Actress Gabby Wong on her first major role in Netflix series 1899, Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, and her love for Wong Kar-wai
- Hong Kong- born actress Gabby Wong is coy about 1899, a thriller set on a ship full of immigrants: ‘It could be supernatural … then you think it’s sci-fi’
- Wong acted with the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre before appearing in Star Wars spin-off Rogue One, and would love to work in Hong Kong
When you’re an up-and-coming actress, auditions mean everything. Just ask Gabby Wong, who had given birth to her son Henry four weeks before she was asked to self-tape for the new Netflix thriller 1899.
“I was actually left holding the baby,” she says, explaining how she had to repeat the trick a couple of days later when she met her director, Baran bo Odar, and co-star Isabella Wei over Zoom. And she nailed it.
“The period after you’ve given birth is a very raw time, [but] I just had to do it. There was no other way. And I just didn’t really think about it.”
The Hong Kong-born actress joins an impressive international cast including British actress Emily Beecham (Cruella) and actor Aneurin Barnard (Dunkirk) for a mystery story that has binge-watch written all over it. Set on a passenger ship loaded with immigrants, things start to get creepy when they encounter a second vessel adrift on the open sea.
