Victoria Park - Kamilla Hwang on CW's The Flash stops by!

Victoria Park – Interview

[00:00:00] Melissa: This is spoiler country and I’m Alyssa searcher today on the show. I’m excited to welcome an actor from the hit show on the CW, the flash, Ms. Victoria Park. Welcome to the show.

Victoria Park: Hi, thank you for having me. I’m excited to be

Melissa: here. Yay. Thanks so much for being here. How are you doing

Victoria Park: today? I’m doing so great

Melissa: on great.

Are you are you on a day off right now or are you busy

filming?

Victoria Park: No, I am not filming currently. Yeah. So I have a day off, which is nice. And I’ve been doing a lot of interviews today, so. Okay,

Melissa: great. Yeah. Well, I’m so glad you’re here. I’d love to just get right into it. And I would love to know how did you get your start in acting and have you always wanted to be an actor?

Victoria Park: Yeah. I mean, I, I haven’t actually always wanted to be an actor. I feel like so many actors knew from when they were two years old, they wanted to be an actor. But for me, I guess I was a little bit of a late bloomer. I I’ve always loved movies and I’ve known that in college I [00:01:00] majored in cinematography and I wanted to be, you know, behind the camera directing or.

Or being a director of photography or something. And that’s actually why I moved to LA. And why I ended up in an acting class. Somebody told me, you know, if you want to be a good director, you have to learn how to work with actors. You got to know, you know, what they think and all these things. So I ended up in an acting class and got scouted there and I’m still with my reps.

To this day and have just been loving every part of the journey. Oh, that’s

Melissa: awesome. That’s really cool that you have the same representation from day one. That’s nice. It must feel more like family than business.

Victoria Park: Oh, definitely so much like family and I mean, loyalty is so important to me. And so I got really lucky that I got got stuck with good people from the beginning.

Melissa: So cool. So, along your journey you obviously. We, you know, we’re, we’re acting and doing parts here and there, but you know, now you’re on the flash, which is a huge show and you have such a great you know, influence on the show. You have a big character. What was it like joining a show that has such a huge [00:02:00] fandom and following, I mean, were you prepared for that massive fan response?

Oh

Victoria Park: man. I don’t think anything can prepare you for the fandom that is irreversible. And I mean, I mean that in the best way, they’ve. So great. But I was very like overwhelmed by the amount of time, love and support that came pouring out. And it was even intimidating, you know, before the fans got involved.

Even, you know, we filmed before the episodes come out. And so I was on my first day of set before anybody knew I was joining the show and it was very intimidating to walk onto that set to know. The show that it is. And you know, to know all of these great actors and everything that they were so welcoming to me just from day one, I mean, one of the first things that Carlos said to me was like, it’s everyone being nice and making sure you feel at home, I’m like, yeah, that’s great.

And you know, he didn’t have to do that. It was only supposed to be on the show for a couple of episodes, but Is to speak to the person that he is and the type of environment that they’ve created

[00:03:00] Melissa: on the flash. Awesome. Now, when you auditioned for the role, did you know who you were going to play or was it sort of like a secret you hear about these secret scripts when, when people audition?

Victoria Park: Yeah. For me, I didn’t actually really get a super. Secret script. My character isn’t in the comics. It wasn’t going to be a huge like plot point or anything. They introduced me as a possible love interest for Cisco. And so depending on, you know, I think if the writers like me or the fans, like near, or just what our chemistry was like, I think they were going to kind of take it from there.

And so I was told I was only gonna get two episodes three

Melissa: seasons. Wow. That’s, that’s a nice surprise. Right. Awesome. So tell us about your character on the flash and how she juggles all of the, you know, the different jobs and hats that she wears.

Victoria Park: Yeah. There’s, there’s a lot of different hats that you wear.

But I think that’s something that’s really. Cool about the flash is that every one kind of starts melding into [00:04:00] one team. So, you know, first Camilla’s introduced, she doesn’t know anything about T Blash. She doesn’t know that Cisco’s by, she doesn’t know anything. And so she’s only got, you know, her relationship with Cisco.

