Interview with Nicole Kang

Written By Olivia Leung

Nicole Kang is a Korean American actress and writer. She was born in Boston, but her parents decided to move to Virginia so she grew up there. She graduated from Tisch NYU in around 2017 and went on to star in YOU. Being part of an Asian household, there are certain expectations and standards we are expected to uphold – one being to have a career in maths or science. Not only did Nicole defy family expectations, but she was able to follow her dreams and truly “make it” in an industry that’s proven to be such a long and winding road for Asians.

Her most known role is Mary Hamilton (and later on a reiteration of Poison Ivy) in the CW series, Batwoman. Nicole was also in the first season of the Netflix series, You.

Her short film, Lonely Child 외동, premiered at the 2022 Tide Film Festival in New York.

Three things that stood out to me during our interview:

  1. During the height of the pandemic, when Asians were being blamed for the CoronaVirus, and attacks on the elderly were being reported almost every other day

    1. Co-created the Asian We Stand collective https://vimeo.com/505419564

      • used her platform to speak out against the hate crimes that were happening

      • got into contact with Asian Americans involved in politics, the medical field, news anchors, actors, etc

        1. to listen to their stories

        2. to start a conversation/dialogue

  2. “All that matters is the space between action and cut, and not cut and action.” If you’re communicating well in your real life, then it’ll only help you communicate better when it comes to your art.

  3. Not only is Nicole growing as an actress, learning the ins and outs of her craft, but she also ventured into writing and producing.

    1. As mentioned before, she produced the short film, Lonely Child 외동.

    2. She has written another script - currently in the development stages.

Both films tell Asian stories that we can all relate to - the struggles of young people living in America (not merely just immigrant stories that we are so accustomed to seeing. Not to diminish the value of those stories because they’re very important).

Olivia Leung