harrison Ford. The second season premieres globally on October 16. On the same day, Devin will also appear as Dr. Kai Tanaka-Reed, a surgical resident on NBC’s hit series Chicago Med. In addition to these performances, Kawaoka has appeared in productions such as Lucifer and Marvel’s The Runaways, and starred in Slave Play, a play nominated for 12 Tony Awards.
In Shrinking, you play Charlie, Brian’s boyfriend. How was it for you to work alongside big names like Jason Segel and Harrison Ford?
It’s very special. And these two are some of the kindest, funniest, smartest, most talented actors out there. I became the artist I am today from watching their work–The Fugitive and Forgetting Sarah Marshall are two of my favorite movies. And the work they do in Shrinking season two is going to knock your socks off. Jason’s character Jimmy is still grieving the loss of his wife and Harrison’s character Paul is watching his Parkinson’s diagnosis unfold. Their work on Shrinking is both heartbreaking and heartwarming, devastating and delightful–because Shrinking is a comedy after all–and it is inspiring.
Honestly, the whole cast is a dream. Charlie and Brian (Michael Urie) get to spend some quality time with Liz (Christa Miller) and Derek (Ted McGinley) this season. And everyday with them was a masterclass in craft, professionalism, and humanity. It was a pleasure to work beside them and learn from them at the same time.
The second season of Shrinking is coming up. What can fans expect from your character, Charlie, in this new phase of the series?
Last we left off, Brian and Charlie got hitched. Now, at the beginning of Season 2, they set off on a journey of building a life together and what’s next. And sometimes, even between the most communicative of couples, things come up that haven’t been fully discussed. And for Brian and Charlie the question of the second season is: Can they figure out how to build a life together that they both want? And what does that life look like?
You’ll not only get to witness the deep love Charlie has for Brian as you got to see in the first season, but you get to hear more from Charlie about what he wants and dreams. Charlie is so good at taking care of Brian, but in that dynamic, sometimes he forgets to take care of himself. And we may witness Charlie start to come out of his shell and be forced to articulate his own needs.
Besides Shrinking, you also have a recurring role in Chicago Med. How do you balance these different characters in such distinct productions?
Honestly, that’s the best part of my job. One day, I’m an arrogant surgeon. The next, I’m the nicest husband ever. One day, I’m doing a laparoscopic appendectomy. The next, I’m crying at my own wedding. This is an actor’s dream–or at least mine–that over the past three years I’ve been able to build the lives of these two men.
One is an incredibly ambitious surgical resident who wants to do nothing but the best medicine, even at the cost of niceties. In his mind, there is no room for weakness or feeling. Medicine is life or death. And on the other side, a man who believes love is the most important thing over all else. A man who leads with his feelings and believes that the size of life you build and the quality of friends you have is the measure of a man. And each of these men is a part of me. So I guess I could say I wouldn’t be fulfilled if I wasn’t balancing the two productions. They are yin and yang and make me a whole artist.
Your role as Dr. Kai Tanaka-Reed in Chicago Med has gained prominence. What is the biggest challenge of portraying a surgical resident in a medical drama?
Surgery is definitely the biggest challenge but my favorite challenge. The best part of my day is medical rehearsal, where I get to collaborate with the medical consultant to build a surgery. And by collaborate, I mean ask as many questions as I can about the procedure so I can understand the actual science.
Luckily, I am the son of two chemists and the grandson of a farmer and a factory worker. So it is in my blood to understand how things work and the science behind it.
You’ve appeared in shows like Lucifer and Marvel’s The Runaways. How have these experiences in different genres influenced your growth as an actor?
It’s funny, because I don’t see genre so much when I am prepping a role. I look at the character’s given circumstances and my body begins to come alive with the life of the character. And it’s in the given circumstances that I find what the character cares about and how much. This, I believe, is what sets genre and makes something a comedy, a drama, or anything in between. The character I played on Lucifer was wild and a real challenge to play. He had very big emotional swings from rage to deep loss to manic revenge. And those feelings came from him caring deeply. But to the audience, the things he cared about were silly. This is where I found the show’s genre.
Looking back on these two roles, yes I can see the influence they had on this current phase of my career. One of my core beliefs as an actor is incremental growth is the key to a long career. Every set I step on, every character I play, is an opportunity to learn and grow as an actor. And these two roles were important steps in my journey towards being an actor who crosses genres, hopefully in a seamless way.
Slave Play was a groundbreaking play, nominated for 12 Tony Awards. What was it like to be part of such a culturally and socially impactful production?
It was an honor, and a wild one at that. Jeremy O.Harris wrote a visceral play that is just as deep cutting to act as it is to watch. And Robert O’Hara, the director, really set the tone for a safe environment in which we could explore these difficult themes and topics. Being inside of that play felt like being in the eye of a storm. Everyone and everything around you was swirling, but inside it felt calm and safe. And the re-entry to the real world after the play was ritualized with a moment to reconnect with the cast which allowed us to leave the story on stage and not carry the play home with us.
With your career continuously evolving, how do you choose the projects you want to be involved in? What attracts you most to a role?
I suppose I am attracted to projects and roles that teach me something about myself. To be curious about a piece of humanity is to commit yourself to explore it. And without this deeper exploration, I might find myself wanting for something more.
Slave Play was the beginning of that. That play taught me a lot about myself, my place in the world, and how others see my place in the world and feel me in space. And I look at every project that comes my way as a moment of growth. What can this project offer me in my growth as a human, and how can I contribute to the project in a way that contributes to the greater cultural conversation the world is having.
With so many projects in progress, what do you most hope to achieve as an actor in the coming years? Is there any specific role or genre you still want to explore?
I have always been attracted to both family dramas and science fiction for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under along with Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Next Generation. And I’d love to combine these two genres for a really dark and thought provoking series, a la Severance. A show that centers around a family with so much heart and care and yet at its core it is probing some deep, dark questions about the path of humanity. And hopefully there are bits of humor sprinkled in as I think the best shows have a bit of both.
In that world, I am dying to play an antagonist with heart. Someone who does bad things for good reasons. There is nothing more satisfying to me as an actor than finding the justification for transgression. It is the reason I became an actor. As a child who was always nice and a real people pleaser, acting is where I learned it could be fun to cross boundaries. And to give that motive? There is nothing more delicious to act–at least to me.
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