Chinese-Irish comedy creator, actor and film-maker Steven He will give a talk to students at ITE College Central on Oct 9.
ST PHOTO: JASEL POH
From strict academic expectations to parents chasing him with a slipper, Chinese-Irish content creator Steven He turned the pressures of his Asian upbringing and his iconic catchphrase “emotional damage” into a global online phenomenon.
But rather than remaining a one-hit meme creator, the United States-based comedian has turned internet fame into a multi-platform media company and a serious push into feature films.
In an interview with The Straits Times at House of Tan Yeok Nee on Oct 7 during his first visit to Singapore, he shared how he built a brand with over seven billion views.
For starters, “emotional damage” originated from his 2021 YouTube sketch titled When “Asian” Is A Difficulty Mode In Video Games, where his “Asian Dad” character utters the catchphrase after being insulted. A five-second clip from the sketch exploded worldwide as a reaction meme.
The 29-year-old said: “Am I bored of it? No, absolutely not. My gratitude towards (the fans) popularising the meme is just far greater than any annoyance I can have by performing it again.”
Now signed to Singapore-headquartered global creator management and licensing company Gushcloud International, his appearances here include a talk for local students at ITE College Central on Oct 9.
Born in Shenzhen and raised between the Chinese city and Limerick, Ireland, He said the academic environment in Singapore resonated with his own upbringing.
“(I was told) about the school system here in Singapore, the PSLE, which decides your whole life and the universities that go after that. And I actually relate because in China, we have (China’s national university entrance examination) gaokao, and the pressure which I felt at 13 years old in China.”
Asked what he will say to the ITE students here, he says he will be “reading the vibe in the room”.
“I wonder if they’re geeks and ask, ‘Okay, so how do you compare CTR (click-through rate)? What increases the retention rate?’ Or even the entrepreneurial side: ‘How do you build a channel, scale and compete on short-form or living-room televisions?’ I’m down for whatever they want to learn.”
Running a five-person company that manages 11 platforms, 35 million followers and 300 million monthly views, He approaches content creation with strict business discipline.
Strategically, he views Singapore as an essential springboard into Asia and an “important bridge” between the East and West.
“People here speak English, you guys know Western culture, you’re connected with European and American pop culture. And then on the other side, you have the Asian touch and grounded culture. So being in Singapore is a good way to connect with Asia as a whole.”
Steven He has a leading role in the martial arts horror-comedy Kung Fu Deadly. ST PHOTO: JASEL POH
Recently married to American content creator and actress Greta Schaub, He said they plan to have children, and admits that fatherhood will inevitably turn him into one of his famous online personas, “Asian Dad”, a character who berates children for pursuing creative careers.
“Do I foresee myself becoming that Asian Dad? 100%. I will become the exact same as my video. If my son came up to me like, ‘Dad, I want to be a YouTuber’, I’ll say, ‘No, you’re not going to make it. No chance! You’re too ugly! Look at (Canadian actor) Simu Liu, what, you think you can do that, huh?’” he said with a laugh.
All the hard work and obstacles that he had to overcome to build up his career have made him appreciate strict Asian-style parenting. “The more I face these challenges, the more I appreciate what our parents told us: ‘Just study hard, get a good job. Stop it! Why are you trying to become famous?’”
And he views Asian tropes as a universal storytelling asset.
“I think our culture is a superpower. There are so many cultures I didn’t expect to connect with. It’s almost ironic, sometimes in art, the more authentically specific you are, the more universal you are. Telling a story of me getting my a** whipped by a slipper in China somehow related to Mexican, Swedish, American, African cultures.”
He also sees local expressions like “lah” mirroring his own family’s speech. “The way we tag on ‘lah’ onto the end of every sentence – that’s very much my family as well. ‘Steven, become a doctor, lah!’ We’ve all heard that a million times.”
While he first gained prominence for brief, rapid-fire internet sketches, He is now pushing into theatrical feature films.
He is the lead actor in the “goofy and campy” martial arts horror-comedy Kung Fu Deadly, which had its world premiere at the genre film festival Fantastic Fest in Texas in the US on Sept 18. He plays a pest exterminator up against a jiangshi, a hopping vampire from Chinese folklore.
Film-making is a natural extension of his drama school background, which includes a degree in acting and global theatre from Regent’s University London and post-graduate acting training from Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, an acting conservatory in New York.
But stepping behind the camera as a director-producer on his own ambitious online projects, such as kaiju parody series Ginormo! (2023) and spy comedy series James Bao (2026), required a vast leap in technical craft.
“In the beginning, my tools were simple – two characters, no camera movement. But when you enter fields that are elevated, like television, cinema or theatre, the craft is another league altogether. I’m learning sound design, camera movement, writing character arcs and organising 100-plus-people productions.”
