LOS ANGELES — Three years in the past, Arden Cho was able to stroll away from performing. She’d landed her first lead function within the Netflix collection “Companion Observe,” solely to see it canceled after one season. She was heartbroken.
Her agent would not let her go. “She refused to say ‘You’re carried out.’ She simply saved sending me issues,” Cho stated. “She simply maintain being like, ‘Look, I do know you’re not auditioning. I do know you are carried out, however I feel you’d like this.’”
Now, Cho is juggling a number of initiatives after voicing the lead character Rumi in Netflix’s animated summertime sensation “KPop Demon Hunters,” which has turn out to be the all-time most-streamed film on the platform — and spawned inescapable earworms “Golden” and “Soda Pop” as its soundtrack dominated pop charts.
“I’m so prepared,” Cho stated. “It seems like it’s my golden second.”
Now, Cho is amongst The Related Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of 2025. The timing feels virtually cosmic. Netflix introduced that “KPop Demon Hunters” was its most-watched film on Aug. 26 — precisely three years after it started streaming “Companion Observe.” “It was sort of like a present from God of, hey, you misplaced one thing, however I’ve given you one thing higher,” Cho stated.
Cho — who would not sing within the film — says she sees her personal insecurities within the character, a Okay-pop idol and demon hunter who loses her voice. And she or he’s prepared to hitch in additional tales on the earth created by Maggie Kang.
“I hope there are sequels, I hope there’s prequels, I hope that each little Asian lady and boy feels so seen and seems like they should be the principle character. I hope this opens doorways for extra Korean and American collaborated initiatives,” she says. “I hope that … Rumi will get to search out out a bit bit extra about her mother and pop. I hope to understand how HUNTR/X turned HUNTR/X. And I sort of hope to go save Jinu.”
The film has led a contemporary wave of worldwide curiosity in Korean meals, tradition and Okay-pop idol life, which Cho, her co-stars and the singer-songwriters behind HUNTR/X have leaned into because the movie’s publicity tour grinds into Hollywood’s awards season.
“I simply really feel so blessed to have the ability to have these conversations as a result of I’m so proud to be, clearly, to be American, however on the similar time, I’m additionally so proud to be Korean,” Cho stated.
Rising up in Texas and Minnesota, she hadn’t thought a lot about racial id. However whereas attending school at College of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, one thing shifted. “I spotted that was the primary time after I was like, oh, folks have a look at me and don’t suppose that I’m an American,” she recalled. “And it was fascinating as a result of I spotted at the moment, there are two methods to have a look at it. You’ll be able to simply be mad and say, ‘Oh, I hate that we don’t have illustration, I hate people who don’t see us, I hate that individuals do not see our tales,’ or you possibly can say, ‘I’m going to attempt.’”
So she tried. In 2007, she moved to Los Angeles. “It was powerful to depart my family and friends behind, it was powerful to remain constructive and to have thick pores and skin. I nonetheless don’t have thick pores and skin,” she stated.
She discovered success as superpowered Kira Yukimura on MTV’s “Teen Wolf” collection beginning in 2014 however in any other case struggled to search out meaty roles earlier than “Companion Observe.”
For the authorized drama, she was lastly No. 1 on the decision sheet. However she says, “I blinked and it was carried out and I used to be devastated.”
“I’m such a ‘I need to maintain all the things and everybody’ kind of character. And I need to do all of it. And so I feel that entire expertise kind of glided by in a approach the place it was over earlier than it started,” Cho stated. “I missed my second as a result of I used to be so busy making an attempt to make it good, making an attempt to repair all of it on my own. And in a bizarre approach, like, it jogs my memory a lot of Rumi.”
Then “KPop Demon Hunters” got here her approach. The movie’s producer Michelle Wong stated she and different filmmakers narrowed finalists down to 6 actors, then did a blind “hear check” to choose the voice of Rumi. Cho was the unanimous alternative.
“Our film is dramatic, it’s motion, it’s comedy, it’s all the things. The expertise must be on the highest degree, which you understand, Arden clearly encapsulates all of that. She has a fantastic vary,” Wong stated. “I hope this opens doorways for her as a result of she deserves it.”
Cho celebrated her fortieth birthday in August as “Demon Hunters” was peaking in recognition.
“I feel for girls, typically folks get shy to say that as a result of they sort of suppose 40 is outdated,” she stated. “However I’ve by no means felt youthful and higher about myself. I’ve by no means felt extra comfy in my pores and skin. And I sort of need to run round and inform everybody that as a result of I hope that it provides folks hope that age is admittedly only a quantity.”
For extra on ’s 2025 class of Breakthrough Entertainers, go to /hub/ap-breakthrough-entertainers.
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