Jess Hong Photo: Supplied
It’s difficult not to use the cliché description of ‘whirlwind’ but the past few years have been life changing for New Zealand Chinese actor Jess Hong.
Only a few years out of drama school, she was cast as one of the leads in Netflix’s 3 Body Problem in 2021 - an American sci-fi series. It was a huge step up from the TV and theatre roles she was taking on in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The entire audition process took place on Zoom from self-tapes and chemistry reads with other actors, to meetings with the casting directors. Two months after the first self-tape was sent, during another Covid lockdown, Hong was asked to pack up her life and move to London for nine months.
The show is from the creators of Game of Thrones and has Brad Pitt as one of its producers. Based on a trilogy, a decision in China decades before, affects humanity in the present day leading to various global threats and humanity-wide changes. Jess Hong plays one of ‘The Oxford 5’, scientists pulled from around the world to study together. They reunite to try and figure out why the laws of science are starting to crack. Things are broken and nobody knows why.
Jess Hong joins Culture 101 to play Fast Favourites with Perlina Lau.
