Harry Potter Star Breaks Silence on Racist Abuse After Being Cast

Harry Potter star Katie Leung reveals she endured a wave of racist abuse as a teenager after landing the role of Cho Chang, describing the online harassment as immediate and overwhelming.

Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang across five Harry Potter films, just talked candidly about the racist abuse she ran into as a teenager after landing the role. It was early internet-era ugliness, and it hit fast. She says it stuck with her in ways she is still unpacking — but she also sounds like someone who has figured out how to carry it without letting it run her life.

Thrown into fame, then into the comments

Leung joined the franchise as a teen and told The Guardian that the spotlight showed up before she had any real armor. She remembers the reaction as immediate and intense, both the stardom and the backlash, and says that adjustment — being recognized everywhere while still growing up — was rough.

"It was overwhelming from the get-go... Being in the spotlight from that age, when you’re already insecure, was difficult, to say the least."

The part where curiosity makes everything worse

Like a lot of teenagers suddenly famous online, she went looking to see what people were saying about her. That rabbit hole led to racist and hateful comments, and she says no one could have stopped her from reading it — she was old enough to make her own choices and too curious not to click. The fallout was quiet but real: she became more guarded, less outgoing, and hyper-aware of every word she said. She also thinks she overcorrected for a while, trying to compensate for the noise.

Still working, but with healthier edges

Leung, now 38, has kept going — and she is part of season four of Netflix's Bridgerton. She says she still cares a lot about the work, but she leaves it at the door at the end of the day. Acting used to feel like the whole point of everything; now it is her job, not her entire identity.

It is a clear-eyed way to talk about something a lot of young actors deal with: overnight fame, zero safety rails, and an internet happy to judge. Leung is honest about how much it hurt and also about how she moved forward. Not a fun origin story, but a good ending to this chapter.