Katie Leung, who portrayed Cho Chang in the
Harry Potter films, recently
discussed her first acting role since the finale of the series - an American and West End productions of
Wild Swans, Jung Chang's epic of Chinese history. Katie mentioned how at one point she considered getting away from acting altogether, but her passion for the career rose when she went to university to study the course. The production will run from February 11 to March 11, 2012 at the American Repertory Theatre in Massachusetts before heading to London, where it will play from April 13 to May 13, 2012.
Chang's bestseller recounts the huge changes of 20th-century China through the eyes of women from three generations of the same family. Leung plays the character based on Chang herself, and intends to explore her own roots in the country.
"Going to drama college reconfirmed my passion for acting and then this stage work popped up," she said. "I'm really excited to be making my theatre debut. It's just an amazing opportunity and I couldn't have asked for anything better than this after Potter. I look forward to representing this truly inspirational story on stage."
She admitted feeling some "sense of relief" when the Potter series ended, and that she sometimes pretends to be someone else when recognised by fans. But she keeps in touch with cast friends online.
It was also recently
revealed that Katie's former
Harry Potter costar Evanna Lynch would be heading to the nation of Malta in the coming weeks, where she will be filming a TV series for Sky One. The name of the series was not confirmed, though Sky
stated that they are shooting modern-day version of
Sinbad in Malta currently; SnitchSeeker asked Sky One if Evanna was taking part, to which they said they were "unable to confirm or deny" her participation at this time but that "Sky 1 HD is currently
only filming Sinbad in Malta." Timothy Spall (Wormtail), will be costarring in
Sinbad, as well.