- 13 hours ago
Over plates of nostalgic Shanghainese comfort food at her parents’ beloved San Gabriel restaurant, we sit down with actor, comedian, and storyteller Sherry Cola for an intimate conversation that’s as flavorful as the food on the table. Known for her standout performances across film, TV, and the stage — including hits like Joy Ride, Good Trouble, and the upcoming Bride Hard — Sherry brings her signature wit, vulnerability, and cultural insight to the table. Alongside Refinery29 Beauty Director Sara Tan, she reflects on cultural identity, coming out, and the deep ties between family, heritage, and the dishes she grew up with — from sweet milk tea to braised pig feet. Watch the full episode to see how comfort food and candid conversation go hand in hand.
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ABOUT SERIES
Fam Style is a food and interview series spotlighting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) changemakers across entertainment, food, art, and culture. Over shared meals at AAPI-owned restaurants, we sit down with creators, artists, and innovators to talk about identity, ambition, community, and the stories that shape us. Through intimate conversations and the language of food, we highlight the nuance, joy, and resilience within the AAPI experience—one dish at a time.
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ABOUT REFINERY29
Refinery29 is a modern woman's destination for how to live a stylish, well-rounded life. http://refinery29.com/
ABOUT SERIES
Fam Style is a food and interview series spotlighting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) changemakers across entertainment, food, art, and culture. Over shared meals at AAPI-owned restaurants, we sit down with creators, artists, and innovators to talk about identity, ambition, community, and the stories that shape us. Through intimate conversations and the language of food, we highlight the nuance, joy, and resilience within the AAPI experience—one dish at a time.
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Subscribe to the Refinery29 channel: http://bit.ly/subscribe-to-r29
Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refinery29/
Follow Sara Tan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saratan/
Follow Sherry Cola on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shrrycola/
Follow Refinery29 on Instagram: https://instagram.com/refinery29/
Follow Somos on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29somos/
Follow Unbothered on Instagram: https://instagram.com/r29unbothered/
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00In the meantime, I was going to Hollywood Improv and putting my name in the open mic bucket but didn't
00:05get picked.
00:06So I kept procrastinating that. I was making funny videos on Vine.
00:09Finding a way in any capacity to express creatively because I knew I got the juice and it needs to
00:16be squeezed.
00:22Hey everyone, it's Sarah Tan and I am here at Oriental Express Cafe in San Gabriel Valley,
00:27which is a no-frills, feel-good, order-at-the-counter Chinese restaurant.
00:31And I'm going to be joined by Sherry Cola, who is an actress, comedian, and a San Gabriel Valley native.
00:37This is actually her family restaurant.
00:40And we're going to dig in, eat some Chinese food, and she's going to share what it means to be
00:44a Chinese American.
00:49I'm so excited you finally took me here. I've been waiting for this day.
00:52And I've been daykeeping. Hi, Mommy.
00:54Hi. So nice to meet you.
00:56The queen of the castle. Mommy, what's on the menu today?
00:59Yeah, every C is yours.
01:01Oh.
01:02Okay, Sherry, how are we going to decide what we're going to eat?
01:04Okay, this is a very tough decision.
01:06I feel like Simon Cowell, when he put together One Direction.
01:08So then who's the hairy style?
01:10The curry chicken.
01:11We need the curry chicken.
01:12Mommy, can we have two pig feet?
01:13The collagen, that's how you stay so young.
01:15Honey, this is why we look 17.
01:17Okay, Mommy, it's one of the best.
01:18Okay, can we just look at the generous serving that you get here?
01:21First of all, I told her to hold back.
01:23That's why there's a line starting at 12.
01:25This is the hottest nightclub we're no longer getting in L.A.
01:29Let's get the fried fish and the bamboo as well.
01:31A little bit of the meatballs because this, I mean, we're going to have to really overdo it.
01:34Let's do a pork patty.
01:35Let's do a spicy chicken.
01:37Cold pork.
01:38Okay, yeah.
01:39Let's do a vegetable.
01:40Let's do a vegetable.