And then as soon as that door opens, all of a sudden she’s on team lash and helping with that, and then IRS Harris or a national design team citizen. And I feel like all of that kind of works together too. Help save the day and whatever big, bad is happening at the time. And I think we just kind of all meld into one nice tight knit, little family.

Melissa: Yeah. That’s awesome. And have you experienced any of the crossovers storylines yet?

Victoria Park: Camilla has not been fortunate to be in any of the crossovers, although they have effected her. And so while she has been in them, yeah, it’s definitely affected her life.

Melissa: Yeah. It must be interesting too, to keep up with a lot of the storylines, you know, when they start doing the time-traveling and the different, you know, worlds and things like that.

I mean, do you, even as the actor get confused sometimes. Oh

Victoria Park: my gosh, for sure. Right? It’s [00:05:00] so confusing too, because we get the scripts to read them in advance of when we shoot them. And so maybe we’re shooting episodes. Five we’ve already gotten six and seven. And then the episode that’s airing is episode one.

So we’re like, then there are times where I’m like, wait, did this happen yet? And then we have to kind of stop and think about it and be like, okay, no, I don’t know that yet. We’ll know it next time.

Melissa: It must be hard too, to do interviews, you know? Cause you’re not supposed to have spoilers and then you have to think, Oh wait, did this, this era, you know, hasn’t been aired yet.

And you have to like, think about what you’re saying, right?

Victoria Park: Yeah, definitely.

Melissa: So what do you love most about your character and, and being part of this like superhero, you know, kind of bad-ass ensemble

Victoria Park: cast. Yeah. I mean, to be a part of this cast is a literal dream. It’s it’s been so wonderful and team clashes, bad-ass team citizens.

Bad-ass I mean, just all around. It’s been. Such a cool cast to join. For, for me, [00:06:00] I think for Camilla I love that she’s just a good person, you know, she’s just a good human she’s there for her people. She’s there for her boyfriend. She supports people. She, you know, risks her life for people. She’s just, yeah, she’s just good people.

And I would like to be. More like that in my life.

Melissa: Like emulate that more. Yeah. That’s awesome. Now, are you familiar with like, do you read comics at all or do you read them now, now that you’re on the show?

Victoria Park: Yeah, I wasn’t that into comics. My, my brother always was. And so I kind of know a little bit just from him and then my husband is, and so since being on the show, I got on the show before we were married.

And he helped me prepare a lot, you know, cause he’s a huge fan of the DC universe and everything. So, I feel like since I’ve been on the show, I.

Melissa: That’s awesome. Now I’m not sure what the timeline is from when it aired as far as like with the pandemic, but were you able to do any comic [00:07:00] cons before everything happened?

Victoria Park: It’s so sad there. You know, we weren’t able to do Comicon this last year because of the pandemic and yeah, I’ve only, I think. It happened. The pandemic happened halfway through season six. So we would have done a lot of stuff that summer. So it’s been, I’m really sad that we missed a whole year of it, but hopefully things will open up now.

That’ll

Melissa: be cool. And by the time it does, your character’s already so established that, you know, you’re going to have such a, a fun, I think, interaction with fans and a good response with people wanting to, to meet you and talk about, so, yeah, for sure. Yeah. So what’s it like working with Carlos Valdez, he placed the scope.

Yeah. You know, like what is, what is your relationship like? How do you. Prep for scenes that, you know, do you spend a lot of off, you know, sat time together trying to figure out like, okay, what’s this gonna do in this scene? Kind of a thing.

Victoria Park: Yeah, for sure. I mean, working with Carlos is the best. I kind of already told that story about how welcoming he was that first day on set.

And that just speaks to [00:08:00] who he is. He’s a lovely person. I’m very, very fortunate to work with him. He’s very similar to his character in a lot of ways. Smart. And, and really funny. And so we just have, honestly, we just have a ton of fun on set together. There’s obviously work that goes into it. You know, we have to kind of talk about, okay, you know, this is what our, you know, this is the relationship that we have or talk through certain scenes and how we’re going to play them and things like that.

