Asian American actress Arden Cho discusses the authentic representation of identity in her new Netflix series, fighting for equity in Hollywood, and how saying no can be empowering
Before Arden Cho became an actress, she had her sights set on another career. “When I was younger, I definitely imagined myself as a lawyer. I even studied pre‑law,” she tells Tatler Singapore over video call, a few weeks before coming to town this July on a press tour for her recently released Netflix series Partner Track and for this photo shoot. “I probably would have made my parents so proud, as with any typical Asian American family.”
Well, Cho is now making her Korean American parents proud in other ways, including realising her dream as a lawyer—albeit a fictional one—in the 10‑episode contemporary legal drama, which premiered in late August. The series is based on Chinese American novelist and lawyer Helen Wan’s 2013 book of the same name.
While Cho’s body of work includes popular TV shows such as Teen Wolf and Chicago Med, the drama marks her first as a series lead, portraying protagonist Ingrid Yun. “I remember my first day on set,” the 37‑year‑old recalls. “I sent my mum a picture of Ingrid’s Harvard diploma and I was like, ‘Look, mum, I graduated law school. Are you proud?’ She texted me back: ‘Yes, I’m so proud.’ And it felt like she was genuinely proud, even though it was a fake diploma.”
Cho describes the character as one who is “smart, incredibly resilient, determined and sophisticated”. The series follows the young lawyer as she wrestles through male power structures and old‑boy corporate culture in order to become the first Asian American junior partner at an elite white‑shoe New York City law firm. The drama is “full of fun and romance”, but it also conveys the added pressures in the workplace for women and those from under‑represented backgrounds.
Netflix tapped Asian American writer and director Georgia Lee (best known for her work on the Amazon Prime series The Expanse) as well as Emmy‑winning writer and executive producer Sarah Goldfinger (who worked on Netflix’s Trinkets)as co‑showrunners, while Julie Anne Robinson (the director behind several episodes of Netflix’s global hit Bridgerton) directed the first two episodes. “There was really great energy on set, and I felt really safe and nurtured,” says Cho on working with these power women. “It was a beautiful journey of chaos and all the women involved just brought their best to it.”
Read more: 5 Things to Know About Arden Cho, Star of the New Netflix Series ‘Partner Track’
While she is careful not to divulge any spoilers, Cho hopes that the series would help spotlight the subtle difficulties—whether it is sexism or racism—that Asian American women often encounter. “Sometimes, it’s the subtleties that are really tough,” she notes, having worked closely with Lee to portray these nuances on screen. “They can be hard to describe in words, but hopefully, when the audience catches all these little moments, they register them.”
Would a show like Partner Track have been helpful to Cho as an Asian American growing up in the US? “Of course,” she says. “What I would have [given] as a teenager [for] a show where the lead was someone who looked like me. I grew up praying that I would wake up with blue eyes because I thought the only beautiful woman was Caucasian. I didn’t think that I could be beautiful. I wasn’t the standard of beauty.”
Born and raised in Texas, Cho attended high school in Minnesota. Throughout her adolescent years, she struggled with her self‑identity. “I was often the only Asian in the room, and my identity crisis was definitely a battle as I tried to figure out who I was,” she says. “Americans, for some reason, don’t see me as American even though I was born and raised in America. But when I’m in Asia, they tell me I’m white, American, and that I should go back to my country.”
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