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

Hollywood Journal

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

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

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

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

00:10I want that.

00:17Hi, my name is Elodie Young,

00:18and I play Toni De La Rosa in The Cleaning Lady.

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

00:26a mother who really does what she can

00:30to provide for her family.

00:32Look, if I can make myself useful,

00:35I can protect us all, then what?

00:36She's like you and me.

00:38She is vulnerable and she's strong at the same time.

00:40She's resilient.

00:42She has to go through so much.

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

00:47My dad is Cambodian,

00:48and his parents and his grandparents,

00:50they all died during the genocide.

00:52He is literally a survivor.

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

00:57and literally survive things.

00:59From them, unconsciously, consciously,

01:02they've passed on this,

01:03okay, let's have a good life.

01:05Let's fight for a good life.

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

01:08Enjoy life.

01:09Just go and enjoy, you know?

01:10With the little things that they had,

01:12they were grateful

01:14because they went through so much.

01:15And it's because of you.

01:18Yeah.

01:18It's because of us.

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

01:23And I do tap in those experiences

01:26that have been passed on,

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

01:31that I have experienced myself.

01:33Because she's human,

01:35I have to put myself into her shoes

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

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

01:43He was always going to be your hero.

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

01:46I was supposed to save him.

01:47I got this part and then it was written

01:50for a Filipino character.

01:51And I'm like,

01:52we would love to embrace your,

01:54some of your roots,

01:55you know, your background.

01:56And this is actually the first time

01:58that I've portrayed someone

02:00with a Cambodian background.

02:01And so I felt very proud

02:04and kind of surprised that actually

02:05they wanted to embrace that.

02:07I felt very happy, excited.

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

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

02:13I gave them a list.

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

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

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

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

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

02:27Her cultural background,

02:29her Buddhism, for example,

02:30it's peppered throughout the show.

02:32Little touches like that,

02:34the way we mourn our people.

02:36You mourn in white,

02:37you don't mourn in black.

02:38And it's subtle, whether it's the Cambodian community

02:41or the Filipina community,

02:43people are grateful and thankful that,

02:45you know, finally we have this character,

02:48the lead of a network,

02:49a TV show who is of that descent,

02:52you know, who has this background.

02:54And what I love about our show,

02:56and I want to make sure we keep that,

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

03:03They can relate to her,

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

03:06I think as storyteller,

03:08whether we are in a fictional thing

03:10or a very grounded material,

03:13I, as an audience member and as an actor,

03:16I just love when I'm like,

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

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

03:23And I am too.

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

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