But most of the time, to be honest, we’re just. Goofing off and having fun and on life and talking about everything deep to not deep. And it’s been so fun working with him. I’m really grateful to say that we’ve become good friends in the past three years that we’ve worked together.

Melissa: That’s awesome. And I think that, you know, reflects on screen as well.

You know, you can definitely tell when two characters actually really enjoy being in each other’s company, you know, it kind of comes across.

Victoria Park: Yeah, for sure. We love working together. That’s

Melissa: awesome. So what do you hope, you know, I know you can’t give away any spoilers, but just in your own opinion, what do you hope to see happen [00:09:00] with your character going forward?

Victoria Park: Yeah, I mean, one thing that I love about Camilla is just her relationships. Her relationship with Cisco or relationship with Iris her relationship with team citizen in general. And so I know that, you know, as this. Season progresses. We’ll definitely get to see those relationships deepen. And I would love to see more of that.

I think, you know, the, the best part about the show is the relationships and the love that these characters have for one another and the way that they show up for one another. And so I just want to see that continue.

Melissa: Yeah, just kind of keep going that same path. Yeah. Nice. And can you tease anything as far as you know, not specifics, but anything like we can expect and you know, what fans can expect from the future?

Victoria Park: Yeah. I mean, I can’t say much, but I will say for myself personally, reading the scripts, being a little ahead of you guys I have been surprised more times this season then. In any season [00:10:00] previous. So look for a lot of surprises and twists and turns and, and things like that. It’s been a really, really fun season.

We’ve worked really hard despite the COVID restrictions and everything. So I’m excited to see what, what the fans think. That’s

Melissa: awesome. Now, are you, to your knowledge, do you, are they still following the comic or are they completely off script with the comic or is it a combination of

Victoria Park: both combination of both?

You know, the, the comics there. So much to cover in the comics. And so I know that everything that the writers do is, is grounded in the comics and everyone there knows the comics way better than I do. And so all the characters that they introduced and things are usually from that and influenced by that.

But the writers. Are so great. And I think the show is definitely a standalone entity in a lot of ways. And so there’ll be true to the world that they’ve created within the comics and then kind of, you know, being its own thing. Cool.

Melissa: Now, do you get any input at all, like in your character or do you [00:11:00] just kind of go, okay.

I’ll just take the script and run with it or do you have suggestions and do they hear that out? How does that work?

Victoria Park: Yeah. I mean, Eric is the so great. He’s such a great show runner. He’s such a great boss. If there’s anything that we want to discuss or things that we like or things that we don’t like, you know, this is not working for my character or this really is.

I want to continue to do that. He’s just a phone call away and that’s it. You know, fairly rare. And so I’m very, very fortunate to have him as my boss and to work with him. And then also, you know, with, with Carlos and I, and we have scenes together and things, if there are things that we want to put in, we’re like, Hey, I think this is something that we want in our relationship or whatever.

They’re very open to that. And they, they really listen and, and it’s, it’s very collaborative, so

Melissa: that’s awesome. Is there any ad-libbing at all?

Victoria Park: The writers would wish that we did less I’m sure. But yeah, I mean, there are definitely members of the cast that ad lib a little more than others. You know, Tom But yeah, I think for [00:12:00] myself personally, I tend to keep pretty much to the script.

Lois and I, when we have scenes together, we, we kind of, sometimes when we’re rehearsing, we’ll add lifts and stuff, and then I’ll be like, you know what? I want to keep that. And then we’ll, we’ll ask the writers if it’s cool and they’ll be like, yeah, that’s fine usually. But then after we start rolling, we usually keep it pretty tight.

Melissa: Yeah. No, of course. Yeah. But that’s always fun too, because it comes across more natural, I think, you

Victoria Park: know? Yeah, for sure. A lot of those like fun, little interactions, those are usually ad-libbed during rehearsals and then we just keep them in. I love,

Melissa: yeah. I love the witty banter, you know, the little sarcastic offhanded remarks.

