Raising Our Voices: A Conversation With 'The Cleaning Lady' Star Élodie Yung | THR Video - video Dailymotion

The Hollywood Reporter

Élodie Yung, star of FOX's 'The Cleaning Lady' spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how she infused her personal background into her on-screen character.

Transcript

00:00 I want to relate to the humanity of our characters.

00:02 I just love when I'm like, "Oh, I can relate to her pain."

00:07 Or, "Oh my gosh, I relate to this joy."

00:10 I want that.

00:11 Hi, my name is Elodie Jung,

00:18 and I play Tony de la Rosa in The Cleaning Lady.

00:21 To me, Tony is, she's a survivor,

00:26 a mother who really does what she can to provide for her family.

00:32 Look, if I can make myself useful, I can protect us all.

00:36 Then what?

00:36 She's like you and me.

00:37 She is vulnerable and she's strong at the same time.

00:40 She's resilient.

00:42 She has to go through so much.

00:43 It's something that is really close to home for me.

00:47 My dad is Cambodian,

00:48 and his parents and his grandparents,

00:50 they all died during the genocide.

00:52 He is literally a survivor.

00:54 And I grew up knowing my parents have had to fight

00:57 and literally survive things.

00:59 From them, unconsciously, consciously,

01:02 they've passed on this, "Okay, let's have a good life.

01:04 Let's fight for a good life."

01:06 That's something that my mom taught me.

01:08 Enjoy life. Just go and enjoy, you know?

01:10 With the little things that they had, they were grateful

01:14 because they went through so much.

01:15 And it's because of you.

01:18 Yeah, it's because of us.

01:19 I have to stay grounded and I have to dig in.

01:23 And I do tap in those experiences that have been passed on,

01:27 in those qualities that I have seen around me,

01:31 that I have experienced myself.

01:33 Because she's human, I have to put myself into her shoes

01:37 and portray what she's going through and her feelings.

01:40 You didn't have to save me, Fi.

01:43 He was always gonna be your hero.

01:44 That's what he wanted to be for you.

01:46 I was supposed to save him.

01:48 I got this part, and then it was written

01:50 for a Filipino character.

01:51 And they're like, "We would love to embrace

01:54 some of your roots, your background."

01:56 And this is actually the first time that I've portrayed

02:00 someone with a Cambodian background.

02:01 And so I felt very proud and kind of surprised

02:05 that actually they wanted to embrace that.

02:07 I felt very happy, excited.

02:09 I called them, "Okay, let's change the name then

02:11 because we need to find a Cambodian name."

02:13 I gave them a list.

02:15 And then on top of this list is one of my good aunts.

02:18 Her name is Tony, and she's so proud.

02:20 Tony, whatever business you still have with these people,

02:22 it can't keep coming around our family.

02:24 My business with these people is almost done.

02:26 Her cultural background, her Buddhism, for example,

02:30 it's peppered throughout the show.

02:32 Little touches like that, the way we mourn our people.

02:36 You mourn in white, you don't mourn in black.

02:38 And it's subtle.

02:39 Whether it's the Cambodian community

02:41 or the Filipina community, people are grateful

02:44 and thankful that finally we have this character,

02:48 the leader of a network, a TV show,

02:50 who is of that descent, who has this background.

02:54 And what I love about our show,

02:56 and I wanna make sure we keep that,

02:59 is the relationship the audience has to this character.

03:03 They can relate to her,

03:04 a woman who's going through so much.

03:06 I think as storyteller, whether we are in a fictional thing

03:11 or a very grounded material, as an audience member

03:15 and as an actor, I just love when I'm like,

03:18 oh, I can relate to her struggle.

03:21 Yeah, people are very, very grateful for that.

03:23 And I am too.

03:24 (upbeat music)

03:27 (upbeat music)

03:30 you

Raising Our Voices: A Conversation With 'The Cleaning Lady' Star Élodie Yung | THR Video

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