Katie Leung is opening up about the impact of the racist bullying she experienced as a teen following her casting in the Harry Potter franchise.
The actress, who stars in season four of Netflix’s Bridgerton, played Cho Chang in the last five films in the blockbuster fantasy franchise. However, after landing the role of Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and Cedric Diggory’s (Robert Pattinson) love interest in 2005’s Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, she recalled reading racist and hateful comments online.
“It was overwhelming from the get-go,” Leung recently told The Guardian of the sudden fame that came with starring in Harry Potter. “Being in the spotlight from that age, when you’re already insecure, was difficult, to say the least.” She added, “At the time, I was having a lot of fun. I thought, This is different from school, and I really did not enjoy school. So it was a way to escape. I’m still trying to figure it out, really, how it affected me.”
It makes sense that anyone in her spot would be jumping up and down to join the mega-hit franchise, but Leung admitted her excitement also led to curiosity as to what other people thought about her casting.
“I don’t know if anything could have been done back then to make things better or easier,” she shared. “At that age, you’re curious. I remember being very curious about what people were saying about me, and I was Googling myself. Nobody could have stopped me, because I was old enough to make up my own mind.”
Unfortunately, she found hateful comments from people online, which she didn’t know how to cope or deal with.
“I think it just sat with me, and it affected me in ways like, ‘Oh yeah, I made that decision because people were saying this about me.’ It probably made me less outgoing. I was very self-aware of what was coming out of my mouth,” Leung recalled, saying she felt like she hadn’t earned her success at the time because of how quickly it all happened at such a young age. “And for the longest time, I may have tried to make up for it, and overcompensate.”
Now, at 38 years old, she is better prepared and has learned how to drown out any noise surrounding her work as an actor.
“I still care about the craft [of acting], I still want to do well, but I can park it once I’m done for the day and go home and live this other life,” Leung explained. “It’s more like a job for me than the be-all and end-all, which is how I felt about acting when I was in my 20s.”
Leung also starred in 2007’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; 2009’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; 2010’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1; and 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.
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