Welcome to “Meet Cute,” where Tudum tells you everything you need to know about your newest Netflix crush. This time around, we’re chatting with Love Hard star Jimmy O. Yang about starring in a Christmas rom-com and online dating.

Three years after playing larger-than-life Bernard Tai in Crazy Rich Asians, Yang is finally taking the lead in Love Hard, one of Netflix’s newest holiday rom-coms. The movie stars Yang as Josh, a misfit who uses his childhood friend’s photos on a dating app to begin a long-distance relationship with Natalie (Nina Dobrev). He thinks catfishing is harmless, until Natalie shows up unannounced at his family home for Christmas. She wants to leave immediately, but then she realizes Tag (Darren Barnet), the hot guy from the photos, actually lives in town. Natalie then strikes a deal with Josh: They’ll pretend to date to make Josh’s family happy, and he’ll help her court Tag. What could possibly go wrong?

To celebrate Love Hard, we asked Yang to fill out our Meet Cute dating profile and tell us what being a Netflix crush is all about. 

Name: Jimmy O. Yang Netflix projects: Love Hard and Space Force Instagram account: @funnyasiandude  DOB: June 11 Astrological Sign: Gemini Hometown: Hong Kong Favorite food: Korean barbecue or just barbecue in general Favorite Netflix show: Chef’s Table On a first date, I always… pick up the bill. My perfect date would be... probably getting a nice dinner, maybe even cooking together. And then either watch a movie if it’s a chill night, or I wouldn’t mind going to a bar arcade. I really don’t like fancy clubs where you have to wait in line.

My worst dating experience was… taking this girl to Dave & Buster’s. She just kept making me take selfies and Snapchats of her. It was the worst date, and I called it quits after that. I just said, “I got to go home.” And she posted on Instagram the next day, “It’s great when bae takes you to Dave & Buster,” which is so cringe. I was like, “What the fuck?”

My current Netflix crush is… HoYeon Jung from Squid Game. I was watching with my girlfriend, and I was like, “This girl’s got to be a model, right?” She’s just too beautiful. And it was incredible finding out that it was her first time acting.

Do you believe in soulmates?

I don’t know if there’s one person for us in the world. A lot of it is right place, right time. Sure, there’s some cosmic connections and fate, but I don’t believe that there’s one soulmate in the world for you. We’re all lucky if we do find one soulmate in our lifetime.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

Yes, and then it needs to be extrapolated and developed. I don’t think people should get married after first sight. In hindsight, it’s easy to say, “Oh man, the first time I saw your mom, it was like, boom, I knew I was going to marry this woman.” It’s easy to say because you’re married to her now, but how many other women could you have said that about that didn’t work out?

But do you believe in love at first sight for pets?

Absolutely. I went to pick Toffee [Yang’s dog] out of a litter of three pugs with my mother. They’re all babies. I held up the two other siblings, and they were all scared and shaky — which they should be as [puppies] — but when we held up Toffee, she just climbed up on us and started licking us. She was so cute. I was like, “This has got to be it.” And she’s still very energetic and excited every time she sees us.

How has being a Netflix crush changed your life?

I guess we’ll see when Love Hard comes out. But I barely go outside, so I wouldn’t know.

In Love Hard, your character Josh says he didn’t get any responses to his original dating app profile. Have you ever used a dating app?

I did. I was on Tinder up until three or four years ago. When I was on Silicon Valley, I tried it. And I tried a couple of dating apps. It was fine. The thing with dating apps now is people don’t put too much stock into a date. It just felt like I can go back on the app and swipe 50 more times, and she can go back on the app and swipe 50 more times, so it’s just not that personal anymore. It’s very much like a crapshoot. If you’re just about hooking up? Sure. For me, I try to still meet people in real life, and find those things that are more like fate. 

Did you ever wish you could be a different person on dating apps?

I think everybody has thought about spicing up their profile. It doesn’t have to be a full catfish situation, just changing a job title or fluffing it. Everybody fluffs a little. But, obviously, a catfish is a very extreme case. To approach Josh’s character, I went back and watched a lot of Catfish, and none of these people mean any harm. They don’t set out for harm; they set out for love and then it just snowballs into something out of control. I empathize with those people. They’re probably just very insecure, maybe had a rough childhood and didn’t get compliments growing up or just never got dates. I get where [they’re] coming from. I never really got a lot of dates — or any dates — in high school, so I get what would motivate someone to do that.

While Josh lies about his looks to date Natalie in Love Hard, she lies about her personality to get with Tag. Which do you think is worse?

Lying about your looks is more obvious, but it’s a quick thing where people just notice and then it’s over. Lying about personality is more of a long game, and that’s a little more harmful. Lying about your looks, people are just going to find out and that’s it, there’s no more. But lying about your personality, that’s pretty bad, but I guess all of us do a little bit of that. We put our best selves forward in the beginning, so it’s hard to say.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.