This is your first feature film role. Was there anyone on the cast who you turned to, to show you the ropes,to get you acclimated to the process?
Oh, yes. I mean, everyone, this cast is amazing and I got to work with Sir Ben [Kingsley], I got to work with Tony Leung, Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, Simu, he’s like a real brother to me. I mean, everyone helped me and Destin, I feel really lucky to work with every one of them and yeah, it’s just like a dream. It’s just like a dream come true to me.
So what was the process by which you were cast? You, I assumed, auditioned and were part of a big casting call?
Yeah, I had no idea I was auditioning for a Marvel film. When I sent my self-tapes, I just saw an audition call in a group chat, and it said they needed a girl who can speak Chinese and English. So I thought, well, I can do that. So I sent my self-tapes and I got a call back, and when they flew me to do a screen test with Simu, that’s when I found out that I was auditioning for “Shang-Chi,” and I just got nervous.
But the screen test went really well. I mean, Simu showed up in the room in his slippers, in his training suit because at that moment, he has already started his training. So he gave me a brother vibe and everyone put me at ease and it’s just really fun and Simu will allow me to do whatever I want to do for my character, it went really well.
So you primarily act opposite Simu and Awkwafina, who are from Canada and America respectively. When you were performing with them, was there ever anything that was lost in translation or kind of a funny culture clash, especially when it came to comedy?
No, I mean working with them is so fun because we really vibe together and they’re really like brother and sister to me. I just got married, I met my husband [Yung Lee] on this film, he is one of the action designers and yes, we didn’t prepare anything.
But Simu, he took us to a Disneyland trip and Awkwafina, she booked a whole venue to celebrate for us. We’re just like a real family, and I remember Awkwafina asked my husband Yung, “How many people you want to invite,” and Yung said, well, three and Awkwafina said, “Okay, well I booked the whole thing.”
Everyone had fun, everyone sang at the top of their lungs and everyone lost their voices the other day. It’s just so much fun.
I understand that, I went to karaoke this past weekend and totally lost my voice singing too.So Xialing is a character who is always overlooked and pushed to the side, did you relate to that in any way when you were kind of creating her character and performing as her?
I mean, Xialing is really a complex character. She has the tough and cold exterior, but she also has the sensitive and vulnerable part deep down inside of her, and I mean, I just feel really strongly connection with her from the very beginning. I just feel she’s always here inside of me somewhere, and I think the world is going to love her. She’s a strong woman, she knows how to stand her ground and find her voice and use it.read more
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