IN CONVERSATION WITH POPPY LIU

interview by JANA LETONJA

Actor and producer Poppy Liu most recently starred in Netflix's ‘No Good Deed’, which came out in December. Earlier last summer, we were also able to watch her opposite Emma Roberts in Amazon's ‘Space Cadet’, and most recently in the critically acclaimed HBO Max series ‘Hacks’. 

You’ve played an incredible range of characters across TV and streaming platforms. How do you approach embodying such diverse roles, from Kiki in ‘Hacks’ to your upcoming role in ‘No Good Deed’?

Some characters are easier for me to embody than others. For my character Sarah in ‘No Good Deed’, although I am not a doctor, it was not difficult for me to connect with her central motive which is the desire to have a child and start her family. When we started filming, my child had just turned 1 so this wasn't very difficult to embody. For Kiki in ‘Hacks’, I always say that Kiki is me on my very best day. She has a magnetic energy and an incredibly alluring amount of self-confidence. She is really happy with who she is and is not troubled by what other people think of her. Other characters are sometimes more tricky. When I played Greta in ‘Dead Ringers’, I did a ton of character work. I made a mood board of artists that she is inspired by, I made an elaborate playlist of songs she listens to, I journaled as her to imagine what her inner world looks like. It took more digging to understand what drives her. But for most jobs, I always like to make a playlist for that character and I often find a perfume that I associate with them, so in the morning before going to work I have an easy way to step into their world and outside of mine.

Can you share with us a bit about ‘No Good Deed’, for the viewers who have yet to watch it?

‘No Good Deed’ is an incredibly bingeable show. It is a murder mystery, but not too dark. There is humor and a lot of heart. My character, Sarah, is an OBGYN who is trying to start a family with her wife Leslie. She is addicted to the Citizen app and tries to distract herself from the anxiety of infertility with solving a murder.

Starring opposite Lisa Kudrow in ‘No Good Deed’ sounds like a dream for any actor. Can you share what it was like working with her and your most memorable moment on set?

Lisa Kudrow and I had a really lovely scene together where our characters have a heart to heart. The central themes of this show revolve around family, and Lisa and I talked a lot about both being mothers and how much we love our kids. She is so kind and such an empath. 

How did you get into acting, and what inspired you the most to pursue it as a career?

I have only been in the industry since 2018, but I've been performing since I was 4 years old, starting with classical Chinese dance. I think it is just in my bones. I love performing. I didn't go to college trying to pursue acting,) but I still gravitated to theater and ended up double majoring in Theater and Women's Studies.

You are also a producer, especially passionate about indie projects. How does the excitement of producing differ from acting for you?

It differs so much. When I'm acting on someone else's project, I invest deeply in my character and in the story, but at the end of the day when I go home, I can kind of step away from all of it. When you are producing something, it is hard to not be on all of the time. Even when you are producing really small-scale indie projects, you have to wear so many hats and juggle so much. There is so much that goes into a production. By the time I am attached to a project as an actor, the producers of it have already been with that project and story for years and years. I am excited to go back to producing in the future, but it is also nice to be able to step in and out and just stay in my one lane of acting right now.

As a first-generation Chinese American and a queer actor, how do you balance the intersection of your identity in your roles and the narratives you want to tell?

I always say whenever I am cast in a role, I automatically bring all my identities with me. For instance, for ‘No Good Deed’, my character's name is Sarah Weber so I had a whole backstory about why she might be going by a non-Asian last name, what her upbringing must have been like, what pressures of assimilation she must have been conditioned with, what significance being a doctor in an Asian household might hold, what being in a queer relationship as a Chinese person might mean for her relationship with her family of origin, how this might inform her desire to start a family with her wife Leslie. Even if these things weren't necessarily on the mind of whoever cast me, I feel it is my job as an actor to bring myself into every role I'm in. I don't believe in the "blank slate" actor. What makes compelling performances is when people bring in their lived experiences and the specificity of their identities into what they're doing. 

You’ve spoken about bringing your identity into art and entertainment. How do you think the industry has evolved in representing the API and queer communities, and what work still needs to be done?

The industry feels really different now than even 10 or 15 years ago. My manager works closely with Lucy Liu and I remember her telling me that when Lucy was starting her career, it was hard to find any roles that didn't require her to have an accent, or play a maid or secretary. It is a cliche saying, but it's true that we all stand on the shoulders of the people who came before us. Since my career in the industry began in 2019, I've gotten the chance to play such a wide range of characters, some that are written explicitly as Chinese and queer, but many that have nothing to do with those identities. I think there are so many more Chinese and queer faces in entertainment now that I have really not felt any kind of tokenization of my identities which I'm really grateful for. 

With your indie production work and involvement with humanitarian organizations and causes, how do you use storytelling to amplify marginalized voices?

Right now, a lot of my focus is on amplifying the voices coming out of Gaza. We have a responsibility as people who work in media on shaping narrative. It is the media who decides whose voices and stories are worthy of being told and amplified, who gets humanized, and who is considered expendable. Witnessing the genocide in Gaza unfold this past year has really changed me to my core. Not just the horror of the genocide itself, but also the lengths that western media will go to in order to justify it. There have been nearly 200 journalists targeted and killed in Gaza. These journalists are our peers and they sacrificed their lives in order for the world to not turn away from Gaza. As storytellers and artists who live in the US, it is our job to make the link for why this issue is directly connected to us. It is not only that it is our tax dollars that directly fund the genocide, it is not just that the IDF trains our militarized police who enact violence upon our own communities domestically, it is not only lifting of the veil to see that AIPAC has in its control both parties of our two-party “democracy,” it is that the ruling powers are constantly gauging how much they can desensitize us to violence and death and to the decimation of other people, it is that the system only works when we are too scared for our own rights to care about another people’s rights. Everyday this year I have seen how the uncrossable “red line” is pushed further and further until there is no line in sight and we are living in a fully morally bankrupt society. Cynics will shrug their shoulders and say it has always been like this and maybe that is true, but part of the artist’s job is to imagine something other than this, and that means looking it in the eye and staying appalled and heartbroken and angry at what we are witnessing.

What can you share with us about your upcoming projects? 

I'm currently finishing up filming for Boots Riley's new movie called ‘I Love Boosters’. I am also in an upcoming Netflix animated series called ‘DANG!’, created by Andrew Law. And, of course, Kiki will be returning for a couple surprise visits in season 4 of ‘Hacks’. 

TEAM CREDITS:

talent POPPY LIU
photography LENNE CHAI
styling LINDSEY HARTMAN
production designer KATRINA SONGCO
makeup MICHELLE CHUNG
hair TAMMY YI FOR EXCLUSIVE ARTISTS USING BALMAIN HAIR
photography assistant CHIR YAN LIM
styling assistant CLAIRE VAN EIJK
production LEAH OLIVERIA FOR HYPERION
studio HYPE STUDIOS