In a new interview with the Guardian, Katie Leung said that her casting as Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films, and the resulting racism she received from toxic fans online, “probably made me less outgoing.”
“It was overwhelming from the beginning,” Leon said of the sudden rise to fame and subsequent bullying that came with his participation in the Harry Potter movies, starting with 2007’s Order of the Phoenix. “Being in the spotlight at an age where you’re already insecure about yourself was tough to say the least. I was having a lot of fun at the time. I thought, ‘This isn’t like school, and school wasn’t really fun.’ So it was an escape.” I’m still trying to understand how it affected me. ”
Leon said he wanted to know how Harry Potter fans were reacting to his casting, so he decided to look for feedback online. She plays Cho Chang, Harry’s first love. Cho joined Dumbledore’s Army in “The Order of the Phoenix,” and Leon reprized the role in 2009’s “The Half-Blood Prince” and 2010’s “Deathly Hallows: Part 1” and “Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”
“I don’t know if anything could have been done at the time to improve the situation or make it easier,” Leon said of the racist backlash. “At that age, you’re so curious. I remember being so curious about what people were saying about me that I would Google it myself. No one could stop me, because I was old enough to make my own decisions.”
“I think that stuck with me and affected me in a way of like, ‘Oh, well, I made that decision because of what people said about me.’ I think that may have made me less outgoing,” she continued about the racism she found online regarding her casting. “I was very aware of what was coming out of my mouth, and for a long time I was trying to compensate, maybe overcompensate.”
Leung appeared on the Chinese Chippy Girl podcast in 2021 and revealed that her publicist told her to deny that there was any racist backlash over her casting if she was asked about it in an interview.
“I remember them saying to me, ‘Hey, Katie, we’re not looking at those websites that everyone’s talking about. And if they ask you that, just say that’s not true. Tell them that’s not happening,'” Leon said at the time. “And I just nodded. Even though I saw it with my own eyes, I was like, ‘Okay, okay.’ I was like, ‘Okay, okay. Let’s just say everything is great.'”
Leon is currently gearing up to join another global series, playing the role of Lady Araminta Gunn in Netflix’s upcoming season 4 of Bridgerton. But her mindset is now very different.
“I’m still interested in the craft[of acting]and I want to do well, but when I’m done for the day I can stop it and go home and live a different life,” Leon told the Guardian. “For me, it’s more like a job than a final thing. That’s how I felt about being an actor when I was in my 20s.”
