Katie Leung (born 8 August 1987; pronounced[lœ:ŋ][1]) is a Scottish actress. She first gained fame for playing Cho Chang, Harry Potter's first love interest in the Harry Potter film series, and subsequently for her roles as Caitlyn Kiramman in the Netflix animated series Arcane and Ash in the Amazon Prime Video sci-fi series The Peripheral. Among British television audiences, Leung is known for her lead roles in the miniseries dramas One Child and Strangers and her supporting role in the police dramedy Annika.
Early life
Leung was born in Dundee to Peter Leung, a Hong Kong-born businessman and restaurateur who opened a company in Glasgow, and Kar Wai Li, a banker. Her parents divorced when she was three, and she continued living in Scotland with her father, stepmother, and siblings after her mother moved back to Hong Kong.[2][3] Her father's occupation led to Leung growing up in multiple towns, including Ayr, Hamilton, and Motherwell.[2] She attended secondary school at Hamilton College.[4][5]
Career
2004–2011: Harry Potter and other early roles
Leung's father saw an advertisement for a Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire casting call, and suggested she should try out. She waited four hours in line for a five-minute audition, despite feeling she had little likelihood of obtaining the role.[6] Two weeks later, she was called back for a workshop and was cast as Cho Chang, beating over 3,000 other girls for the part.[7] She has stated that her Scottish accent probably gave her an advantage in the casting,[8] as the casting director asked the girls who attended the audition, "Is there anyone here from Scotland?", to which only Leung raised her hand.[9]
In a 2011 interview, Leung recalled how her fondest memory of the Harry Potter experience was the first audition, because both her parents, who were separated at the time, went with her: "It was a really nice moment because my parents hadn't seen each other for a long, long time."[10] In an effort to heavily promote Goblet of Fire, Warner Bros. sent Leung to China in the film's second week of release, in an atypical move towards a market that was not used to frequent celebrity visits at the time.[11]
Leung reprised her role in the subsequent films in the series, most notably Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, in which her character had the distinction of being Harry Potter's first romance. As a result, Leung and co-star Daniel Radcliffe (Harry) shared an on-screen kiss that received much media coverage. While Leung was greeted warmly by most of the fandom, other fans created hate websites in response to her casting and posted many racist messages which were upsetting to her at the time.[12][13] In March 2021, Leung opened up further about the racist harassment she received from fans while filming Harry Potter; appearing on an episode of the Chinese Chippy Girl podcast, she revealed that she was told by her publicists to deny what was happening if any interviewer asked.[14]
Leung was named Scotland's most stylish female and the hottest Scotswoman in 2007 by The Scotsman.[15] In July 2007, she was cast by Gold Label Records, a subsidiary of EMI in Hong Kong, to be the female lead in the music video Love Coming Home(愛回家) by Leo Ku.[16]
In her first role outside of Harry Potter, Leung played Hsui Tai in the episode "Cat Among the Pigeons" of ITV1's Agatha Christie's Poirot, which premiered on 21 September 2008.[17]
2012–present: continued stage and screen roles
Following the end of Harry Potter, Leung was uncertain if she wanted to further pursue a career in acting but was inspired to continue after attending a drama course at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.[18] In December 2011, she was awarded the role of Jung Chang as her stage debut role in Chang's autobiographical play Wild Swans.[19] In comparing film to live performances, Leung said, "The obvious challenge is of course getting it right the first time, which is weirdly exciting for me."[20] The play made its world premiere in Cambridge, Massachusetts in February 2012, before returning to Motherwell and concluding with an April–May run at the Young Vic in London.[21][22]
In June 2012, it was confirmed that Leung would star in the Channel 4 four-part drama series Run as leading character Ying, an undocumented Chinese immigrant living in Brixton.[23] In 2013, Leung starred alongside Vera Chok in The World of Extreme Happiness, a play about the world of migrant workers in China's rapidly emerging modern era. In the production, staged at The Shed at the National Theatre, she played the role of Sunny, a female migrant worker.[24]
In April 2014, it was announced that Leung was to play the lead role of Mei, a first-born Chinese girl adopted by an American mother and British father, in the TV miniseries One Child. In the story, her character is asked to return to her birthplace, Guangzhou, when her birth mother desperately seeks her assistance in saving her son. The series, a co-production of BBC Drama and Sundance TV, filmed in May 2014 in London and Hong Kong, aired on Sundance TV in December 2014, and was broadcast on BBC Two in February 2016.[25] Leung received praise from Catherine Gee of The Daily Telegraph, who called her performance "beautifully understated".[26]
In January 2022, Leung's essay "Getting into Character" was published in the book East Side Voices: Essays Celebrating East & Southeast Asian Identity in Britain.[32] In her essay, Leung wrote about how her ethnicity impacted her experiences growing up and her acting career.[33]
In September 2024, Leung joined the regular cast of Bridgerton as Lady Araminta Gun for its forthcoming fourth season.[36][37][38][39]
Charity work
In 2007, Leung helped The Prince's Trust charity raise £100,000 by launching a children's art competition, donating one of her own paintings that was auctioned for £960.[40] In 2009, she donated a photo to Sightsavers International's I:Click 2009 competition, with benefits going to treat and prevent blindness for residents of impoverished countries.[41][42]
Leung delayed plans to go to art college and university to film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. During this period, Leung had said she was undecided about pursuing an acting career after Harry Potter and wished to attend university to study art and design.[7]
On 19 August 2018, Leung participated in the wedding of her Harry Potter castmate, Afshan Azad.[46]
On 1 January 2023, for New Year's Day, Leung revealed on Instagram that her son had been born the previous Halloween.[47] Her pregnancy was worked into the second series of Annika, which she filmed prior to giving birth.[48]
^LAU KIT WAI. Katie casts a spell. South China Morning Post. YOUNGPOST; Pg. 1. 11 December 2005.
^Dougan, Andy (4 November 2005). "'Motherwell girl Katie steals Harry Potter 's heart; MOVIE SPECIAL Katie Leung on her dream role . . . and the big secret she had to keep for two months". Evening Times (Glasgow). NEWS. p. 14.
^Synnot, Siobhan (21 June 2007). "KISS ME KATIE". Daily Record. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
