Teen actor Izaac Wang on growing up in different cultures, working on 'Clifford the Big Red Dog'

LOS ANGELES — For some, growing up in a family with various cultures may be confusing or a bit challenging. But for 14-year-old actor Izaac Wang, he welcomes growing up with a mom from Laos and a Dad from China and working in Hollywood as an Asian-American actor.

Growing up in a multi-cultural household, the eloquent and precocious teener said it's not that difficult adjusting to different cultures.

"My parents raised me really well. They taught me all these different cultures that I probably would've never known," he said. "For example, my mom's culture. I've never learned it before and it was fun learning it. Laotian culture, Chinese culture, and then even some others."

He has traveled to Laos, Thailand, and China and especially enjoyed the food.

"The food is amazing. You can't go wrong with that. It's true, delicious food and it's unbelievably spicy. I can't even handle it. I had to get like, 'Can I get like the mild flavor?' And mild is, I don't even think they have flavors at that point. They pretend they have flavors, but they change the spice amount by one drop. So, everything is the same flavor to me," he said.

Izaac has done several TV series and films, such as "Teachers," "Good Boys," "Think Like a Dog," "Raya and the Last Dragon," and the upcoming TV series "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai."

Cast as Owen Yu in the animation-adventure-comedy "Clifford the Big Red Dog," Izaac is featured together with Darby Camp and Jack Whitehall.

Photo credit: K.C. Bailey/Paramount Pictures

We were able to interview Izaac and below are excerpts of our conversation with him:

How did you get the part?

Well, it was a really exciting process. When I got the audition, I was super excited. I was like, "Oh yeah, Clifford the Big Red Dog." It was a big part of my childhood growing up. And so, I've tried my hardest. I double memorized the lines. I tried to pour in all my emotion when I was doing the audition. And so, when I got the call back, I was like, "Oh my God, I got the call back." And so, I went into the call back room, I listened to what the producers and director said, and I got the job. And that was such a shock for me. I was like, "I got the job. Wow." And so, yeah, it was really fun, the audition and callback process.

How much do you relate to your character?

I think I relate to him a lot. Owen's a really caring, kind, trustful person to his friends. And he's also very careful and he's pretty nerdy, I have to say, unlike me, I'm really cool. But he's a little nerdy, but anyways, yeah. I relate to him a lot when it comes to the caring, trustful guy. You got to trust and care for your friends, if they're ever in a bad spot, you have to care for them. And then if they ever feel like they're being betrayed, you got to trust them. And so that's how I feel towards my friends. And I think that's how Owen feels towards Emily.

Do you have any pets? Dogs?

I do. I have two cats. I have Highland Lynx's, it's a pretty rare breed. You don't hear about them a lot and they're really cute. They're really cuddly. One's like a dog and one's like a cat, but they're both cats still. And they're really cool pets.

What are the challenges of working with CGI?

So, it actually wasn't that hard, the puppeteers did an amazing job making it seem like a real dog. And at some points during the movie, I was like, "This has to be a real dog. There's no way this is a fake dog." And so yeah, the puppeteers did a really good job. Controls are so sophisticated in the puppets that even I was like, "How do you guys do this?" And so yeah, props to the puppeteers.

Photo credit: K.C. Bailey/Paramount Pictures

Were there funny moments that you remember while filming?

Yeah, of course. One of the scenes where Owen and Emily were eating in Owen's apartment with Clifford, on set, when we weren't recording, we were eating all the fries, the prop fries, and then the props people were like, "You can't eat our fries." So, they refilled the fries and we're like, "But I want to eat your fries." So, we ate the fries and they're like, "No, stop eating our fries." So, they refilled them again and then we ate them again. And that was a long process. But eventually after recording, I felt really sick. And I think I learned my lesson and I don't want to do that again.

Was that your first time to work with Darby and Jack?

Yes, it was my first time working with both of them and it was really an experience. I got to learn a lot and it's definitely taught me to be a better actor than I was before.

How is schooling? Are you homeschooled or do you have a tutor come to the set?

I am going to an actual public school, but it's not a normal public school. It's called LACHSA, Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. It's currently the number one public school for the arts in the world, not to brag, which is pretty cool. But yeah, that's the school that I currently go to. And it's a really fun school.

Do you get recognized already in school? Do you get special attention?

Yeah. Somehow people have already found my Instagram when I didn't even tell them about it. I don't know how that happened. And people are like, "Oh Clifford, Hey Clifford, oh, I saw this thing on your Instagram story." I'm like, "Oh, thanks. How'd you find me?" It's like, "Oh, we just searched you up." I'm like, "Oh, that's cool. Not creepy at all." But yeah, it's pretty cool being recognized at school.

Photo credit: K.C. Bailey/Paramount Pictures

How do you handle the new fame that you are getting? Are you annoyed by it or are you getting more comfortable with it?

I wouldn't call it fame. I'm not that famous yet. I bet you Darby and Jack are going through a lot more than me, but it's definitely cool being recognized and I'm definitely super grateful for being recognized in the first place.

What are your dream roles? What do you want to do in the future?

One of my dream roles is actually in a movie where I can be a person who drives a car. Because I've never driven a car and I want to drive a car. That's one of my dreams, I want to drive a car. So, if I can be in a movie or I drive, even a pretend car, that'd be pretty cool.

Who inspired you to be an actor?

It's actually a funny story. So, my dad, he owned a pharmacy and there's always this one customer who's always running in, grabbing her prescriptions, and then running out. In, grab, out. Right? And so, one day he was like, "You're always running in and out. What do you do for living?" And she was like, "Oh, I'm a kid's talent manager." And so, he was like, "Oh, I have a kid who's looking into acting. Do you want to see him?" And she was like, "Oh yeah, sure." And so, one day I was playing my games, and my mom's like, "All right, Izaac, we're going to go meet this lady named Robin. She's going to be your talent manager." I'm like, "Oh, that's cool." And then, now I'm here. So yeah, that's quite a fun story.

Among the actors in Hollywood, who do you idolize?

There's a lot. So, I really like Jackie Chan, he's of my favorites. I think one of my favorite movies that he was in is "Rush Hour," one, two, and three. Those are really good movies. I like Ryan Reynolds. He's hilarious. Kevin Hart. He's one of my favorite comedians and Nancy Cartwright when it comes to voiceover, she's basically my voiceover star. I really like her. And I also like "The Simpsons."

—MGP, GMA News