We got a taste of the beachy summer this year with the first season of The Summer I Turned Pretty. The series, based on a book series by Jenny Han, follows a girl named Belly (Lola Tung) as she returns to Cousins Beach for her summer vacation. As the title suggests, she's blossomed into a young woman and is excited at the idea of meeting up with her childhood crush, Conrad (Christopher Briney). She's grown up alongside him thanks to the fact that her mom, Laurel (Jackie Chung) has been lifelong best friends with Conrad's mom, Susannah (Rachel Blanchard). Tensions rise and there are oodles of drama as secrets are revealed, love triangles (or squares?) are formed, and true feelings are shared.
We spoke with Jackie Chung, who plays Laurel Park, Belly and Steven's (Sean Kaufman) mom. Laurel plays a pivotal role in this first season. She is a writer and a career woman, but this Summer she has to also deal with the burden of a huge secret that will change everyone's life. Best friends with Susannah, we see the two women bonding and watching as sparks fly between their kids, but also enjoying fun nights out. As an Asian American myself, I was interested in speaking with Chung about her perspective on racial identity stories and also about the presence of strong adult friendships in the show, not to mention what it was like to work with Jenny Han.
COLLIDER: Hi Jackie! I loved Season 1 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, are guys filming Season 2 right now?
JACKIE CHUNG: Yes, we are. I am in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Amazing. So let's chat about this show. What was your first reaction when you were auditioning and you were looking at Laurel's character? What was that casting process like?
CHUNG: I liked Laurel right away. I think her humor is so funny. I think it's one of the things I share with the character is our similar humor. So I was excited about it and I had seen the To All the Boys films. So I was already familiar with Jenny's work. And I love that she is obviously an Asian American woman creating Asian American stories. So I was excited at the thought of working with her. Because I wasn't familiar with her books, so I didn't know the story ahead of time, all I knew was this script. I love seeing this girl figuring out her life and who she is, and the romance, and love, and also the friendship between Laurel and Susannah and how deep it is. Those were the things, I think, that stood out to me initially.
I'm really interested to hear what it was like working on this project with Jenny; did you guys collaborate on the character or did she give you any background on the character that maybe we didn't see on screen?
CHUNG: Yeah, I met with Jenny before we started shooting. We had a lunch together and just talked about the character and the story. Because at that point, I had read the books, but obviously, the show departs from the books and has additional elements that the books don't have, particularly when it comes to my character. So we did talk about a little bit of history, especially between her and Susannah. Jenny is such a great collaborator, any time things were unclear or there were questions, we could always talk to her about it. She was always open, obviously, this is her story, so she's so familiar with the characters, and she would always provide really helpful insights.
I'm also interested in talking with you about Laurel's relationship with Cleveland Castillo, Alfredo Narciso's character. His character has a lot of parallels with Laurel, and it was interesting to see that scene in Season 1 where they're talking about their own books. And they talk about getting pigeonholed into fixating on identity stories. Did you ever feel a connection to that sentiment? I feel like that really resonated with me.
CHUNG: I think what's exciting about this show is that it's not just an Asian American identity story. These characters and particularly this main family is Asian American, but it's not the main focus of the story that's being told. And I think we want to see identity stories, but it's also refreshing to see a story like this, where it's not the main focus, and people can kind of just go along this ride with Belly and remember, or connect, the feeling of falling in love for the first time and figuring out who you are and growing into your skin.
Yeah, and I really enjoyed seeing the whole family unit together. And I agree, I like identity stories, but also that's not the entirety of who I am either!
CHUNG: Totally and the great thing about Jenny's writing and other writers on the show is that they pepper in details. It's not the main focus, but obviously, our experience as Asian Americans includes some of these elements like Sean (Kaufman)'s character Steven and experiencing these microaggressions at the country club. I love how Jenny introduced Miyeok Guk, seaweed soup, when we have an early birthday dinner. So it's nice to see the elements there, but refreshing that it's not the main focus. Because that's not how we live our lives.
And speaking about yourself, I always like asking Asian American actors how they've seen the industry change over time, and what has been your own personal journey with the industry?
CHUNG: I started in the theater. So, in terms of change on-screen, I'm seeing it as everyone else is seeing it. Because I feel like on my end, it hasn't changed that much. I was just doing theater for so long, and I found wonderful actors and Asian American theater companies as well as no-Asian American theater companies to work with, but they were telling a breadth of stories. But I do see on-screen, like our show that exists today, and so many films and other TV shows that are featuring Asian Americans, but I do feel like there's room for more. There's always room for more. Asian Americans are such a diverse group. There are so many stories and ours is just one of them, and I hope there are more.
