Vlad Bunoan

Article (news)

Yong Chavez

ABS-CBN News North America

<div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/16rwvd8KhxE?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>Before playing a boxer who was about to have the biggest fight of his life, Jin Ha watched the early fights of Manny Pacquiao.For the Korean-American actor, young Pacquiao offered a roadmap into the mindset of someone who was chasing a future that feels just within reach. In a season shaped by ambition, family history, and the precarious promise of America, Ha shares that Pacquiao’s influence on his preparation hangs over the story in an unexpected way. “Sugar’s” new season introduces Raymond Lee and Ha as brothers whose bond anchors one of the show’s most emotionally charged storylines. While Danny is preparing for a career-defining bout, his older brother Ji vanished, drawing detective John Sugar into a mystery that quickly becomes entangled with family, sacrifice, and the lingering weight of immigrant dreams.It is Lee’s Ji who mentions Pacquiao in the show. “That was written into the script, but given the opportunity to improvise, I probably would have brought him up.” For Ha, stepping into the ring required a crash course in a sport he had never practiced.“I did not have any previous experience with boxing before this,” he said. “So I had about two months before production started to start training and to get as much of the basic fundamentals in my body as I could, then having to pretend to be even better than I could possibly imagine being.”<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1781852662355Jin Ha stars in _Sugar_ on Apple TV.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Jin Ha stars in &#x27;Sugar&#x27; on Apple TV. Apple TV</div>The preparation extended into nearly every corner of his daily routine.“Speaking of Manny Pacquiao, I was watching a lot of older famous fights because they’re almost all on YouTube,” Ha said. “The Pacquiao-Margarito fight, that famous one, was a huge influence on me. And then the interviews as well, because I wanted to hear from the boxers outside of the ring as well, how they speak about their training or their relationship to their body. Pacquiao and Inoue from Japan, those two boxers were really the ones that I modeled Danny’s work after.”Danny and Ji portray a version of Los Angeles that rarely appears in glossy immigrant success stories. Their lives carry financial strain, emotional scars, and hard-won resilience. That fraternal connection gains added texture through Lee’s performance as Ji, a charismatic figure whose disappearance drives a lot of the season’s suspense. Lee relished the opportunity to explore a side of himself that previous roles rarely allowed him to show.“I got to explore things that I haven’t done before, but I know those parts live in me,” he said. “Ji is kind of magnified, but during my party years I might have been just as reckless sometimes, definitely not as much with substances,” he added with a laugh. “In terms of partying, I was out there, and it was all in my old neighborhood too, in Koreatown, where I used to party, so I also felt a responsibility to sort of do justice to the party scene and what a party boy would look like in that setting. So, it’s fun getting to visit those parts of myself that I once embodied. The role also reconnected him with an earlier chapter of his life, one that sounds almost tailor-made for television “Weren’t you a promoter at some point?” Ha interjected.<div>“I was a club promoter at the ripe age of 21, right when I was ready to drink,” Lee, who also starred in the “Quantum Leap” reboot, recalled. “My then-girlfriend-now-wife, we were promoting at the same clubs in Hollywood together, and they were Asian parties.”<img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1781852535237Raymond Lee stars in Sugar season 2.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Raymond Lee stars in &#x27;Sugar&#x27; season 2. Apple TV</div>The image is striking: a future television lead working in Hollywood nightlife, navigating spaces where Asian Americans often created their own scenes because mainstream entertainment offered few invitations. Years later, Lee and Ha find themselves carrying a major storyline on a prestige drama, portraying brothers whose identities are woven into the narrative rather than appended to it. That distinction matters to both actors.One of “Sugar’s” most affecting threads explores immigration through intimate family history. The backstory of Danny and Ji’s family avoids broad cultural shorthand and focuses instead on the specificity of a family’s choices and survival.“I think it’s a really beautiful, deep portrayal of one family’s story, which may reflect a lot of people’s, but it’s specific enough, and it’s unique enough to these two characters that it feels real,” Ha said. “It doesn’t feel generic, it doesn’t feel like it’s just sort of a broad stroke of, like, here’s an idea of an immigrant family. It feels really authentic because it’s so specific and thought through in the writing, and then also the backstory that Raymond and I came up with to fill in our own background.”He credits the show’s writing with granting its characters complexity that extends beyond identity markers. “Because the show does such a good job of providing layers and depth to each of the characters, nobody really feels like a caricature of themselves, at least of the main cast,” Ha said. “I think it does a really good job of presenting the humanity of a lot of the different groups of people and demographics that are represented, especially in this season.” For Asian actors in Hollywood, that evolution carries its own significance. Both Lee and Ha arrived in an industry that often struggled to imagine Asian characters beyond narrow templates. In “Sugar,” Danny trains for a fight while Ji runs from ghosts of his own making. Together, they embody a familiar American tension: the distance between the dream and the work required to reach it. For Lee and Ha, that journey extends beyond their characters. It echoes through their careers, their communities, and a television landscape that has finally begun making room for stories with this level of specificity.

Before stepping into the ring for his role in the new season of ‘Sugar,’ Jin Ha studied Manny Pacquiao’s early fights as part of his preparation.

Before stepping into the ring for his role in the new season of ‘Sugar,’ Jin Ha studied Manny Pacquiao’s early fights as part of his preparation.

Here in Hollywood: Apple TV’s ‘Sugar’ actor was inspired by Manny Pacquiao

News

Entertainment

Lifestyle

Sports

Metro.Style

More

BINI

Sudoku

Word of the Day

Lotto

Horoscope

Movies & Series

Here in Hollywood: Apple TV’s ‘Sugar’ actor was inspired by Manny Pacquiao

Yong Chavez,

ABS-CBN News North America

Published June 19, 2026 05:19 PM PHT

Read More:

Sugar

Jin Ha

Raymond Lee

Yong Chavez

Apple TV

Here in Hollywood

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

ABS-CBN Newsletter

Your go-to source for the latest news, entertainment highlights, exclusive interviews, and updates on your favorite Kapamilya stars.

Sign Up

I have read and agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy.

ABS-CBN is the leading media and entertainment company in the Philippines, offering quality content across TV, radio, digital, and film. Committed to public service and promoting Filipino values, ABS-CBN continues to inspire and connect audiences worldwide.

Corporate

Investors

Governance

International Distribution

Corporate

Governance

Investors

International Distribution

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

AI Policy

Terms of Service

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

NPC Seal of Registration

Privacy Policy

Terms of Service

AI Policy

Advertise with Us

© 2026 ABS-CBN Corporation. All Rights Reserved.