Liam Oh

Liam Oh doesn’t know this, but he’s about to blow up as a star.

Though it has been over two years since the 26-year-old actor filmed the Netflix series Boots, playing the perfectionist-yet-anxiety-ridden marine recruit Ray, he hasn’t thought much about how people would react to it.

“It’s been interesting because it’s been a very long process with the show,” Oh says over Zoom from his Brooklyn home. “We started shooting back in April 2023. This is my first TV show ever. In a way, that made it somewhat easy because I had nothing to compare it to, so I’ve been taking it as it comes. I’m excited for people to see this. I’ve been living with this story and these characters for so long.”

Based on Greg Cope White’s memoir, The Pink Marine, Boots is one of the most highly anticipated series as a queer coming-of-age story set in a Marine boot camp in the 1990s, during the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” era. Closeted gay teen Cameron (Miles Heizer) is unsure about his future post-high school, refusing to accept his homosexuality. He hopes to bury that side of him by joining the Marines, enlisting alongside his straight best friend, Ray (Oh), who joins to appease his militant father. Ray, who knows and supports Cameron’s sexuality, strives to protect his best friend despite battling his own trauma. The series follows their journey through boot camp, where they form unexpected bonds with their fellow recruits and their friendship is tested.

“I’ve seen the whole show now,” he says. “The thing that first grabbed me was the central relationship between Cam and Ray. It homes in on a really common experience that isn’t really represented in TV or film—a truly platonic gay-straight friendship.” He understands that there’s nothing wrong with stories that feature the “best-friends-to-lovers” trope, but that’s not the story here.

“The writers, creator and co-showrunner [Andy Parker], and showrunner [Jennifer Cecil] were very adamant about going for something deeper,” Oh explains. “There’s a platonic love there. There’s a true love between Cam and Ray, and we don’t want to trivialize it by having one of them be in love with the other. They love each other. They are brothers.”

When Parker was looking to cast the role of Ray, he wanted to find someone who could portray a straight guy with no shame for having a gay best friend. He also wanted someone who had real emotional intelligence and sensitivity, but the “tough and outwardly” confidence to hold their own in the boot camp. Also—they must have chemistry with Heizer.

“Liam had all these qualities—he has an immediate, accessible warmth and obvious intelligence,” Parker wrote in an email to Timid. “There's a sharpness to Liam, a quickness, but it's infected with a true, generous warmth. And at the same time, he comes across as a leader, so you have no trouble believing this is a kid who thinks he knows what he's doing. But Ray has to go on a journey of his own: he finds out that actually he might not know what he's doing, and Liam brought a vulnerability and depth to Ray's arc that makes him one of the season's most compelling characters.”

Parker is not wrong about Oh’s cordial nature.

When Oh first logs onto Zoom, there is an immediate geniality that exudes from the screen. Wearing thick-framed glasses and a baseball cap that says “Big Mess,” he says hello and begins to speak as if we’ve known each other for years. When I comment on his cap, he proudly shows it off on the screen, revealing that he took it from his dad’s collection of hats. It’s something that he and his three brothers would often do: steal from their dad’s closet.

“It’s first-come, first-served,” he says with a laugh. “We’re all teammates. There’s this general understanding that if you got to it first, then we won’t tell him. There’s the code of silence.”

Born and raised in the outskirts of Chicago, Oh says he’s always had a close relationship with his brothers. Though the majority of the household were men, Oh’s mother was the boss of the family, “the one who laid down the law.” It’s one of the reasons why he wouldn’t necessarily compare his relationship with his brothers with the military brotherhood he had to display onscreen.

“Funnily, this environment I was stepping into was way more masculine than I was used to. The cast [was and are] still all super close. It was a different level of razzing and shit-talking. We spent 15 hours a day together in the blazing hot sun, doing push-ups and pull-ups. Those things bond people together.”

The actors didn’t actually go through a real boot camp, but they did have to complete all the obstacles and exercises in every scene. Oh didn’t really have any prep time in between being cast for the role and filming. He was cast on a Saturday evening, moved to New Orleans that Tuesday, and began filming the next day.

“We started in the most interesting way,” he recalls. “The process that you see on the show of us getting used to the boot camp, that’s my genuine experience. I was learning on the fly, just like the characters. The skills and the training were all happening as we went.”

