Katie Leung discovered her Harry Potter fame “overwhelming” and “troublesome”.
Katie Leung was overwhelmed by consideration
The 38-year-old actress – who performed Cho Chang within the wizarding film collection – does not assume she correctly handled the eye she acquired and even now continues to be attempting to work out how a lot of a long-term affect the scrutiny had on her and her life.
Requested how she handled sudden world fame, she instructed The Guardian newspaper: “I don’t assume I did. It was overwhelming from the get-go.
“Being within the highlight from that age, if you’re already insecure, was troublesome, to say the least.
“On the time, I used to be having lots of enjoyable. I assumed: that is totally different from college, and I actually didn’t take pleasure in college. So it was a method to escape. I’m nonetheless attempting to determine it out, actually, the way it affected me.
“I don’t know if something may have been completed again then to make issues higher or simpler.
“At that age, you’re curious. I keep in mind being very interested in what individuals had been saying about me, and I used to be Googling myself. No person may have stopped me, as a result of I used to be sufficiently old to make up my very own thoughts.”
Katie thinks she grew to become “much less outgoing” on account of the unkind feedback she acquired on-line on the time.
Requested how she coped, she stated: “I didn’t. I feel it simply sat with me, and it affected me in methods like, ‘Oh yeah, I made that call as a result of individuals had been saying this about me.’
“It in all probability made me much less outgoing. I used to be very self-aware of what was popping out of my mouth.”
The Bridgerton star initially “gave up” performing after Harry Potter ended as a result of she felt so “misplaced”.
She stated: “I keep in mind popping out of it and pondering, ‘Nothing’s going to beat it,’ as a result of it was so profitable.
“I keep in mind being misplaced, going, ‘What’s subsequent? Folks can have these excessive expectations of me topping it, and it’s by no means going to occur.’
“I feel I used to be so afraid of assembly these expectations that I gave up, or didn’t give myself the possibility, after it, to attempt to proceed performing.”
She started a level in pictures however finally realised she needed to behave and gained a spot to review drama on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the place she tried to distance herself from her Harry Potter background.
She admitted: “I attempted actually onerous to not point out it, even once we had been doing introductions initially of the 12 months, though all people knew. I didn’t need individuals to assume that was the explanation I received in.
“Not that it was, however I used to be actually onerous on myself. I used to be attempting to continuously show I used to be extra than simply the actor from Harry Potter.”
