May the force be with her: Christina Chong on why joining Star Wars has been such an incredible adventure

She’s the parkour-training latest signing to the Star Wars gang. Christina Chong tells Susannah Butter why it was such an incredible adventure
Feel the force: Christina Chong (Picture: Matt Writtle)

Few things can cause a hush to fall over a room like admitting you did not watch Star Wars as a child, but coming from Christina Chong it is quite a revelation. For the actress is about to star in the latest film, Episode VII. Don’t worry — she has caught up now. “My boyfriend is a huge Star Wars fan and kept saying I needed to watch it. I was busy doing my thing but got round to watching when I knew I was auditioning. I thought I was going to be watching this dated film but it’s brilliant and timeless. I absolutely loved it.”

This is Chong’s fourth film, after minor roles in Madonna’s W.E. and Johnny English Reborn. She is best known to Londoners for TV performances — she was Lorna Bucket in Doctor Who, CIA worker Mariana in 24, and in Line of Duty she gave a ruthless performance as hardboiled DS Nicola Rogerson. She makes a good female action hero and is also starring in Halo Nightfall, an XBOX mini series airing on all X-Box and Microsoft devices, which is one of the latest moves changing the way in which we watch television.

Most of the characters she has played have been young and Chong is cagey about her age. “I’m as old as I look.” I suggest that she could give any age she likes, how about 65? But after laughing she becomes serious. “I really can’t say, it’s not a big deal but I don’t want to be pigeonholed by casting directors.”

A spot of light research suggests she is 31 but with ageism still persistent in Hollywood it is understandable for an actress who is on the cusp of making it big to be cautious — if you disagree, do a quick fact-check of the ages of leading ladies compared to men and also read up on the debacle over Renée Zellweger’s face.

Those in charge of the Star Wars publicity juggernaut have told Chong she has to be careful and not divulge too much about her role until the hotly awaited film is out next year but she will be working with just about everyone, from Harrison Ford to Carrie Fisher and fellow Londoner Daisy Ridley. “Unfortunately, all I can say is it was incredible to be involved. It is probably the biggest film in cinema history and to be part of that is amazing. People are very fond of it.” Her nieces and nephews are big fans of the originals and do the Chewbacca voice — although Chong won’t.

Chong now lives in Kensal Green but she grew up in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire. After her parents divorced she moved to a village in Lancashire, where her mother is from, leaving her Chinese father in London — “My siblings and I were probably the only mixed-race children there.” She came to acting via ballet and petitioned her mother to let her go to Italia Conti. “I watched a TV show called The Biz about a stage school and wrote to the BBC to ask where one of the girls in it went. When they told me it was Italia Conti I wanted to go. I bought The Stage every month so I saw it advertised there.” Her mother saved up to send her to the summer school and then she helped her secure funding from the Shepherd Street Trust that sponsors children with aspirations.

“There was a competitive side to stage school and it’s good because it prepares you for what it is like in real life. There were some tears but you go through it because it prepares you. It definitely hardened me up.”

She went straight from Italia Conti to Berlin, where she was a lead in Aida by Elton John and Tim Rice. Then she injured her hamstring. “I wanted to go on stage and dance but I knew if I did it would end my career. Dancing was what I wanted to do my whole life; it was not only my dream but my whole family’s dream for me. I didn’t tell my mum I was giving up for a long time because I knew she was going to be really upset.”

The producers of Aida put her on another path: “They told me they chose me because of my acting and I realised that I enjoyed that the most.” She went to the Lee Strasberg school in New York to train and ended up staying for a year and a half. “It was incredible but I remember coming back to London and being glad I could see the sky. The approach to the arts is more creative in London.”

On her return she found that she was only being put up for Asian roles. “I would turn up to auditions full of gorgeous Oriental girls and feel a bit out of place, and already defeated because they were all beautiful and probably spoke Chinese — I don’t speak it.”

She supported herself teaching children performing arts in Primrose Hill: “I can’t say who I taught but there were a lot of celebrity kids.”

And then, after changing agents, Madonna came along and chose her to be in W.E. “I was so nervous when I met her — do I shake her hand, do I even touch her? But she was so great and hard-working.”

Her most recent project, Halo, was the most “hardcore” filming experience. “We were shooting in Iceland and Belfast. It was minus 40 in Iceland but we had to pretend it was 50 degrees as we ran over ragged rocks in the rain.” She is interested to see if YouTube serials will become more mainstream. “I watch Netflix instead of going to the cinema and the Hollywood box office is at a historic low, so something is changing.”

As well as acting, Chong part owns her father’s restaurant, Charlie’s, in Harpenden. “It’s MSG-free and they buy organic ingredients from Spitalfields, Billingsgate and Smithfields. People are surprised because the chicken is not water-pumped like in lots of Asian cuisine. The seabass is my favourite, it is so tender.”

She is resisting at the moment, though: “I am experimenting with vegan raw stuff and eating healthily — not a lot of cooking, lots of chopping.” But she was outraged to pay £7 for a green juice on the way to meet me.

In her spare time she is as all-action as in her roles, jumping between rooftops. “My boyfriend founded a parkour company so we train together.” She isn’t competitive with him but when she sees her sister do challenging jumps she pushes herself to go harder.

Feel the force, fans.

THE STARS OF STAR WARS

Girls star Adam Driver, rumoured to play a villain

Londoner John Boyega — the Attack the Block star is from Peckham

Lupita Nyong’o, the Oscar winner who Instagrammed a picture of herself with a Han Solo toy to celebrate being cast

Carrie Fisher, the original Princess Leia making a comeback

Mark Hamill, the original Luke Skywalker

And don’t forget Harrison Ford — Star Wars wouldn’t be the same without Han Solo

Daisy Ridley, a bright 22-year-old from Maida Vale who is set for stardom

(Christina's hair in the above image is by Marc Trinder, Art Team Director at Charles Worthington using Charles Worthington Salon at Home)

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