When he looks back at the pilot, he feels he looks significantly younger than he does now, even though he looks the same. We start making jokes about Asian genetics, which he attributes to his Korean heritage. “I got that Asian Forever Seventeen look,” he jokes. “But there’s this cool experience of watching ourselves mature over the course of the series. I think that aids the lived reality of the process of it. ”

The series had three former and active-duty Marines as military advisors at all times during filming to assist with training and maintaining authenticity. Going through all this training gave Oh a greater appreciation for the Marines and recruits who have endured it.

“We did not actually have to sleep in barracks and poop next to another kid without a stall,” Oh says seriously. “I was 23 going through this, not 18. It really is a crucible. It made me respect the thought process and journey that all of them go through, mostly 18-year-old kids away from home for the first time. I felt homesick because I hadn’t really lived outside of Chicago before this show. I have a lot of respect for the military.”

He does acknowledge that the military system isn't perfect either. Although "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was eventually repealed in 2011, discrimination within the armed forces persists. The show does a great job highlighting many LGBTQ+ recruits, like Cameron, who had to hide their sexuality to serve in the military.

"There were thousands of people who went through boot camp having to hide an integral part of themselves," says Oh. "They have had to hide the most personal, integral aspect of their identity and come through the other end a stronger person. [Author] Greg is a perfect example of it. He served six years in the military, which shaped him into the person he is today. He loves the Marines and his country like so many people do. Yet sometimes, [with this current administration] the country doesn't love them back the same way, and that shifts and changes. This series shows that people of all shapes, sizes, breeds, orientations, and backgrounds love their country just as much as your prototypical white American. That's one of the main messages of the show."

Ray has his own agenda when applying to the military. While his Korean immigrant mother is supportive and loving, his white decorated Marine veteran father puts the pressure on Ray to be at the top of his class, which causes him to experience panic attacks throughout his young life. Like many children of Asian immigrants, Ray is relatable, setting his own high and unattainable standards because of external pressures.

"There's a bar of excellence that is set, particularly by his parents, but also by himself, that is just impossible to achieve many times," Oh says. "It's a prison of his own creation. He's too afraid to disappoint anyone."

Because of that, Ray places a lot of those feelings onto Cam, focusing more on protecting him rather than confronting his own problems. It ends up suffocating their friendship. Oh compares it to the airplane rule regarding the oxygen masks: first put yours on before helping others.

"Ray is not giving himself oxygen," Oh says. "He's completely obsessed with both his own success and this idea that Cameron needs him. It's nice to be needed, even if it ends up infantilizing his best friend, lacking respect, and failing to recognize the capabilities that Cameron has and is growing in the series. That revelation makes him realize he can't always be perfect, and he hasn't always been the best to Cam, which shakes the ground beneath Ray. He realizes that there's a lot more strength in letting go than holding on. You can't control everything. That's scary. It takes a lot of bravery to let go and let your friend be who he's supposed to be, and also for yourself to be."

Oh does see a bit of himself in Ray, especially in situations that he cannot control. He reveals, “I have a bit of control tendencies in myself. It was a little tough sometimes in the series to look in the mirror [and reflect] and empathize with your character. I would say, ‘Listen, Liam, you can let go a little bit, too. Take a lesson from the character you’re playing and go with the flow a little bit more.’”

He did find a lot of inspiration from his younger brother when dealing with Ray’s panic disorders. As progressive as Oh’s family was, they were still from a generation that didn’t understand mental health and how anxiety and depression can manifest even in the happiest-looking of people. “My brother was the first one to be upfront and ask for help,” Oh reveals. “It took a lot of bravery to come forward and talk about it. A lot of the strength and resilience that Ray has was modeled after my brother and watching him navigate his own struggles. Ray is not quite there yet. He’s still a work in progress.”

Oh, who is of mixed Korean and Irish descent, found playing Ray a “gift,” not only for the deep storyline and the friendships but also allowing him to play a mixed Asian person like himself. This series marks the first time he’s ever played an explicitly Asian character. He found it particularly affirming to be able just to be himself and exist as himself on screen.  

