You’ve seen Grace Park before: for men it was the Maxim photo shoot, and for everybondy else, it was probably Battlestar Gallactica.  Today you can see Grace Park on A&E’s The Cleaner.  Grace Park has been on a PR junket to promote her upcoming season of  The Cleaner, which airs on Tuesday nights.  Among the interesting interviews we discovered this week, the lesbian and bi-sexual website AfterEllen.com had some interesting questions for Grace related to her Korean and Asian background.

AE: Have you ever thought that your race was an obstacle in your career?

GP:  I haven’t found that at all but it wasn’t like when I turned 20, I turned Asian. It’s not like Cinderella.

I found that I didn’t realize some of my beliefs until I went to another country. I went to Hong Kong for a year and was in a fashion show and I’d say 80% of the girls where Chinese. I thought, “That’s weird!” I was so used to being the token Asian. There was this realization that I was in the majority, after I hadn’t realized I was the minority. I know that that is a perspective for a lot of different people whether you’re gay or Jewish or Asian. It could be anything.

There are so many ways to identify yourself with a smaller group and it also gives you a sense of togetherness, but it actually can give you a sense of distance and separation depending on how you see it.

I don’t find it for myself but I certainly have noticed there’s a lot more exposure of Asians now. I was looking through Oprah’s magazine about a year ago and after the fourth ad of an Asian person, I had to put it down. [laughs] “What is going on here? This is really weird!”

Then I realized that four is a phenomenal amount, and that was just the first half of the magazine.

AE: And if Oprah’s doing it, everyone else will follow!

GP: Exactly! If Oprah’s doing it…

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About The Cleaner:  Inspired by the true story of real life “extreme interventionist” Warren Boyd, who also co-executive produces the series, “The Cleaner” stars Benjamin Bratt as William Banks, a recovering addict who must balance his unwavering dedication to helping others get clean with an increasingly rocky personal life and the ghosts of his addictions. Banks and his teammates Akani Cuesta (Grace Park) and Arnie Swenton (Esteban Powell) employ an unconventional – and often by any means necessary – approach to getting addicts and those who surround them to realize they’ve reached rock-bottom and help them begin the process of recovery. With every success and failure, William wrestles with his commitment to his work and his love for his wife Melissa (Amy Price-Francis) and their children through an unusual relationship with God.