So what has been, if anything been the most challenging thing about, you know, being part of a super hero in sambal and playing, you know, your character specifically.

Victoria Park: Oh man. Yeah. I mean, honestly, the kind of that thing we were talking about earlier, like never know where we are with all this storyline and all the different timelines and all the different, you know, dimensions and universes and all those things.

I can get [00:13:00] a little confusing. And I know that we, we also film out of order, like most films do, so we’re not filming in script order. And so you keep everything straight in your head, right? Sometimes can get to be a lot, but you know, we all, we’re all in it together and we’ve all done it for years now.

So you get used to it, but there are days where I’m like, What are, what are we doing? Where are we? And what do I know? What

Melissa: time are we in? Yeah. Great. And do you do you and the rest of the cast, are you pretty close offset as far as like, do you guys hang out? I mean, I know there’s not much hanging out right now with the pandemic, but you know, as far as like zoom chats and things like that,

Victoria Park: Yeah.

I mean, we were, it’s a very close cast and it’s been super fun to, to join and be a part of weirdly I think the pandemic has actually kind of brought us closer. You know, I’m not seeing any of my friends or family really during this pandemic, but when we’re filming you know, we get, COVID tested multiple times a week and we’re working together already with our masks.

Soften everything like the cast [00:14:00] is the crew keeps the restaurant. And so, you know, on the weekends, we’ll hang out together cause we were already out together at work. And so because we’re the only people that we’re really allowed to see, like we’re in our bubble, you know? So it’s only made us closer, which is really

Melissa: sweet.

Oh, that’s awesome. One. It’s nice too, to have some camaraderie, you know, especially in times like these where everyone’s so separated to have like a group of people that you work with and like, and respect, and then can also spend time with too. So what did, what speaking of your family, what do your family and friends think of you on the show?

Do they watch the show? Do they, do they question you all the time about it and try to get teasers out of you?

Victoria Park: Yeah, I mean, there are definitely members of my family or people, you know, my friends who are flashed. Fans, and we’re super excited when it got on the show. And then you have on the other end, my parents who don’t know anything about the show could care less about my involvement in it.

I remember he was one of my first episodes and I was really excited about it. It might’ve been an episode that I actually [00:15:00] like appeared more on instead of just one scene. And I asked my parents to watch it and we all watched it together and I think. My mom fell asleep in the first five minutes.

Like asking all these questions because of course it makes no sense to him, that person who’s that person. And we just never, never did it again. They’re proud of me. I know they’re proud of me. I don’t need them. They kind of. That’s

Melissa: funny. Yeah. As long as they support you, that’s all that matters. Right.

That’s cool. Well, you know, as an actor, you know, in Hollywood right now, you know, things are, are so different than what they’ve been in the past. And there’s just so many changes that are happening. Some for the good, you know, some for the. Worse, I guess it depends on, on who you are in the industry, but you know, what is your experience been like?

What are the challenges you’ve faced, you know, as a woman, as an Asian-American actor, you know, what are some of the things you’ve come across and, and what do you do to, to deal with [00:16:00] it?

Victoria Park: Yeah, I mean, that’s, that’s so true. I’ve, I’ve been in this industry for just over 10 years now. So I’ve definitely seen things change even in that one decade.

When I. When I entered this industry you know, things were starting to look a little more diverse. People were a little more open to hearing from different voices other than the typical, you know, white male executive. And so I feel very fortunate, honestly, that I entered the industry when I. Did. And, and I, I’m so grateful to other people who came before me, the Asian Americans, women, and men who, who came before me and really paved the way and worked really hard to have us be seen.

And I don’t I mean, I don’t see that lightly, you know, and they, they worked really hard so that I can have an easier time of it. There have been challenges, you know, I’m still, I feel like I’m still fighting to be seen as a. You know, lead of my own story. [00:17:00] I think we’ve opened up to the place where you know, people are used to seeing us on camera, but we’re usually supporting a different person’s story.

