Becoming Harry Potter's girlfriend on screen was suppose to be the big break for Scottish born Katie Leung, but the ride has had a few bumps so far. Katie beat out 3,000 other girls to land the part of Cho Chang in "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" and has already received a slew of hate mail months before the film is out.
She says some fans object to her being Harry's girlfriend while others brought her Asian ethnicity into it. She tells Good Housekeeping in the October issue:"Looking different from most of the people at school never caused me any problems. Still, I never expected the hate sites that popped up on the internet after I got the part in the film. I couldn't understand why people were so angry - a lot of the messages were from jealous girls who didn't like the fact that I play Harry's love interest in the film and some of them did bring my ethnicity into it."
Unfortunately, obsessive HP fans look at her and see Cho Chang and not a shy girl from Motherwell, Scotland. But the 18-year-old takes it in stride and says that the chance to work in the film has improved her own self-image.
"When I was in my early teens, I wasn't very confident," Katie said. "In fact, before getting the part in the film, I'd say I was shy, especially at school. I'd never acted before, but being in front of the camera has really brought me out of myself. I think confidence comes with age. You have to be able to interact with lots of different people as you grow up and that's something I learned to do very quickly being on a film set. I'm really enjoying being the age I am now. Younger people always look forward to being 18 - it's a time when you have real freedom for the first time to go out and enjoy yourself and be totally independent."
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" will be released on November 18, 2005. Trailers
Comments
stop the horrible things you say on katie. You keep what you think. But i think anyone out there who thinks that she supid then you better be quiet. It is only a flim.
Posted by: holly | October 25, 2005 10:45 AM
i don't think she's very pretty...and isn't at all what i pictured cho to look like. but then again, she has to have some talent.
Posted by: rawrkun | November 5, 2005 4:45 PM
That is not a picture of Katie Leung! That's picture of a Korean Fin.K.L (singer) group member named Lee Jin!!WTF?
Posted by: LALALA | November 10, 2005 4:02 AM
Thanks for the catch! We corrected the photo and this is Katie.
Posted by: Fara | November 10, 2005 2:35 PM