Katie Leung Went From ‘Harry Potter’ Star to ‘Bridgerton’ Villain After Walking Away From Acting
Katie Leung, who played Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films, has returned to the screen as Lady Araminta Gun in Bridgerton Season 4 — after years of self-doubt, a photography degree and a complete restart of her acting career.
Leung appeared in five of the eight Harry Potter movies, but the massive success of the franchise didn’t serve as a simple career launchpad. Instead, it left her paralyzed by expectation.
“I remember coming out of it and thinking, ‘Nothing’s going to beat it,’ because it was so successful. I remember being lost, going, ‘What’s next? People will have these high expectations of me topping it, and it’s never going to happen,’” she told The Guardian in February.
“I think I was so afraid of meeting these expectations that I gave up, or didn’t give myself the chance, after it, to try and continue acting,” she said.
Rather than push through, Leung stepped away entirely. She started a degree in photography, distancing herself from the world that had defined her early life.
Then, near the end of her studies, she got a part in a play. On stage, she remembers thinking, “No, actually, this is what I want to do.”
That realization led her to study drama at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. It was a deliberate choice to recommit to acting on her own terms, this time with formal training.
Even with renewed determination and professional training, the industry didn’t always see her full range. For a long time after drama school, Leung was mainly considered for roles that were “these kind of epic tales of the east, whether that be North Korea or China. Deep, dark subject matters.”
In the BBC drama One Child, she played the child of a Chinese mother, adopted by a British-American couple. In Channel 4’s Run, she portrayed an unauthorised migrant.
She enjoyed the work, she says, “and it gave me the chance to be more knowledgable about the world, and the injustices that happen around us all the time.” But it also felt limiting.
“It’s one of these things where just because there weren’t many roles out there, I was incredibly grateful to be considered,” Leung said. “A large part of that was me, again, giving myself a hard time, thinking I wasn’t deserving of anything.”
Now, Leung is playing Lady Araminta Gun in Bridgerton — a major antagonist in the romance between Sophie (Yerin Ha) and Benedict (Luke Thompson). It’s a significant departure from the types of roles she was previously offered.
“I feel really blessed, genuinely,” she told The Guardian. She noted she is used to huge productions — her first role was, after all, Cho Chang. “It feels quite familiar, in a sense. Also I’m older, and at a place in my life where I’m not too fazed going into something seemingly so huge.”
The response to Bridgerton has “been amazing,” Leung told People, and she’s “definitely” down to reprise Lady Araminta Gun in future seasons.
She approached the question of what comes next for her character with humor. “I don’t know what she would do, though, if I came back. She’s had her comeuppance and everything,” Leung says.
“Maybe it’d be something like a new romance for Araminta, because I think that’s what she needs. She needs a bit of love in her life — or a third husband. Or a grandchild!”
All episodes of Season 4 of Bridgerton are out on Netflix now.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
This story was originally published March 2, 2026 at 4:56 PM.
