Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Star Christina Chong Talks About Her Heartbreaking Childhood Adventure With Laan Nunien-Singh

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode “Memento Mori.”]

Christina Chong understood immediately. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Character, La’an Noonien-Singh. It was a heartbreaking realization.

Born to an English mother and Chinese father, the actor was teased in his youth for his nationality. Basically, it was the gender that made it an easy target for the venom emitted, he explains. The Hollywood reporter.

La’an, the Enterprise’s new head of security, had similar battles in his youth as a descendant of Augment’s tyrant Khan Nunien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán). He is tortured and ridiculed as an adult struggling to accept himself and establish personal relationships. Bottom line: It has some serious walls.

But in Thursday’s episode of “Memento Mori,” Laani begins to soften as several difficult layers unfold before facing her greatest fear, possibly the most intense and emotional chapter of the new Paramount+ series.

in your chat THRChong considered turning pain into a strength and using all those emotions to better capture Laan’s struggles, while also developing a new appreciation for the lessons. ᲕThe way of the stars.

We finally realize how deep and complex Laani really is. Amidst the feeling of being left out of Gorn’s hair-raising survival story, can you talk about her character composition development?

Whatever I called, they judged who you are and your name. Although my mother is English, my father is Chinese. And I don’t necessarily look English and I don’t necessarily look Chinese, but my name is Chong. And throughout my childhood it led to bullying and racism. The entire process of judging the stigma attached to the name and who you are can be easily translated and personalized.

What a horrible thing to contact Laan for such a horrible reason.

I had such a deep sense of growing shame. I remember going to school and if my mom said, “Your dad is taking you tonight,” I would be scared because I thought, “If my dad leaves, everyone will remember that I’m Chinese and the next day bullying will be even worse. worse.” .” I felt this shame and that’s why I never wanted to be seen next to my father. I remember this one time when I was walking to the car in the square and people looked me in the eyes in front of my father.

It wasn’t until I was about 14 years old and I went to the School of Performing Arts, where everyone had different backgrounds, that I felt accepted as I was. They all had talent and they all wanted the same thing. And this parallels the crew’s adventure. Laani arrives at the company and they accept him for who he is. It was an amazing trip, as ᲕThe way of the stars It allowed me to use my experience and put it into it. In terms of time, everything clicked.

In addition to the deep emotional connection, you immediately noticed the strong and classic ᲕThe way of the stars The strands of your DNA through Khan and Gorn?

I did a lot of research. There was a two week quarantine period where I just got back the original series s Discovery. I really didn’t know anything when I got that part. Obviously I took the job because it was a big franchise and when they told me about Khan, I was the same. “Wow, that’s an amazing character arc!” And it’s crazy to hear about him for so long in so little time, especially in the fourth episode. You will get the full story of what you experienced and understand why you are so protected.

In addition to all these layers, it seems to me that he is uncomfortable with the serious crime he survived because of the Gorn massacre, which makes him even more closed to any personal connection. I’m in the right way?

A nail hit you on the head. These are the fibers of crime, but they also take their personal toll. The Enterprise team is your new family. To some extent, he took on the role of head of security to protect his new family. I think the reason he holds back is because of him, if you love someone then kill them. So it’s better to be safe, keep that distance. But then, when he encounters the greatest fear, his walls come down. And I think he’s really starting to realize that he has to take those risks if he really wants to live. You need to start opening up, connecting, and letting people in. He still has a long way to go and this is his main journey throughout the season.

Going back for a minute, it was an intense fight between Laan and Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romney) in the third episode. Tell me about the training for that time.

A lot of rehearsals were held because we didn’t fight during the filming of the episode. It was later filmed as a collection day, so we had plenty of time to rehearse. But funny, every time we walked into the rehearsal room, everything changed. That was the fight you learned last week, now it is. This happened about five or six times because it still works well, as a set and different ideas. We did a lot of things ourselves, but I must say that the merit is doubling our tricks. We’ve done a lot, but it’s dangerous to shoot big and land, everything.

Finally, I would love to know what this program means to you. In interviews with my previous actors, they told me that connections and friendships were instantly strengthened. Exactly for you too?

I had no expectations of coming to this show because I had no real knowledge of how ᲕThe way of the stars I loved it because if you don’t look, you won’t understand. For me, when I walked in, it was such a big gift that I slowly unwrapped it. The actor is incredible. We all have something unique. I love that we all have different personalities that, for some reason, sound weird on stage and in the office. But the biggest discovery for me, on a personal level, was the message that strange new worlds Keep spreading hope, diversity and inclusion.

The interview is edited for length and clarity.

new episodes Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Thursday’s broadcast on Paramount+.