was when I was in elementary school.

And I was chosen to do a fake lemonade ad.

I held an empty carton of lemonade,

and I read a teleprompter,

which was another second grader

holding a piece of cardboard.

And I remember thinking to myself,

this is something that I could do for my big life.

(upbeat music)

I'm Stephanie Hsu and this is On The Rise.

Growing up I just never knew

that you could really actually be an actor.

My mom specifically, she pointed on a TV screen and said,

"There's no way that you can be an actor,

because nobody on the screen looks like you."

And at the time,

pretty much all we had was Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh,

and she wasn't wrong.

There was really, there was no "Crazy Rich Asians"

there was not even a

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" at that time.

But I just, I don't know, I kept going.

Somewhere in the pit of my stomach,

knew that I had to try.

Another memory that I do remember is being...

When I was in again,

like second, third grade,

I was in a girl band called The Blossoms.

We would just sing and we would do choreographed dances.

The stakes were very high,

and people would also get tickets to our show,

even though it was free.

Cause literally we were all at recess at the same time.

But yeah, our manager Ryan he would hustle that blacktop.

(laughs) (upbeat music)

- I think the first role

that made me really feel like I was an actress,

was this role Christine Canigula

for this Broadway show called Be More Chill.

And in my head I wasn't like,

"I'm an actress."

I don't think I was thinking that.

But you know, growing up,

I never ever, ever thought

that I would be a lead on Broadway.

And so when that show came to Broadway,

I remember thinking to myself,

I've been given this crazy, amazing opportunity

and I have to just rise a above and beyond to this occasion

because I may never get a chance like this again.

So, and that show during that time

it was also the first season that I shot

for the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

So I was doing eight shows a week

and filming season three of Maisel.

I was taking it really seriously

'cause I knew how lucky I was

and I wanted to be excellent.

(upbeat music)

I think somewhere in Google it says I'm a comedian

which I don't think I'm a comedian.

When I was in college,

I was in a sketch group.

It was called Hammerkatz.

Hammerkatz was started by Donald Glover.

And so there was Hammerkatz,

which was a sketch group.

And then there was a Danger Box,

which was the improp group.

And out of the two groups, there were three Asians.

It was me, Andy Dow and a little person named Bowen Yang.

And we used to do comedy shows all over New York together.

It was really fun.

And I remember thinking like I love comedy.

I love being silly.

I love being weird.

I love making people laugh,

but I can't it be a comedian

because the hours are so crazy

and you have to stay up so late, period.

I just can't stay up that late to be funny.

I'm sleepy.

My first celebrity crush was The Spice Girls,

all of them.

The end.

(upbeat music)

I used to know every single lyric

to every single song.

I think that's where I first learned

to do British accent.

Learnt is learned to do a British accent.

No, I'm not gonna show you.

No, I feel your little head peeking behind the monitor.

(chuckles)

(upbeat music)

The biggest discovery I've made in the last few years,

is that, I love making movies.

There's this clip of Keanu Reeves

when he's getting his hands

on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

and he goes, "I just love movies,

I love watching them, I love making them."

And that's how I feel.

I love movies.

I wanna make movies for ever and ever.

It is the best.

(upbeat music)

Everything, everywhere all at once is I guarantee you,

unlike anything anyone has ever seen all at once

ever and ever, maybe sometimes.

It is a crazy wild genre mashup of a movie

that will truly blow your mind.

And also I think explode your heart

and make you ugly cry in a movie theater.

And you'll be like, "what just happened?"

It is a movie about a broken family

that is desperately trying to find one another

through the chaos of life,

but also the multiverse.

I play Michelle Yo's daughter, Joy.

One of my favorite scenes that we shot

for the movie is,

The Hallway Scene.

And I, well, this is gonna go,

I haven't figured out how to say this in press yet,

because, you know,

when you do videos or you do interviews,

if you say a bad word,

there's like a bunch of asterisks.

So I don't know if you're gonna use this,

but I have to swing at Michelle Yo

and it's a pretty freaky crazy scene.

And I come out dressed as Elvis

and I'm walking a pig,

and I have a cigarette in my mouth

and I explode someone's brain into confetti.

It's crazy.

And I am just so excited and feel so lucky

that I have gotten to be a part of it.

And I can't wait for you to see it.

One of my favorite movies of the last year

was Come On Come On.

And I would love to work with Mike Mills.

I think him and Miranda July are so dreamy and smart

and tender in the heart.

And I just would love to work with them

or even shake their hand one day.

(upbeat music)

In five years,

I do hope that I am living on some bucolic landscape

and I got a vegetable garden

and I dream of continuing to make things

like we've never seen before

and get to play roles that have never been seen.

And I hope by then,

one of the projects that I am working on

is made the next point of growth in my life

and in my career is to also be making things

that are coming from me,

to get something from a seed of an idea

to an actual production,

whether it is on Broadway,

at a downtown theater, a talk show or a movie.

It's a journey and you have to really want it

and really believe in it.

'Cause you're gonna get so many nos, all along the way,

which I guess some people

would say is the same for acting,

but I think it is even more vulnerable

when the idea and the words come from you,

as opposed to someone else.

(upbeat music)

I've been doing a lot of deep dive on Brad Pitt,

because he is beautiful.

But also,

because he elevates so many stories

and young filmmakers who are kind of starting out

and he's produced some of the most

critically acclaimed films.

I did see him one time in person at the sag awards.

It was that moment where he and Jennifer Aninson embraced.

I was literally right there.

I'm so short.

And I just remember looking up and being like,

"y'all are beautiful, you're literally beautiful."

I'm now hugely embarrassed.

If he ever happens to watch this video

I'm gonna be mortified.

But I also hope that Brad Pitt watches

Harper's bizarre on the rise.

To me, I think making it means,

that you get to make things

and continue to make with people

that you really care about

and love

and admire and new creatives you don't even know about.

And you get to,

like, live on a farm somewhere

and no one's bothering you

and you don't have to have an Instagram.

That's what making it feels like to me.

Chuckles

(upbeat music)