Katie Leung

Bursting onto the scene with her debut role as Cho Chang in the massively popular "Harry Potter" series, Katie Leung went on to prove herself as a formidable actress. Born in Scotland in 1987, Leung's parents were from Hong Kong and mainland China respectively, and their determination as immigrants lent her tremendous inspiration, in addition to the ability to speak both Cantonese and Mandarin as a supplement to her native English. It was due to her father's encouragement that Leung attended an open casting call for the role of Cho in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" (2005). She won the part over 8,000 other hopeful actors, and would continue to play Cho for the subsequent five films in the series, ending with 2011's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" (2011). Meanwhile, Leung enrolled at the University of the Arts London, graduating with a degree in photography in 2012. Shortly before finishing there, she was cast as the lead in Jung Chang's acclaimed autobiographical play "Wild Swans," making her stage debut at the Young Vic in 2011. Leung was so moved by the experience that she decided to continue her education as a performer, enrolling at Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow to study acting in 2012. She also took on more projects on both stage and screen, starring in "The World of Extreme Happiness" at the National Theatre in 2013 and in the acclaimed dramatic mini-series "One Child" (BBC, 2014) in 2014. In 2016, Leung joined co-stars Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan for the action thriller "The Foreigner" (2016).