With his pitch-perfect comedic timing, refreshing charisma, and boy-next-door good looks, Hayden Szeto delivers the kind of breakout performance in Kelly Fremon Craig’s The Edge of Seventeen that will cause viewers to wonder why he’s only recently been discovered. Szeto plays Erwin, the sweet and charming love interest to a tortured teenager named Nadine (Hailee Steinfeld) who is learning how to navigate family drama and the perils of high school. The script is a tornado of emotion, carefully crafted into a film that has the makings of an instant teen classic. While some of the movie’s angst-ridden archetypes feel obligatory (Steinfeld’s character is derivative of Molly Ringwald circa Sixteen Candles), Szeto offsets high-school clichés and shatters Asian stereotypes by playing Erwin, as he says, “like a normal dude.”

Rather than amp up the nerdy, academic, and socially awkward traits typically assigned to Asian parts (again, see Sixteen Candles for its racist characterization of transfer student Long Duk Dong) Szeto instead infuses the role with the panache of a seasoned professional. His gravitas erases any preconceived notions audiences might have about Asian students. Szeto concedes that kids that resemble those stereotypes do exist; they're very real people who deserve to see themselves represented on TV. Even so, poking fun at their experience is a problem that promotes unnecessary negative tropes. “Those kids should never feel like a joke,” he says, which is why the 31-year-old Chinese-Canadian star-on-the-rise gives kudos to Craig for casting him in what he’s calling “a golden opportunity.”

“Erwin was quite the dream role because I was able to take what was expected and just wipe it off the table,” Szeto says. By casting him as a white girl’s love interest, Craig both mirrors the real world and ignites a spark of validation among not only Asian moviegoers, but also inter-racial couples. “These relationships should definitely be normalized because that’s what’s happening in the real world,” Szeto says. “We’re all going to be beige in 20 years.”

Szeto cites actors Tom Cruise, Tom Hardy, Christian Bale and Robin Williams as his inspirations, but one role model rises above them all: Bruce Lee. Szeto would even love to play the martial-arts icon in a biopic one day. The newcomer would be perfect for that part, should the opportunity arise. But in Hollywood—a place notorious for whitewashing diverse roles—nothing is certain. “I’m in an industry that caters to a white audience. There is no going around that,” says Szeto—a fact that’s true not just in Hollywood, but in the global film industry as well. “I think at a certain point it gets pretty ridiculous, replacing ethnic characters with Caucasian actors,” he says at the mention of Scarlett Johansson’s top billing in the forthcoming Ghost in the Shell. “It’s downright offensive.”

Speaking of offensive behavior: Szeto did have some heartening words about how the movie industry can effectively challenge the implications of being a person of color under a Trump presidency. “Certain members of our society feel emboldened to express their hatred now because of their misguided leader. More than ever we need diversity in film, because the media has such a big influence on people’s minds,” he says. “I think as long as we have talented artists of color joining the narrative, we can really unify the people.”

Catch Szeto in The Edge of Seventeen, in theaters Friday.