Stephen Park

Stephen Park might be best known for his performance as Mike Yanagita in the Academy Award winning movie “Fargo” by Joel and Ethan Coen. His first film role was in Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” which was quickly followed by a role in “Quick  Change”, where he performed with and was directed by Bill Murray. Shortly after, he  became the first Asian American to be cast as a series regular on a sketch comedy TV show, the popular hit series “In Living Color”.  

Stephen has worked with such celebrated filmmakers as Bong, Joon-ho in  “Snowpiercer” and “Mickey 17”; Wes Anderson in “The French Dispatch”, “Asteroid  City” and “The Phoenician Scheme”; and the Coen brothers again in “A Serious Man”.  More recently, he has appeared in “Death of a Unicorn” and “Ghosted”. Other film  credits include “State of Play”, “Desperate Measures”, “Falling Down”, “Kindergarten  Cop”, “The Brass Teapot”, “Rocket Science”, “Sgt. Bilko”, “Toys”, and “Kuffs”.  

His TV credits include “Martin”, “Boy Meets World”, “Mad About You”, “Law &  Order” (including “Criminal Intent” and “SVU”), “White Collar”, “Elementary”, “Believe”,  “The Mindy Project”, “Person of Interest”, and “Friends”.  

On stage, his credits include “Cardinal” (Second Stage), “Aubergine” (Playwrights  Horizons), “East of Eden” (Steppenwolf), “The Dumb Waiter” and “Ivanov” (NAATCO),  “The New Paradigm” (Atlantic Theatre Company), “Aunt Dan and Lemon” (The New  Group), “A Language of Their Own”, “Doughball”, “Big Hunk O’ Burnin’ Love” (East West  Players), “Shogun Macbeth”, “Rosie’s Cafe”, and “Three Sisters” (Pan Asian Repertory  Theatre). 

In 1997, inspired by the movie “Jerry Maguire”, Stephen wrote a “Mission Statement” to  the Hollywood community after he witnessed a racial incident on the set of “Friends”.  This statement went “viral” on the internet after the Los Angeles Times refused to print  it. This led to Stephen receiving an Anna May Wong Award of Excellence from the  Asian American Arts Foundation in San Francisco for taking a stand against racism in  Hollywood. The award was presented to him by the Rev. Jesse Jackson.  

In 2025, the statement has resurfaced in the news as its relevance is still being  recognized almost 30 years later.