Emily In Paris star Ashley Park has said she grew “used to being the only Asian person on set” before filming 2023 movie Joy Ride.
The film follows four Asian American friends while they travel through China in search of one of their birth mothers.
Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar UK, she said: “To be creatively led and surrounded by other leads who were all Asian was just the best experience.
“That’s not to say on other projects people were difficult – it’s just that I’d been used to being the only Asian person on set and accommodating myself around that.
“Even growing up, it was always like, okay, what dimension of myself will make this group of people most comfortable?
“And so, I understand how hard I’ve worked to get to a point where people will see me as this or that kind of actress, rather than just ‘that Asian girl from Emily In Paris’.”
The first series of Netflix drama Emily In Paris followed Emily Cooper, played by Lily Collins, as she moved to the French capital and met her first friend, Mindy Chen, played by Park.
Speaking on how Collins helped her settle into the role, Park said: “It would just have been too much of a whirlwind to do on my own.
“It was my first big on-screen job, so it was amazing to have the guidance of an older sister in an environment that became way more high-stakes than we’d anticipated.”
She added: “Lily doesn’t believe me when I tell her this, but a week before the email came in asking me to audition, I’d just started to follow her on Instagram.
“I normally have a rule that I only follow people I know or have interacted with in some way, but Lily was one of the few I followed because I thought, I like this girl, I like her vibe – she seems really genuine and cool.”
Park also reflected on what it was like to film the series after suffering tonsillitis in December 2023, which she said in a January Instagram post had “spiralled into critical septic shock”.
She said: “Filming was physically taxing in a way I hadn’t previously endured. But I had to stop gaslighting myself and be like, I’m allowed to feel this way.
“I’ll do the best I can in these stilettos and this latex skirt, and I can be proud when I watch this season and think about the amount of passion and hard work I put in just to be there.”
The 33-year-old also said she enjoyed playing characters with a range of emotions and added that comedy and drama “aren’t on two sides of the fence, they’re on exactly the same line”.
The actress said her character has “become more of a woman” since the series began in 2020, and added that she was “owning her power a little better, rather than dressing for attention”.
Speaking about her future, Park said she wants to pursue roles which show her in a new light.
She added: “I want opportunities to surprise myself and other people – ones that make them think, ‘Oh, I’d never have seen her as that’.”
Part one of Emily In Paris season four will be released to Netflix on August 15, followed by part two on September 12.
