Breaking Stereotypes with Ross Butler

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Ross Butler may be known for portraying teenagers, but a conversation with him reveals a smart and gracious artist far more sophisticated than his characters. Then again, Ross thinks we should all give teenagers a little more credit. Through playing roles like Zach on Netflix's "13 Reasons Why" and Reggie on The CW's "Riverdale," he's come to appreciate the complexity and maturity of teens these days. And as a bonus, he thinks that playing so many high-schoolers is keeping him young.

Ross has loved acting ever since a buddy bought him an acting class for his 21st birthday. He enjoys being an entertainer and making people smile, but acting has also helped him explore his identity. Growing up as an Asian-American, Ross says he struggled to fit in and figure out who he was; these days, he's thrilled that American audiences (and American teenagers in particular) have accepted him with open arms. He decided long ago that he wanted to play more than just stereotypical Asian roles and through a combination of luck, skill, and a changing social landscape, he's been able to do just that.

A superstar on Instagram, Ross loves sharing his life and creativity with the world. His feed is full of pictures of himself playing music, riding motorcycles, cuddling with his dogs, and inspirational messages alongside movie promos and photos from set. He wants to inspire his followers to pursue their own creativity and find what makes them unique. Ross's ultimate goal, not just for himself but for every person in the world, is simple: happiness.

We were excited to chat with Ross about his life, his career, and what makes him happy.

Let's start at the beginning. You were born in Singapore and moved to the US when you were 4... how has that affected who you are as a person and as an actor?

I have memories of Singapore, but to be honest, I don't really remember much. Most of my life and what has crafted me as a human being has been my American experience. I grew up in America, surrounded by Americans. I think my acting style reflects that... a lot of the roles I play are just American teenagers, and that's what I grew up seeing and being. And that's part of what led to my decision to not play stereotypical Asian roles, because that wasn't reflective of who I am. I'm just an American.

What drew you to acting? What do you love about it?

My friend bought me an acting class for my 21st birthday and I fell in love with it. Not to get too psychological here, but growing up, I felt like I didn't really know who I was. Being mixed-race, I didn't know what my identity was. I didn't fit in with my white friends and I didn't fit in with my Asian friends, so I was always trying to change who I was in an attempt to find out who I really am. But as an actor, you're given a character and literally what lines to say, so something about living another person's life and exploring that is really interesting to me. I love the escapism of it. 

I love comedy too. I love entertaining people and making people laugh. I grew up watching people like Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell... I'd love to be able to do what they do.

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Do you have a favorite project that you've worked on?

I have two answers for two very different reasons. One is kind of obvious, "13 Reasons Why." That was a project where we really got to dig deep and it changed my perspective on the world. I think the reason the show was so popular was that these are common emotions that teenagers feel, no matter the time period. These are emotions I felt when I was in high school. So being able to introduce the next generation to the idea that they're not alone and to reassure them that we're all in this together gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

But then the other answer would have to be "K.C. Undercover." I don't know if I've ever even said this in an interview before, but I loved working on that show because of the comedy. The writing was just really good. And being able to do comedic back-and-forth with Zendaya, who's hilarious, was so fun. It was so fast-paced. I'll never forget that experience, it was one of a kind.

"13 Reasons Why" is a teen show, but it has some really deep and dark content. How did you approach material like that?

I think something that we're just starting to understand now is that teens are a lot smarter these days. Or they're a lot more in tune with how they feel. So with that in mind, playing a teenager as an adult, I had to find the middle ground of the naivete of youth and not really understanding that there's a lot of life after high school, but then also going through something as traumatic as what these kids went through makes you grow up really fast. So for me, it was just thinking to myself, 'how can I experience this like it's the first time I've experienced this? How do I put myself in the shoes of a teen that's gone through something like this?' But the bottom line is just playing it as truthfully as you can.

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What's it like, playing so many teenagers at this point in your life?

You know it's interesting, I think it's keeping me young. I don't feel 30. I feel like I'm still in my mid-20s. It's this weird thing, especially when you're working on a show for 6 months and you're living this character... your thoughts read your body. With projects like "13 Reasons Why," when we're dealing with really heavy subject matter, your body feels it. You start to get aches and everything. But the same goes for playing young. Maybe it's also my genetics—thanks Mom!—but I don't know, I feel young.

'Making it' in Hollywood can be such a long and difficult process. Was there a moment when you thought, 'oh, this is actually happening, I'm going to be able to make a life out of this'?

