“I want to show girls, young Asian-American girls, that you can be literally what you don’t see there and you can still do it,” she says. “You have to open the door for the next generation.”

As for The Farewell, Awkwafina, 31, says she “never thought a script like this could ever exist: one that was written by an Asian-American woman and directed by an Asian-American woman. I’d just never seen it.”

The film follows her character Billi, who leaves New York to visit her dying grandmother in Changchun, China. But Billi’s family has no intention of revealing to their matriarch the grim prognosis, and attributes the reunion to a last-minute wedding, spurring debates over morality and cultural identity.

“I think that any ‘dash American’ in this country feels always like one foot in the door, one foot outside the door,” says Awkwafina, who was born in the New York borough of Queens to a Korean mother and Chinese-American father. “You never feel like you belong to one or the other.”

The film’s portrayal of warring identities resonated with Awkwafina, who paraphrased journalist Jay Caspian Kang, saying: “The only thing that ties Asian-Americans together, because it’s such a broad category, is discrimination.”

“Everyone feels that,” she said. “Along with that, it’s the feeling of being an outsider.”

But as a staunch advocate of thoughtful Asian-American portrayals in media, Awkwafina refuses to encourage stereotypes, and says they are slowly becoming a thing of the past.

“I’m seeing scripts that have no descriptors of race, for small parts, for leads, for anything, or even sex, which is awesome,” she says. “I think the industry is moving toward a good spot where Asian people are seen now as people that can do other things.”

“I think when you first start out and you’re an artist, you want to be just known as an artist. You don’t want to have to be pigeonholed,” Awkwafina says. “And I think that that’s a real desire, but it’s not realistic when it comes to how you’re viewed by younger generations, by kids.”

That brought her a memorable moment in her hometown, which is gratifying. Despite her work in Hollywood, Awkwafina remains a tried and true New Yorker.

“I 100 per cent will die in New York,” she declares. “But I feel like I should leave before I turn into that 85-year-old woman that’s talking about how much it’s changed. … I know I’m gonna be that woman, just let me get out for a little bit.”

As for where Awkwafina hopes to say her own farewell?

“I think I’d want to die just right on Madison Avenue,” she laughed.