Partner Track’s Arden Cho Has Moved On From Teen Wolf But Is Still In The Mood For Action Roles: “I Would Love To Be In The Marvel Universe”

Arden Cho has gone rogue.

The Korean-American actress, best known for her role as the katana-swinging Kira Yukimura in the supernatural series Teen Wolf, is supposed to be back in the US after her vacation, and gear up for the Aug 26 launch of her new show, the Netflix legal drama Partner Track. (More on that later.)

Instead, Cho decided to extend her hiatus — which began two months ago in Australia — by spending a few more days in Singapore.

Cho, 37, is no stranger to the Little Red Dot: she was here a few years ago for the youth-centric Shine Festival. But this time, she has more wriggling room in her itinerary to hang with friends and go sightseeing. (She also managed to squeeze in some time for Sunday church service.)

“Going rogue turned out to be one of the best things, because I’m having a really amazing time in Singapore, meeting some great people and having a lot of fun,” she tells 8days.sg over coffee at Merci Marcel on Club Street one Thursday morning. “I ate so much food last night,” she raves. “I tried three different Hainanese chicken rice — I love chicken rice!”

But it isn’t all pleasure and no business: Cho is also doing her part to spread the gospel of Partner Track. It’s nerve-wracking waiting for the show to drop, she admits. “I have dreams about the premiere, and nobody shows up. It’s scary, right?”

It is, considering that Partner Track — based on Helen Wan’s book of the same name — marks Cho’s first time as a series lead.

In the 10-part show, she plays Ingrid Yun, an associate in a New York law firm, is vying for a coveted partner position. But complicating her corporate ascension are her messy love life and sense of morality: how much is she willing to sacrifice to achieve her goals? Decisions, decisions.

Is having her own show the equivalent of a lawyer making partner? Probably. Then again so is starring in her own action film or running her own production company. Whatever that might be, Cho says, “I feel that this is just the beginning for me.”

Here are a few things Cho shared with us about Partner Track…

1. In the novel, Cho’s character, Ingrid, was originally written as Chinese-American.

“When I first heard about the project, I thought I was not right because I’m not Chinese-American,” Cho says. Then she got hold of the pilot, loved the script, and started reading the book. And that got her thinking: “Wait, this is not just a Chinese-American story — this is an Asian-American story. This is a woman’s story. This is a minority’s story. This is so many of our stories.” After some back-and-forths with the powers that be, they decided to make Ingrid Korean-American while keeping the essence of her character in the source material intact. She says, “It would just be more relatable and authentic to me and my journey, allowing me, as an actor, to be a bit more comfortable and free.”   

2. She’s now a role model, really?

Believe it or not, it didn’t dawn on Cho that she was the series lead months after filming had wrapped. “We were doing ADR [Addition Dialogue Recording] and I watched the first playback of the opening sequence where Ingrid is walking down the streets of Manhattan, stomping her way to work in her pink power suit,” she recalls. “As I was doing the voiceover, I started crying because I was like, ‘Oh my gosh! This show is about me!’ Young Asian-American girls are going to watch the show and say, ‘I can be the main character in my life, in this world. That can be powerful — I can be smart, I can be successful.” And no, she didn’t get to keep the pink suit. “Bummer”, she quips.

3. One of her favourite scenes was almost never shot — the costume-test montage in Episode 1 where Ingrid chooses a dress for a posh event.

“Normally, for a scene like that, we might need a couple of hours to shoot, but ours only had less than 15 minutes,” says Cho. The montage might be a rom-com cliché but how often do we an Asian-American woman in it? Cho fought hard to keep the sequence which would’ve been dropped due to the tight schedule. “So the costume designer Rebecca [Hofherr] and I were literally behind one wall changing dresses as fast we could,” she says. How fast? About 20 seconds per outfit, by her account. “I think it’s really special and it means something in the show,” she says. “It shows you the glamour of this New York high-life. I don’t even think I know many girls who’ve experienced that. I feel like that’s the dreamy part of the show, and we need that!”

4. It’s raining men!

Another dreamy part of the show is Ingrid being wooed by two men. “Maybe three,” Cho coos. “All the love and attention she’s getting is definitely nerve-wracking and overwhelming. I love that Ingrid is choosing when and what she wanted. I think that’s very powerful. Women don’t always get to choose. And we don’t see it happen often. We see in the media men choosing multiple partners, men going after what they want, but we rarely see women doing that. I feel like this whole show is really about Ingrid choosing herself. I don’t really think it’s about who she chooses or who she's dating. And it’s sort of reflective of just how life is, right? I think a lot of young people just date and think that’s gonna be the answer. But through that journey, they find out, “Oh wait, let me choose me. Let me figure out who I am and what I want.”

5. She isn’t done with kicking ass.  

Having sat out on the Teen Wolf movie (over pay inequities), does Cho miss doing action? “But I won’t lie — I love being able to be on a set and not have to be doing stunts every day,” she says. “As much as I love stunts, it’s really nice to focus on the craft of acting, telling stories, and being connected.” That said, she’s still game for action. “I still wanna do a superhero movie, I still wanna be badass. I just saw The Gray Man, and I was, like, I want to be the Gray Girl!” Why stop there? “I would love to be in the Marvel universe,” she says. “I’m going to be raising my hand saying, Me next! Seriously, please! That’s always going to be on the bucket list: to play an action hero." Kevin Feige, are you reading this?

6. Let’s talk about Margaret Cho and John Cho… again.

When 8 DAYS first spoke to Cho back in 2014, we asked her if she’s related to comedian Margaret Cho and Searching actor John Cho. (No, she isn’t). “I get asked that a lot and it’s hilarious,” she said then. “I know John but I’ve never met Margaret.” Flash forward to the present and “I still have never met Margaret!” says Cho, with a laugh. “But we’re Instagram friends. And, of course, I think she’s great, and I hope she is happy with the progress [made in Asian-American representation in showbiz]. I feel like, man, Margaret, John, these guys paving the way for decades and decades. And here I am — I’m also paving the way.” They aren't related by blood but they all share a common goal. Like she said in 2014, "I'm sure we're related in some way."

Partner Track is now on Netflix.

Photos: Vanessa Clifton/Netflix, TPG News/Click Photos