For “Quantum Leap” star Raymond Lee, acting came about in a circuitous way. “I dropped out of high school, I landed at a community college and I haphazardly took an acting course and I liked it,” Lee said in a Zoom interview from his Los Angeles home. “Then I graduated from a community college, went to a state university and I somehow managed to get a theater degree. And here I am passing as a doctor.” But throughout all the lean years, he had the support of his mother – who had been an actress in South Korea. A rarity for Asian American talent, Lee has top billing on NBC’s popular sci-fi series. He stays in touch with fans on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/raymomomo).
Q: What was your childhood like?
A: I was born in Flushing, Queens, and my mom was working at a nail shop and raised me as a single parent. I’m an only child. It’s kind of tough in New York, so she moved to California to raise me with her best friend.
Q: Growing up as a visible minority, do you feel you grew up in inclusive environments?
A: Yes. It’s always interesting to me the weight that [some Asian Americans] carry around from not having grown up with people who look like them. I was fortunate enough to grow up in Koreatown and Glendale, where our star quarterback was Asian and the smartest three students in our class were Asian.
Q: Were you one of them?
A: No. [Laughs] Some of our best singers in our a capella choir were Asian. I had great examples growing up. I was also raised in a church where I thought everyone who was older than me were the coolest people in the world. So I was lucky to have very positive role models. And I know that’s not the same story for some of my other friends who grew up in different parts of America.
Q: What do you miss about not living in New York anymore?
A: New York is unrivaled – the energy that’s out there. The feeling that you get when you end a show and you’re walking 11 blocks back to wherever you’re staying, you can grab a slice, and the city’s bustling and you feel alive. You can’t replicate that … except maybe in [England’s] West End.
Q: L.A. has the weather advantage over New York or Chicago though, right?
A: Yes! I spent one weekend in Chicago during the winter and I was like, “No, there’s no chance!” I take for granted how fortunate we are to not have to shovel the driveway. It isn’t lost on me that real estate is the way it is out here because [the weather is] always beautiful.
Q: How much of “Quantum Leap” is shot on location versus on set in L.A.?
A: It’s pretty much 50-50. The showrunners have to decide what makes sense to shoot or build for a soundstage and what actually makes sense to be on location for. For exteriors or to establish a shot, we have to make it feel that it’s real. We shoot at Universal Studios, which has about 200 sets, so it’s easy to make it look like we’re in New York or Chicago or Baltimore. We also have an incredible art department that can build out a set on our soundstages to make it look like it is Cairo. But we actually did go to Cairo to film.
Q: What was that like?
A: It was such a fast trip to Egypt. We were there for five days and shot for four. So we got there, had one day to decompress and then shot furiously and fast in 100-degree weather with little to no coverage. The sun moved quickly, so it was impossible to find shade. Our actual holding area was at the foot of the [Great] Sphinx [of Giza]. And then you see the Great Pyramid of Giza right behind it. It was an incredible experience. It’s always been a bucket list location, but the fact that work can bring you out there was an experience that I could never have possibly expected.
Q: Can you share some other experiences filming on location?
A: Sure. I shot this movie called “The Lost City” in the Dominican Republic and I saw Brad Pitt and Channing Tatum hanging out. At one point, Sandra Bullock tapped me on the shoulder and said, “That was great work on the scene.” And I’m like, “What is going on?” [Laughs] I did another movie, “Top Gun: Maverick,” and I was on the tarmac in Coronado and then later on a carrier ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. But still the most magical location remains New York. I love New York.
Q: Your “Quantum Leap” character always finds himself in a new city during a different era. If you could experience this in real life, where would you like to go back to?
A: It’s not a very provocative answer, but I would really like to have lived through the late 1990s and early 2000s as an adult to get some perspective on how crazy that time actually was. I would also like to go back to a time when I can see the moment my parents met. She was living in New York and he was a student in Youngstown, Ohio, and somehow they met. But the actual details my mother has shared are sparse.
Q: Do you travel a lot with your family?
A: When our daughter was nine months old, we took her to Vancouver. We thought that would be a nice, easy trip, and it was. And then just recently, they actually went to Thailand. I couldn’t join them [because of work]. They had an amazing time, but the 18-hour flight! [Laughs] My son was one and a half at that time. My wife had her brother help and they flew together. The kids are pretty good travelers. If they can just get over the car sickness, we can take more road trips.
(Jae-Ha Kim is a New York Times bestselling author and travel writer. You can respond to this column by visiting her website at www.jaehakim.com. You may also follow “Go Away With…” on Twitter at @GoAwayWithJae where Jae-Ha Kim welcomes your questions and comments.)