01:40Let's do a vegetable.
01:41Let's do a vegetable in our bodies.
01:42Let's do a veg to balance it out.
01:43Hoosun.
01:44Hoosun.
01:44Very nice.
01:45Peanut.
01:46I'm now sitting in a hot tub, you know what I mean?
01:48Because this just feels like home.
01:50Mommy, can we do a little bit of pork belly and tofu?
01:55Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:55And then let's close it out.
01:56Let's literally walk away from it.
01:58What's the soup today?
01:59Yeah.
02:00The seaweed.
02:01Seaweed and tofu, baby.
02:02She's been giving out a free milk tea with every meal for 25 years.
02:07For three items, rice, soup, and a milk tea.
02:12$11.
02:12Without the cheers, it's...
02:14Sorry, apologies.
02:14It was just too good.
02:16Not too sweet.
02:17Not too sweet.
02:18That's the ultimate compliment.
02:20Merch coming soon.
02:20Enjoy, baby.
02:22Thank you, mom.
02:23Oh, my God, so cute.
02:24Okay, we're triple, quadruple fisting right now.
02:27Wait, you got this?
02:28I'm an athlete.
02:28When it comes to eating, I am also an athlete.
02:30The soup is very hot.
02:31Woo!
02:34I can't believe you get the milk tea.
02:36We got the sweet, the salty, the spicy.
02:40Are you into ASMR?
02:42Yeah, let's do it.
02:45Tell me about this.
02:47An in-house hot sauce?
02:49I'm not kidding.
02:50Just do a little bit of this and the rice.
02:52Wow.
02:53That's all I need.
02:54You know what I'm saying?
02:55You put this on top of everything?
02:56I put that on my neck as perfume.
02:58Let's try a meatball.
02:59Okay.
02:59Why not?
03:00This is so good.
03:01I know you grew up here, so you probably have, like, a ton of memories,
03:05but is there one that sort of sticks out to you that really brings you back?
03:09The restaurant opened when I was in fifth grade.
03:11I just remember being here as if I was on the street team.
03:15Being the same girl in 2025, just yapping and telling them, like, three items, like,
03:21comes with rice, you know, free milk tea.
03:23I remember just screaming at customers and really sharpening my Mandarin because,
03:27you know, we were born in Shanghai.
03:29That's where we immigrated from, and that's what we speak, the dialect of Shanghai.
03:33But Mandarin is more the universal language, so I got better and better.
03:37This is definitely a Shanghainese classic.
03:39Sweet and sour pork chop.
03:41Oh, yeah.
03:43I mean, that's the stuff.
03:50You are doing so much shrinking coming up.
03:53Season three.
03:54Nobody wants this.
03:55Period.
03:56You're working on your stand-up.
03:57It's a group project.
03:58You're the leader.
03:59We have stories that need to be seen and heard.
04:03You're still not prioritized.
04:04That is definitely a constant fight and fire within me.
04:09Back then, too, it was very much a stereotypical role.
04:12You're playing real people, real relatable roles that when I am watching, I see myself.
04:18My daughter, you know, the next generation, they're just going to be used to seeing themselves
04:24on screen.
04:24I don't know if you realize, like, how important that is.
04:28When I watched Margaret Cho be so outspoken and bold in her stand-up when I was, like,
04:32a teenager, I wanted to live like that, you know?
04:35I wanted to walk in a room and prove people wrong.
04:38I wanted to make sure they knew I wasn't timid, which is exhausting as well.
04:43You're truly, genuinely proud, and you want to share your culture, your story, your food.
04:49Which wasn't overnight.
04:50Because I remember bringing whatever dumpling with extra, extra, extra chives.
04:56You know what I mean?
04:57And feeling embarrassed that it was smelly.
05:00The fact that my parents had an ax, I'm ashamed that I was ashamed.
05:04That is actually a testament to how hard they worked despite not knowing the language.
05:08They made something from nothing.
05:09And that is the American dream, and here I am carrying on the legacy.
05:14And maybe I'll take over this place.
