On Fox’s new drama, Pitch, Ginny Baker — played by Kylie Bunbury — makes history as the first woman pitcher in Major League Baseball. But Tim Jo, (The Neighbors) — who plays the idealistic, social-media-savvy assistant to Ginny’s agent (Ali Larter) — broke a little ground of his own.
“I didn’t know I was going to get a job this year. I’m an Asian dude,” Jo told Vulture recently at the Entertainment Weekly pre-Emmys party. “I know how tough it is to get a job. It’s almost impossible. It really is impossible. I might be one of the only Asian guys in this new television season.”
Jo, who is Korean-American, is even more excited to be on a show that’s diverse both in front of and behind the camera. “It’s unreal. I’ve never been a part of something that I can so vouch for proudly.” Dan Fogelman (The Neighbors) and Rick Singer created the show, which is directed by Paris Barclay, and has an equally diverse writers’ room and crew. “Our writing room has got every color, every shape, every size,” Jo said. “Our camera team, we’ve got an Asian dude and a girl. Our focus puller is a girl. I haven’t seen anything this diverse before.”
Jo also plays another underrepresented type onscreen — a non-smarmy agent’s assistant. “He’s more like Jonathan Lipnicki and Renée Zellweger combined, from Jerry Maguire,” he says. “That’s what I am.”
