Ashley Park (California, 31 years old) was on the subway on her way to casting which gave her the role of Mindy, the first friend in Paris of the protagonist of Emily in Paris (Netflix), when a girl caught her eye. She had noticed that the script the actress was reading was from the same series she was working on as a costume assistant. “I was running late that day and when it happened I was shocked,” Park says in a video conference for S Fashion. “I interpreted it as a sign from the universe.” Months after that, in the middle of filming the first season of the series, Ashley discovered that before that girl decided to talk to her, she had stolen a photo: as if there was a magical connection, she believed that the look that she was wearing could have inspired Mindy’s. “I asked her why she took the photo of me and she said it was because I wasn’t wearing a look Obviously. I was dressed in black, and I had colorful accessories, including a pink hat. I dressed thinking that I was going to have a long day ahead of me. I thought: how can I be as comfortable as possible and make it look chic?”.
Born in California but raised in Michigan in a wealthy family, she began studying dance at age three and piano at age five, and earned a degree in musical theater from the University of Michigan. Before working on the TV series of pope Darren Star (Feeling of living, Melrose Place, Sex and the City), which catapulted her to global fame, Park had already debuted on Broadway in 2014, as part of the cast of Mamma MiaIn 2017, she began to combine the stage with the sets of series, when her big opportunity in musical theatre came up, the stage adaptation that Tina Fey made of her film Bad girlsDarren Star came to see that production twice. There was a magical connection there too.
You were practically anonymous before the series, how has your life changed? Emily in Paris?
The first season premiered in the middle of the Covid quarantine, so it wasn’t until we started seeing people that I really noticed it. I’ll never forget going to Dubai for a Hugo Boss show and people coming up to me and singing “Goodbye, delighted” (the chorus of My Sun(Park sings the song in the series). It’s crazy that I’m known all over the world now. For me, fame is the chance to interact with more people. I come from Broadway, I’m used to having an intimate chemistry with the audience. If I did four shows a day for the rest of my life, I wouldn’t even be able to reach 1% of the people who’ve seen me on Broadway. Emily in ParisI am very happy.
Do you miss any of the anonymity?
I had a great life before fame, so I was prepared for this. Something I really appreciate now is the time I spend at home, I don’t know if it’s because Covid has changed me or because I’ve become an adult. Before I wanted to go out all the time and meet people, I hated sleeping because of the time I wasted. And now it’s people who approach me.
Park admits that there are some heavyweight names among those who have contributed to his professional and personal growth. He says he has learned a lot from Laura Linney, with whom he worked on the series. Stories of Saint Francis: “The humanity that gives everything is surprising.” Also from the already mentioned Tina Fey, although in the show She was the Broadway veteran, while for Fey it was her first time: “They are incredible women. It’s like they said to me, ‘Let me help you grow as a human being. ’” This summer she also had the opportunity to meet Florence Pugh because she met her at a Valentino show, a firm for which both actresses are ambassadors and which has made them good friends. That connection through fashion is the same one she experienced with Patricia Field, the legendary costume designer for Sex and the Citywho works as a consultant in Emily in ParisWorking with her (especially living in Paris during filming) has changed Park’s understanding of fashion. “I haven’t been interested in the world of brands and luxury until now, but I’ve never been able to fully understand a character until I’ve gotten into their wardrobe. I’ve always thought of fashion as a way of expressing myself, and now I’ve also understood that we have a responsibility with what we wear.” With Field’s help, the actress has created her character, Mindy, heiress to a Chinese billionaire who she flees from after making a fool of herself on a television show in her country. In the duo she forms with Emily —a Chinese executive— marketing with aspirations of influencer played by Lily Collins who moves to Paris—she is the eccentric one. Emily takes herself more seriously and Mindy, who provides comic and emotional relief, is always able to put things into perspective.
One thing you have in common with Mindy is a sense of humor. Do you consciously use it to deal with life’s ups and downs or is it a reflex action?
Ever since I was a child, I’ve had the feeling that if I made people laugh, it was a good thing. In tough times, I’ve always kept in mind that people are at their best when they’re comfortable. One of the beautiful things about humor is that we laugh at something when we know it and share it.
Among those tough times is having suffered from acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 15. Does your health scare you?
I never thought I wouldn’t survive. I thought about making the best of my present. The hardest thing was that everyone was so sad. I worried about being funny, making jokes with the nurses. That’s why humor was always a tool: when you make someone laugh, you also feel that they recognize you. That made me much more aware of everything and made me worry a lot about the things I can control.
And the things Park was able to control became more and more. Dancing, which had been her passion since she was three, began to take shape as her future profession thanks to a trip to Broadway during her illness with Make-A-Wish, a foundation that “grants wishes” to children with health problems and with which she still has a relationship because since that experience she has been obsessed with ensuring that all children have access to the same things she did. “I work very hard, nothing has been given to me, but many people work very hard and are talented and don’t get rewarded,” she explains. It was this spirit that led her in her college years to found the Michigan Performance Outreach Workshop (MPOW), dedicated to nurturing children’s love for the performing arts. “Just as I had a stroke of bad luck then, fame was a stroke of good luck; having experienced that so young made me a much more sensible person,” she says.
Have your Asian origins ever been a professional obstacle?
Now I realize how many times castings where I have been the only racialized applicant. I have come into the industry when it is normal to do the castings open to all races, but in many auditions they didn’t know how to fit an Asian person because clearly the characters were written for white people.
And have these barriers conditioned you in any way in your career?
Many people approached me when I made Bad girls to tell me how important it was for them to see me on the poster. I have never known how to take responsibility for breaking down barriers. But rather than as an impediment, I have experienced it under the premise that I cannot be mediocre. I am grateful that I have not had the room to not be excellent.
There are stereotypes in the series about what an American thinks France is like, how different is your view of the country compared to the series?
My experience with the French couldn’t be better, and the show also makes fun of how we Americans are. It’s funny because some French people do see themselves reflected in it. In the first season there is a scene where Emily in a restaurant wants the meat more well done and it seems like an exaggeration, but this year, at a dinner in a small restaurant in the south of France, we had to ask twice for a steak to be cooked more and finally the cook came with her and said something smiling in French. When he left, they translated what he said: “Here is your food. This is the food we serve to the pigs, enjoy.”
* Styling by Erin Walsh. Makeup by Jenna Nicole. Hair by Sunnie Brook. Nails by Jolene Brodeur. Local production by NM Productions. Photography assistants by Marlyn Ludwig and Austin Durant. Styling assistant by Bota Abdul.
