Young Mazino, who plays Paul Cho in creator and showrunner Lee Sung Jin’s (Dave, Silicon Valley) new series BEEF, has sometimes worried that he’s just a pseudo-artist. “I grew up in Maryland in the suburbs, and I came from a background where art is not really celebrated. It was a very distant thing,” says the actor. But now, Mazino finds himself in a surreal environment, acting alongside those he calls “titans of the industry”: Oscar nominee Steven Yeun (Minari) and Emmy-nominated comedian, writer, and actor Ali Wong. 

BEEF follows Yeun’s character, Danny, an unhappy contractor, and Wong’s stressed-out entrepreneur Amy Lau, whose lives converge in a road rage incident that turns the strangers into mortal enemies. Mazino plays Danny’s younger brother, who gets sucked into the beef when he falls for Amy’s catfishing and the two begin an entanglement. Mazino could relate to a few of Paul’s traits: “There’s a lot of myself in Paul, particularly our affinity for video games and anime,” says the actor, who also shares his character’s crypto-investing savvy. “When the pandemic hit, I had quit my job. So I started doing options trading. I made quite a good amount to survive off of Dogecoin, which was crazy.”