Yeah, I think the moment was when both "Riverdale" and "13 Reasons" came out in the same year. I had booked other roles before and it was a slow build to that moment, but yeah. I started just seeing that being an Asian-American in Hollywood can happen, and that roles were starting to open up and people were responding positively to it. My biggest insecurity was that nobody really cares or connects with Asian-American guys or mixed-race guys. How can they connect, how can they relate? But again, that fell into the underestimation of teens these days. So it was the widespread acceptance of "13 Reasons" and "Riverdale" that made me think, 'yeah, this can be my career, this is what I love to do.'

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Are there any co-stars that you're still friends with outside of work?

Oh yeah. The kind of infamous friend group that we have is me, Justin Prentice, Tyler Barnhardt and Timothy Granaderos from "13 Reasons Why." We hang out all the time. I convinced all three of them to move to the west side of LA. The last season of "13 Reasons Why" we actually all lived in the same house. So we hang out— obviously not now, but we used to hang out every day and we'd go golf and ride motorcycles and all sorts of stuff. They're my real-life friend group.

How have you been spending your time during the pandemic? Any hobbies or interests you've had a chance to pursue?

A lot! I've been learning Arabic, teaching myself the saxophone, getting back into cooking, and reading a lot. I've been moving into the production side of things, like I'm developing a few projects and trying to understand story from a philosophical point of view and why we love story so much. 

I feel like isolation teaches you a lot about yourself. I grew up as an only child so I'm kind of used to being on my own, but I think a lot of people had to come to terms with not hanging out with friends and just being by yourself and getting to know yourself more. So for me, that was just kind of the same as I always am, I pick up a lot of hobbies anyway. But that's how I've kept sane. I'm learning something new every week.

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Of all the characters you've played, who do you most relate to? Who's the most like you?

The easy answer is Trevor from "To All The Boys," cause literally that was just an exaggerated version of me. I think that's why they brought me on. A lot of the comedy was improvised and it was just... me. I didn't really have to dive deep for Trevor.

That's the easy answer, that's the light answer. The deeper answer is probably Zach from "13 Reasons." You know, he deals with a lot of the identity issues and things that I grew up experiencing. But I also didn't grow up experiencing half of the things that Zach experiences.

You have over 8 million followers on Instagram! What do you like about social media and connecting with your fans in that way?

Social media for me is honestly just a way to connect with my fans and show them who I really am. There's this concept of Hollywood mystery and how you shouldn't let people see who you really are, but I think that's an old-school way of thinking. These days people want the full package, not just this curated commercial thing. I think people really want to see who you are.

For me, it's an opportunity to inspire people to be more creative. Especially during quarantine. One of my missions in my career is to inspire more Asian-Americans or Asians in general to take up more creative careers. I think what makes people truly happy is creativity and being able to express how you're unique. If you're just another cog in the wheel and you feel like there's nothing that separates you from the next guy, I don't think that's a happy way to live. So a lot of what I use my Instagram for is being creative. And that doesn't mean you have to be an actor or a musician, you can be creative in finance or you can be creative in chemistry or engineering. But yeah, I just want to inspire people to find out what makes them unique and show it.

"Raya and the Last Dragon" was just announced, congrats on that! Do you enjoy doing voice-over and animation?

I've recently start to enjoy it. In the industry we have something called ADR, which is essentially when, if you shoot a show and some of the dialogue isn't great, you have to re-record the dialogue exactly how you said it the first time. So for some reason, I thought that's what voice-over was like. But once I started to do some voice-over projects, I really enjoyed it. Because in the booth, you can go for it. You can move your body, you can make whatever facial expressions you want. There's something really freeing about that, where you pour everything into the audio. And then they bring in a whole other team to animate what you said into life! I have a couple of voice-over things coming out and there's something really magical about it.

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Looking at that cast list, the film is a powerhouse of Asian-American actors: Kelly Tran, Awkwafina, Danial Dae Kim, Sandra Oh. What's it like seeing your name as part of that lineup?

Just kind of honored, to be honest. Just to be included in that group is something that's really special. I just wish that we could have real premieres so I could actually meet them in person! Maybe next time.

What's your vision for where you'd like your career to go in the future?

I would love to start moving more into the comedy space. I grew up watching so many comedies and I think there's always room for laughter. There's always room to make people happy. I want to be a leader and encourage people to be creative and to be happier. I guess that's tied into comedy, because laughing makes you happier, but I also want to look into the bigger reasons of what makes us happy. My career doesn't always need to be only acting. I just want to live and help other people live.

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After chatting with Ross, it's clear how important people are to him... his friends and co-stars, the characters he plays, even strangers on the internet. As disappointing as postponed projects and missed movie premieres may be, Ross is making the most out of the pandemic by doing what he does best: being creative, learning new things, and sharing his unique perspective with the world.

Words by Amy Thorstenson

Photography by Grant Legan

Fashion Styling by Adrian Martin

Grooming by Sonia Lee for Exclusive Artists

Produced by Eff Ulloa