In the series, Ray confronts racism within the military institution. There is one training officer who makes racial comments towards Ray, nicknaming him “Bento,” and targets all his verbal attacks on him. The officer later assaults Ray, who side-eyes him for a quick second, resulting in Ray ending up in the infirmary and the officer transferred to another unit. The moment was triggering as a reminder of the abuse Asians have had (and still) deal with in society.

Oh really had to process racism from the 1990s—he was born in 1999—which was different from what he’s experienced in his day-to-day life. He grew up in a pretty diverse area and then attended Northwestern University before moving to New York City. He admits he’s only dealt with microaggressions and subtle racism that sneaks up in conversation, only counting on one hand the truly outwardly racist remarks.

“It was actually a bit jarring and a new experience to be called a slur or explicitly attacked for your race, even in a fictional sense,” he shares. “It stirs up these feelings in your body that are unpleasant. I’ve luckily not had to deal with what Ray goes through in my lifetime.”

He does remember the “Bento” scene being brutal for him to film. It was shot at the end of their 15-hour day when the rest of the young cast completed their scenes for the day and left. It was just Oh and the two actors who played the drill instructors, screaming in his face for 30 minutes straight, while he had to stand there and take it.

"I felt like that was a weird metaphor for the way a lot of Asian people experience racism in America, which is this idea that you have to sit there, be silent, take it, and let it roll off your skin," Oh says, pausing at some moments. "Don't show them that it's affecting you like this. Don't let them win. That silence is the most painful thing and the most violent thing. Luckily, we no longer have to be silent, especially in the Asian American community. We are a lot more. We're more ready to fight than we used to be and fight back, push back, and stake out a claim as people who are fucking great. I'm going to try not to be so silent as people have been in the past."

He credits the support of the cast and crew for helping him shake off those racist scenes. After these scenes, when the director yells “cut,” Zach Roerig, the actor who plays the racist drill instructor, immediately hugs Oh. He recalls, "Zach is the nicest, coolest, and chillest dude ever. Even after getting fake-assaulted by him, he will reach down, grab your hand, pull you up, dust you up, and give you a big hug that helps [bring you back to reality]. Across the board, there was a really warm, cozy vibe on set, which is fun considering the show [is intense]."

Oh is incredibly easy to talk to, finding common ground in how impactful this show is and how far Asian American characters have come on television and film. There have been numerous television series with leads of Asian descent dominating pop culture, including XO Kitty, K-Pop Demon Hunters, The Summer I Turned Pretty, Never Have I Ever, and more. And, now, his portrayal of Ray in Netflix's Boots.

"I am grateful that I'm starting my career now compared to 10, 15 years ago," he says. "There are roles available to me that weren't available to the people who came before me. They had to fight for that. They had to fight for being the romantic lead of a romcom or an action movie. There is a long line of Asian actors and individuals who have been fighting for recognition and respect in this industry and the country at large. All I can do is pay that forward and keep expanding the idea of what we can be, not limiting ourselves. The world is telling us we can be one thing; we have to refuse that steadfastly."

With the series ending the way it did, Oh hopes to continue telling Ray’s story with another season. He is honored to play a mixed character who is truly “exceptional.” He loves that the character isn’t a basic sidekick, the comic relief, or even the nerdy kid with no backstory, but a person who contains multitudes.

“The coolest thing about Ray is that everything he does, he thinks he’s exceptional,” he says. “He has panic attacks when he doesn’t meet the level that he’s striving for, but ultimately wants to be the best and knows he can be the best because of where he comes from—both his mother and father. There’s the mixed-race dilemma where you feel you have to choose one or the other, which is a valid storyline and something very real that has been portrayed in the media. That is something that people try to force on Ray, but it’s not something that he buys into, actually. I was really gratified that he doesn’t see an issue with the fact that he comes from these two cultures. I think he and I feel like our world is just bigger because of that. ‘I got more seasoning,’ as they say. That ties into the whole experience of playing Ray, which helped me find my strength both culturally and personally. It felt good to represent the exceptional side of our identity as someone who’s aspirational yet still very flawed.”

I ask him if he's ready for the audience's reaction to the show. He shyly smiles. "I'm just excited for people to see it, honestly. I'm ready to share it with the world. It's been a long gestating process. I'm just excited [because] I really believe in the story and the power and message of it."

-

Boots is now streaming everywhere on Netflix.