Yeah, I definitely agree. I feel like, oftentimes, if you're not Asian American and you're looking at an Asian American story, you think there might only be a couple of facets because those are the stories that continue getting told, but then as you expand beyond that you realize it's actually a very deep well of culture. It's an entire continent, and I think sometimes people forget that.
CHUNG: Yeah, yeah. But there are so many cultures that we don't even know about as Asian Americans. Yeah, there are so many!
So just jumping back to Laurel, I love that she's not that stereotypical Asian mom, yes she's taking care of her kids and doing it all, but it's not embracing the stereotype I expected. I feel like often times with a teenager story, the parent is very controlling and with Asian parents, the whole 'Tiger Mom' mentality comes out. And, I love that Laurel isn't like that.
CHUNG: Oh, I loved seeing Laurel's character. Because, as you, mentioned, we've seen so many Asian identity stories, and often that includes immigrant parents and the generational gap between the kids who are born in the states and the parents who are born elsewhere. I relate to Laurel so much because I was born in the States and her kids are going to be my kids, you know, when they are teenagers. I feel like our experiences are closer than me playing an immigrant mother and a Tiger mother, because that's not how I'm raising my kids in my life. So I was really excited to see it, and for audiences to see that because, as you said before, we've seen so much of that identity and immigrant story, so it's nice that on the screen, you're like, "Oh, this is like a family I know!" And this is a life I can relate to and a life that I'm living. And how powerful is it that non-Asian Americans are experiencing this through Lola (Tung) and she's so magical and so talented and she has such an open and vulnerable face and presence. You can really live vicariously through her.
Yes! You definitely get the sense that Belly's perspective is a very teenage perspective on life. Which is very kind of sweet because you can look back on that time in your life as well and reflect.
CHUNG: Oh, yeah. I had so many friends – And actually, I've had a lot of people contact me, who I was surprised to hear were watching the show, but I think they were reliving that time for sure.
Yes, definitely. But I think for me, I also related to Laurel a lot. I'm not a mother but obviously, I relate more to her as an adult than my own mother, who also immigrated to this country. It's refreshing to see a mother figure dancing and hooking up with people and making mistakes. She's still a mom, but she's also her own person and has her own life in the show.
CHUNG: Yeah, that was huge! Because I do think sometimes you see a mother on screen and although the story does revolve a lot around the kids, we got to see the full life of a woman. Just because she's a mother doesn't mean she's not a person and she doesn't want things beyond her kids. And her focus isn't just her kids. She is single and she is looking for romance, and she is looking for partnership and friendship. She has other priorities and she wants a career. You can be a mother and one all these things as well, and pursue them.
And I love that she has a friendship with Susannah. That was big for me, because I feel like whenever we see TV moms with friendships, they just met and their connection is that they are mothers. Or they're just together to gossip or know each other by circumstance. I was really nice to see that these two people have been friends for a long time and still are those friends It's kind of like living a childhood dream where you and your friend promise to grow up and have kids and your kids will be best friends with each other!
CHUNG: Totally! Like, our kids will marry each other!
Yeah, I was like, this is the dream!
CHUNG: Yeah, the friendship is so wonderful, and I think it's true. Because I feel like we all go through so many romantic relationships in our lives, but it's your friends who are there throughout all of them, and their bond is so tight. It's just lovely to see two women who have each other's backs, who are with each other, even in the hard times, who can have fun with each other, who can gossip together, but who can hold each other when things are so hard.
It felt very real to me. There were definitely moments when it felt like I could imagine myself and my friends' similar scenarios.
CHUNG: Yeah, drink together, cry together. I'm so lucky that I was with Rachel (Blanchard) because we just got along instantly, and it was so easy.
I definitely got that sense. I just want to thank you for speaking with me, and I love the show. I found it a delight to watch. I love drama, I love romance stories, but also it was refreshing to see that type of family on screen and seeing them in a story that felt authentic. Not other identity stories aren't, but I like the diversity of content.
CHUNG: Thank you for saying that. I appreciate you taking the time to chat and for watching the show and I'm so glad that it resonated with you. Because I think that's what you hope for when you make any kind of art is that it can touch someone or make someone feel seen. Because growing up I didn't have a show like this. I didn't have a Belly to connect to and be like, "Oh, my stories matter too.' Or, 'I could be on that screen like that too." I'm really grateful and happy to be on the show.
The Summer I Turned Pretty is now available to stream on Prime Video.