And this year we’ve maybe made such strides, you know, with Minari and everything. And. And nomad land and just all of these amazing films that have Asian Americans behind him and in front of the camera. So I’m, I’m really hopeful that we’re, we’re going to go far and that you know, the, the ceiling has been broken and we’re, we’re here and we’re

Melissa: right.

Yeah. It’s about time, right?

Victoria Park: I

Melissa: think, yeah, you’re right. There’s just for so long, there’s been so many of those stereotypical roles. Do you ever watch that show? Good trouble. I haven’t actually, Oh my God. It’s so good. It’s really, really good. And there’s, they’re addressing an issue similar to that, where there’s a character, who’s a comedian, she’s Asian American.

And the people running the comedy troupe you know, are, are white and they, they think she’s only funny when she’s. Kind of making fun of her mother and doing the voice and stuff like that. [00:18:00] And so it’s interesting because the show is fantastic, by the way, it’s really meaningful teaches lots of lessons and opens your eyes.

So, how do you feel like, do you think that those roles are starting to go away and more just regular roles we’re being offered? You know what I mean?

Victoria Park: Yeah. I mean, I hope so. I, I. Made us stand pretty early on in my group. Like before I even had a career, I sat down with my team and I said, I’m not willing to do this type of comedy.

I’m not willing to do the accent or anything like that. And they were, my team is amazing and they were like 100%. We understand we would never send you in for stuff like that. And so I’ve been really protected from even having to. You see those roles come across my desk, but I do hope that there are less of them.

Like I said, I wouldn’t know, cause they don’t come across my desk.

Melissa: That’s awesome. And I feel I’m really in a superhero community, you know, the DC community, there is so much great diversity and I think there’s just better roles for [00:19:00] women also. I, would you agree with that?

Victoria Park: Yes, I would definitely agree with that.

It’s been so. It’s amazing to be a part of a show that has not only diversity, but you know, just the women are strong. You know, the women are had, they all have super powers and if they do, I mean, Iris doesn’t have super powers and Camilla doesn’t have super powers and they’re just as strong as everyone else.

And they’re out there fighting those big bads with everybody else. And I just think that’s so awesome and so inspiring. I wish I wish that I had had more of those this here’s my life when I was younger. So I’m really grateful that the girls that are growing up now have those role models.

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely.

And yeah, like we were talking about earlier when those comic cons start opening up, you’re probably going to, you’re going to hear a lot of that feedback, you know, which is going to be great. And getting to like engage with young girls who go to comic cons now, which is another thing that’s changed, you know, before, you know, in the eighties and even nineties, it was all men, you know?

And now when you get a comic con it’s like, it’s all girls. Like I see people that look like me and I’m like, yay. Yeah,

Victoria Park: it’s awesome. It’s so good to see.

Melissa: Yeah. So before I let you [00:20:00] go you know, I’d love to ask this question because there’s so many people that listen that are probably aspiring to be in your shoes as well.

And what advice would you give to younger people that are aspiring to be actors?

Victoria Park: Yeah. Man, I would just say, you got to love what you do and that’s just not for actors. I mean, that’s for, for everybody. And once you find that reason of why you love what you do, and it’s gotta be something deeper than wanting to be famous or wine or any of that stuff.

But once you really find that, why you gotta hold onto it because. This industry is really, really hard. And life can be really, really hard. And so there’s going to be ups and downs. I’ve definitely had my share and still have my share, but once you, you know, if you really hold onto that, Y it’ll it’ll take you far.

Melissa: That’s great. Well, thank you so much for coming on and chatting with us. I know you’re a busy girl and you’ve got lots of interviews. So I do appreciate you taking time out of your day to talk with us on spoiler country.

Victoria Park: Thank you so much for [00:21:00] having me. It’s been fun. Yeah,

Melissa: absolutely. So everyone listening, you can watch Victoria in the.

Flash on the CW on Tuesday nights. And I believe that’s is eight o’clock Pacific standard time. Yes. Okay, awesome. Yeah. Watch her on the CW Tuesday nights. Thank you again, Victoria. It’s been an absolute pleasure and we would love to have you back anytime. Thank you.