Katie Leung Shares Her Experience with Racial Bullying as a Harry Potter Star
More than two decades after her debut at Hogwarts, Katie Leung is revealing the emotional challenges she faced due to racist bullying from fans of the Harry Potter franchise.
Leung, who portrayed Cho Chang, shared that she struggled to cope with the adverse effects of negative attention during her early career. “I didn’t,” she admitted, acknowledging her envy of younger actors who seem to navigate the industry with less unchecked racism.
Reflecting on her experiences, Leung told The Guardian, “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.’” She noted that the bullying likely made her less outgoing and overly self-conscious about her words.
Leung elaborated on her efforts to “overcompensate” for the success of the Harry Potter films, stating, “I think I was so afraid of meeting these expectations that I gave up, or didn’t give myself the chance, after it, to try and continue acting.”
Although she later enjoyed roles in projects set in China and North Korea, Leung found the casting to be at times overly limiting due to its racial specificity.
Rupert Grint, Daniel Radcliffe and Katie Leung in ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’ (2007) (Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection)
She expressed gratitude for being considered for roles, yet felt constrained by a lack of opportunities. “It’s one of these things where just because there weren’t many roles out there, I was incredibly grateful to be considered,” she said, adding, “A large part of that was me, again, giving myself a hard time, thinking I wasn’t deserving of anything.”
Leung also recounted how her peers in drama school would compare her to Lucy Liu, remarking, although she admires Liu, she found it limiting. “I was kind of restricted by my race, and I guess Lucy Liu was the only other Asian actor that was, at the time, on the big screen,” she explained.
Today, Leung reflects on the progress made in Hollywood and expresses envy for her successors, who now have greater representation. “I know it would have done me good,” she remarked.
Leung is set to debut as Lady Araminta Gun in Season 4 of Bridgerton, with Part 1 premiering on January 29 and Part 2 on February 26.