05:16You know, make it into a hookah shop.
05:18My dad is currently opening a hookah shop in Shanghai.
05:21All right?
05:21I'll keep you posted.
05:22We'll do the next video there.
05:23Yeah, let's go.
05:24Oh, girl.
05:25The pig feet!
05:25Are you kidding me?
05:26Do you like Bumboe?
05:27Yeah.
05:28Oh, my God.
05:29So you also eat the pork blood?
05:31Yeah.
05:31I love being Asian.
05:33Also, I am the same way, though.
05:35Like, I wasn't proud about that.
05:39When my friends came over, I wanted my mom to make specific food.
05:42I didn't want her to make, you know, anything that was, like, too weird.
05:44But now I'm like, no.
05:46Why not?
05:53Get a potato.
05:54You can split a potato.
05:57I just feel warm inside.
05:59Chinese curry is the bomb.
06:01That is very nice.
06:02Well, my mom actually cooks special things.
06:04Mmm.
06:05When people, like, Rando Park comes.
06:07What did Rando Park get?
06:08She doesn't even order it.
06:10She just, like, makes things I've never seen.
06:12You know, new Pokemon.
06:14I don't know them.
06:15Well, I know.
06:16I'm telling you.
06:17Girl, you know what's really impressive?
06:18The flavors are all different.
06:20Can't wrap my head around the fact that she is making hit after hit after hit.
06:24Honey, it's giving Rihanna.
06:27You've interviewed Rihanna.
06:28I'm very proud of you.
06:29It's, like, what am I proud of filming?
06:30Like, look at this marble finish.
06:32That's what I'm saying.
06:37Let's talk more about your parents.
06:39So when they moved here, did they talk a lot about, like, how difficult it was with you?
06:44When we first came to America, we lived in Alhambra.
06:47Maybe I was, like, six or seven still learning the language of English.
06:52And I saw these neighbors who were maybe 11, 12, older, cooler American.
06:57And they flipped me off.
06:59And I remember thinking, what is that?
07:01And then I quickly learned what it was when I did it to my mom's co-worker.
07:06Everyone was in outrage.
07:07And my mom realizing it's something bad.
07:10I remember her just, like, dragging me to the walk-in refrigerator and perhaps spanking me with a Branzino.
07:18No, I don't know.
07:18I don't know.
07:19The memory is blurry.
07:20Those moments emphasize, like, I'm not from here.
07:24I remember loving movies and being intrigued by movies and TV, but not knowing that this was possible.
07:31Because I remember thinking the thought that Hollywood was for Americans.
07:37That's what it felt like.
07:38It was untouchable.
07:39I get into Cal State Fullerton, one of two schools I got into, okay?
07:42I graduated high school with a 2.5 GPA.
07:45We're breaking stereotypes every day.
07:46And I just majored in communications with an entertainment studies emphasis.
07:51I was there for seven years.
07:52At this point, they gave me office hours.
07:53They gave me a parking spot.
07:54I was wearing a tweed blazer every day.
07:56No.
07:56While I was in college, I discovered campus radio.
07:59And I was like, maybe I'll just choose this.
08:01I was on the street team, passing out stickers, you know, just setting up tents.
08:05And then on Friday, I would be escorting Ariana Grande for a meet and greet at the Hollywood Bowl.
08:10And eventually, when I started doing stand-up for real in 2016, and also making more funny videos,
08:17Carson Daly caught wind of me, and he was the morning show host at the time.
08:20And he was like, wait, this girl's funny.
08:23Why aren't we using her?
08:24Yeah.
08:24He throws me on his show, and I'm yapping away sporadically here and there.
08:29And then I eventually gave my own show on Sunday nights, which was like late fall of 2016,
08:34which is also when I got my first guest star on the Amazon series, I Love Dick, with Catherine
08:39Hahn and Kevin Bacon.
08:40I'm very grateful for my manager, Colin.
08:43He hit me up after he saw that I was posting about stand-up on Facebook.
08:46And he had one client at the time, still his client to this day, Lakeith Stanfield.
