"There’s never been a Magic Mike, masculine Asian stripper ever,” so extrapolated the actor on why he chose to take on the role. Playing a pre-med, pre-law student who earns money on the side as a striptease dancer likely posed challenges unlike anything Alex encountered in the past.  

What's more, it also allowed him to take a stance against the increasingly obsolete tradition of type-casting, which can leave many Asian actors out of a job for prolonged amounts of time depending on what their profile entails.

Alex's ambitions in this area are anything but new: as the first-ever openly gay Asian orthopedic surgeon fellow on Grey's Anatomy, it was his main prerogative to make a stance and promote the notion that one's ethnicity shouldn't define which roles they can or cannot take up.

However, his acting chops proved insufficient to convince the critics. Despite his succinct, considerate and clever portrayal of Henry's character, Insatiable remains one of the most controversial shows out there.