Katie Leung says sudden fame as Cho Chang had lasting personal impact

Movieweb reports that Katie Leung told The Guardian becoming famous at 18 after playing Cho Chang was overwhelming and had lasting negative effects.

Leung said, "I don't think I did. It was overwhelming from the get-go. Being in the spotlight from that age, when you're already insecure, was difficult, to say the least." She added that acting initially felt like "a way to escape" from school, and that she found herself Googling what people said about her. The 38-year-old said online vitriol targeted her Chinese heritage and "probably made me less outgoing", making her "very self-aware of what was coming out of my mouth."

She told The Guardian she is "still trying to figure it out" and does not know "if anything could have been done back then to make things better or easier." Leung said success "happened by pure chance" and that, feeling lost and under pressure to meet expectations, she "gave up, or didn't give myself the chance, after it, to try and continue acting."

Key Topics

Culture, Katie Leung, Cho Chang, Harry Potter, Emma Watson