08:50Oh, wow.
08:51So I was a second client, and we've just been kind of on this journey together.
08:55But he definitely introduced me to the industry as I know it.
08:58And then ever since, just been grinding, you know?
09:02And like, I'm very lucky.
09:04My mom is so proud.
09:05I mean...
09:06Seven years in college.
09:08The lesson here is to set the bar low.
09:10When are you making the commencement speech at your college?
09:12They haven't hit me up.
09:13It's me and Kevin Costner, I think, who went to Cal State Bulletin.
09:17Your mom, this must be so proud of you.
09:19Yeah, I mean, she really is.
09:21And as I got deeper into the industry and like using my voice, specifically in the queer space,
09:28you know, I identify as bisexual and I have my whole life.
09:31That was something that took my mom a while to wrap her head around.
09:35And I, you know, tried to be patient and empathetic in the process because she didn't grow up watching
09:42shows like Good Trouble.
09:44I remember there was this girl in senior year of high school.
09:48I went over to her house and we were watching Rent and her head was on my shoulder and we
09:54were, you know, laying on her bed.
09:56And I was like, not breathing.
09:59525,600 minutes.
10:00Looking back, I was like, oh, but the thing is, simultaneously that same year, I liked the
10:06boy and he became my first kiss.
10:08At a point in my life, because I wasn't a public figure, like there wasn't a need to
10:14come out to my mom, right?
10:16It wasn't until I booked Good Trouble, which was, you know, such a special queer character.
10:21And I thought to myself, this Alice Kwan has the potential to be a role model.
10:28I need to liberate myself IRL.
10:32So I sat my mom down in 2018, May 27th.
10:36Essentially, I said the character was queer and so am I.
10:40She was definitely shocked.
10:41I mean, she drank like six bottles of water during this conversation.
10:45I think she was just kind of taking it in.
10:48And yeah, and, you know, I was bawling, but there was this weight lifted because I had
10:53the conversation, even though she was kind of hesitant and said some things that made
10:59me mad.
11:00I think slowly throughout the years, she's realizing that these opportunities have actually
11:06opened up because I've opened up.
11:09It's also, you know, the natural instinct for a mom to protect their child, you know, and
11:15make sure that they don't get hurt out in the real world.
11:19Okay, now I am going to cry.
11:21It's so funny because when I came out to my dad, on the other hand, because he goes to
11:25Lady Gaga concerts for sport, you know, shows up with a rainbow T-shirt the next day.
11:29For us to remember that, you know, our moms and our dads are going through life for the
11:36first time as well, and they can make mistakes and also to forgive the past versions of them
11:43when we were younger.
11:44I mean, it's so much.
11:45That's the Asian-American experience.
11:47Yeah.
11:47You know, because we are the generation to single-handedly shift the narrative because
11:51of Crazy Rich Asians, because of, you know, Kamala, because of all of these things that
11:56have happened in our lifetime.
11:58We have to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself even within the family group chat.
12:04It was right there.
12:05It was right there.
12:05But I was like, I...
12:06And if you cried, I would have cried.
12:07She does comedy.
12:08She does drama.
12:09The range.
12:10She's got range just like her mama, just like the food here.
12:13Thank you so much for bringing me here.
12:16I'm going to come back.
12:17I'm going to wait in line just like the rest of them.
12:19Stay humble, okay?
12:20I will stay humble.
12:21Should we bring your mom out?
12:22Oh my God, mommy!
12:23Thank you so much.
12:24Everything was so delicious.
12:26I love you.
12:29Okay, you have to eat now too.
12:30Yeah, you eat.
12:30You eat.
12:31You eat.
12:31Okay?
12:32Yeah.
12:32I feed you peanut.
12:33Feed her peanut.
12:33Feed you peanut.
12:35You feed me peanut.
12:43Thank you, Sherry, for having me.
12:46Thank you, Oriental Express Cafe in the SGV.
12:49If you want to watch more videos like this, subscribe here.
12:52I love you, Zara.
12:54I love you, Refinery29.
12:55Damn style.
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