Olivia Liang on Kung Fu and Asian American Representation

Picture Supply: Shane McCauley

Olivia Liang had by no means dreamed of securing a lead function. In reality, she entered the trade anticipating to play the principle character’s stereotypical quirky best friend, and he or she would have been “very happy” to take action. However after portraying recurring character Alyssa Chang on Legacies, all of that modified because the 28-year-old landed the function of heroine Nicky Shen on The CW’s Kung Fu, a gender-swapped reimagining of the ’70s collection and the first-ever community drama with a predominantly Asian American forged. After an amazing preliminary response, the present was shortly renewed for a second season solely 4 episodes into its first.

“Is that this my dream function? Sure and no,” she advised POPSUGAR. “Sure, as a result of, now that I am in it, it is so wonderful and I simply by no means thought it was potential. However no, as a result of I simply by no means pictured a lead function for myself as a result of I simply did not dream that it was potential. Moving into this character and with the ability to infuse my tradition and inform a enjoyable story, but additionally an impactful one, is a dream come true.”

I think about many different Asian People may need felt the identical means I did after I heard there was a kung fu collection within the works. I could not assist however elevate my eyebrows, anticipating one more undertaking perpetuating Asian stereotypes. And Liang will get that. She admittedly used to have an aversion to martial arts, a lot in order that previous to Kung Fu, driving her sister to taekwondo classes was probably the most coaching she’d finished associated to the artwork. (She now does 65 % of the stunts on the present.) “We might come on display, with no character identify, no backstory, nothing,” Liang stated, chatting with the East Asian trope we regularly see on display. “We might simply go, ‘Hello-yah,’ throw a few kicks and punches, after which bounce. We did not know something about that individual.”

Picture Supply: The CW

However with Kung Fu, the forged and crew intention to reclaim and honor “this actually wealthy a part of Asian tradition.” “We’re in a position to infuse numerous emotion and purpose behind the fights that we do,” Liang defined. “The aversion was really by no means to martial arts; it was to the truth that we have been nothing however that. However with our present, while you’re rooting for these characters of their private lives, you are going to root for them after they’re kicking ass.”

Past the badass preventing scenes, Kung Fu tells the nuanced tales of Asian People by its majority Asian forged. “Sure, there’s a med scholar. Sure, Nicky was going to go to regulation faculty, and naturally, Althea (Shannon Dang) is a tech genius, however we’re not simply that anymore. We’re attending to see these characters dwell full lives,” Liang stated. Like Nicky, a younger Chinese language American lady who drops out of regulation faculty to be taught martial arts at an remoted Chinese language monastery and later returns residence to San Francisco to guard her more and more endangered group, Liang’s path concerned going in opposition to her mom’s needs and embarking on a journey of self-discovery, although maybe on a much less dramatic scale. “I did have a strict mother rising up, and I used to be the golden youngster of the household,” she stated. “Discovering my very own path was a protracted and winding highway, however finally very rewarding.”

Enjoying Nicky has really impressed Liang to make comparable tough selections in her private life. “It is arduous for me as Olivia to make use of my voice typically, however actually after enjoying Nicky, I’ve felt an internal transformation inside myself,” she stated. “Particularly within the yr that we, as an Asian group, have had, particularly after the Atlanta taking pictures and our present premiering the week after that, it hit actually completely different to play an Asian lady who was preventing again and taking over area. It form of provides me chills that I get to be one of many representatives of what it may seem like to be that form of Asian lady who’s unapologetic.”

Picture Supply: Shane McCauley

Whereas Liang actually feels the burden of illustration, she is honored to carry that duty and takes it extraordinarily significantly, particularly alongside her Asian forged members (apart from their “token white man” Gavin Stenhouse) who “simply get it.” She defined, “Whenever you’re round individuals who have the same expertise as you, there’s a lot much less explaining you have to do. There’s simply that shared expertise the place we need not qualify or broaden on something, and couple that with having to work within the bubble due to the pandemic and actually solely having one another, we turned shut so shortly. They are surely my household.”

Although she is at present immersed within the Kung Fu world and genuinely desires to work with the forged “for the remainder of [her] life,” she does dream of her subsequent gig: an excellent previous rom-com. “When I’ve a protracted day at work and I need to go residence and really feel good, I throw on one in all my favourite rom-coms, so I’d like to be in folks’s houses like that. In a spot of pleasure and luxury and laughter.”