True Hollywood success didn’t happen for Randall Park until he was in his 40s. That’s when he broke out as Louis, the patriarch of the Huang family in the ABC sitcom“Fresh Off the Boat”and as Agent Jimmy Woo in Marvel’s“Ant-Man”movies and“WandaVision.”

Before that, there was a lot of struggle, including a stint working at Starbucks while being cast in small parts in television and film projects, including recurring roles on MTV’s “Nick Cannon Presents: Short Circuitz” and Fox’s “Mad TV.”

“Here I was on this TV show that was fairly popular, and people were coming into Starbucks and they’d see me behind the counter making their latte,” Randall told The Chronicle as he sat in a suite at the Fairmont Hotel in Nob Hill on Friday, July 28. “It was a lot of swallowing my pride during that time, but it was one of those times where I had to do whatever I had to do to survive.”

It was also around this time that Park was captivated by a graphic novel, “Shortcomings,” written by Sacramento native and UC Berkeley alumAdrian Tomine. The story’s protagonist, Ben Tanaka, a young movie theater manager in Berkeley struggling with relationships and in life, resonated with Park at the time.

Sixteen years later, Park is making his feature film directing debut with “Shortcomings,” adapted by Tomine.

The film, which takes place in Berkeley and New York, stars Justin H. Min (“After Yang”) as Ben,Sherry Cola(“Joy Ride”) as his best friend Alice and Ally Maki (“Wrecked”) as his long-suffering girlfriend Miko.

Park and his wife, actress Jae Suh Park, live with their daughter in the Los Angeles area. As actors, they are onstrike and have been picketingregularly; Park was able to come to San Francisco to do press as a director.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What was it about ‘Shortcomings’ that spoke to you?

A:I read the graphic novel back when it came out — it felt very authentic to my life at that time. In the characters, I saw a little bit of myself in each one, but also I saw a lot of my friends, and the world felt very real. I spent most of my late 20s, early 30s hanging out in diners, talking about relationships, and walking up and down the sidewalks with my friends. It just stuck with me over the years.

问:你都直接指向ing a feature all along, or did you direct this because that was the only way to get it made?

A:Directing was something that I had been doing in different ways for a long time. I had co-founded an Asian American theater company at UCLA (where he obtained a master’s degree in Asian American studies) and directed a lot of our plays. After that, I formed a theater company with my friends and directed stuff there and eventually made a lot of shorts and web stuff. Eventually, as my acting career progressed, I directed some TV, and it just felt like directing a feature was something that was in the cards for me.

Then I found out that there was a script of “Shortcomings” written by Adrian. They were meeting with directors and my immediate thought was, I have to throw my hat in the ring.

Q: Things have changed since the graphic novel was published, especially in terms of Asian representation in media. You open the movie with a parody of “Crazy Rich Asians.” How did you and Adrian set about updating the story?

A:Obviously, 2007 was a very different time. Aside from the great advances in representation, there have been technological advances. In the original book, there’s so much slamming down of telephones. Like, we just press a button on our phone now, so we found ways to modernize it in terms of incorporating social media and all the different things we do today.

That’s part of the reason why we chose the opening that we did, because we’re in a post-“Crazy Rich Asians” world, and what would be Ben’s attitude toward the success of a movie like that?

Q: What does your film want to say about modern manhood, especially that of younger men?

A:I think ultimately, our film is about change and it’s about whether or not one has to embrace change as the world changes around them. Here we have a character who is, as Miko calls him, pathologically resistant to change and very much holding on to this sense of who he is, his opinions, his identity. He refuses to let go and to evolve.

Meanwhile, his friends are evolving and changing and literally moving on. The question is, does he, in order to live a fulfilling existence, have to move along as well? I do think there’s a strong argument in it that you’ve got to change with the world a little bit and kind of grow with it if you want to be happy.

Q: You will turn 50 in March. How do you see your 50s?

A:I have this goal, this personal pact I’ve made for myself, that my 50s are going to be my best decade. On every level, not just career but health-wise and mentally. I’ve started laying the groundwork to be in a very good place into my 50s.

Professionally, I want to take more risks, and that definitely includes directing more movies. I’m at that age where I just don’t have time for this nonsense, you know? And that’s very freeing.

Reach G. Allen Johnson:ajohnson@sfchronicle.com