How are aspects of reality woven into this sci-fi series?
David Goyer always said Foundation is about the fall of the patriarchy. In the series, the women are very aware of what positions or power they have, how people underestimate them because of their gender, and how to subvert it and use it as a force. This is a like a mirror to the power dynamics in our own society. Sometimes, one can empathise better through fiction than through facing our own reality.

As a South Korean-born, US-raised and Denmark-based actress, what are some of the challenges you have faced in the film industry?
Even though the Danish society is very proud of championing equality, racism and sexism do exist.

In my early 20s, when I started in the acting business, people in the industry told me [in auditions] that they would have to go with another actress even if I was great because her looks weren’t as difficult to explain to the audience. I was offered things that were very stereotypical, sexist and offensive. People treated me differently because of my ethnicity and didn’t give me the opportunities I thought I deserved.

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Did this experience inspire your work today?
I became a very political artist. I found some allies who are also artists of colour and were questioned about their “Danishness” because of their “Korean-ness” or their “Pakistani roots”. That’s how Danskdansk, our theatre group, came about in 2009. Danskdansk means “Danish, Danish”. It’s always been a part of our theatre’s DNA to offer a different perspective on the Danish identity.

For instance, I just finished directing a production called Rebound in May. The playwright, Saynab Farah Dahir, is a black Muslim woman who wrote a story about a young black woman in her late 20s who finds out that she has endometriosis, a condition that makes it difficult for women to have children biologically. After her boyfriend leaves her for this, she goes on Tinder to find a new man with whom she eventually has a child.

Some people thought of it as low culture. But I just loved [seeing how] the audience who are women of colour and women in their 20s and 30s felt seen, entertained and challenged.

What change would you like to see in the arts scene in the future?
On the global scale, Michelle Yeoh won the Oscars, [but I want to see] more Asians getting recognition and winning prestigious awards, because we can’t keep on celebrating it as an exception.

One of my favourite productions to watch recently has been [the Netflix show] Beef (2023). I love that the cast includes Korean American and American Japanese people, because it elevates the fact that there isn’t only one type of Asian. I hope that we can all keep pushing towards [embracing] multiple voices.

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