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Katie Leung is a Scottish actress who portrays Cho Chang in the Harry Potter films.

Personal life[]

Katie was born on 8 August 1987 in Dundee, Scotland to Peter and Kar Wai Li Leung, and spent most of her childhood in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she lived with her father (a native of Hong Kong), her stepmother, her brother Jonathan, and her half-siblings Nichole, Darren, and Will. Her father runs a restaurant in Glasgow, as well as a wholesale business in Chinese cuisine. Besides English, Leung can also speak Cantonese and some Mandarin. Leung attended Hamilton College, a Scottish private school in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire. She currently lives in London. Katie has visited various countries including: America, Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Turkey.

On 1 January 2023, for New Year's Day, Leung revealed on Instagram that her son, Wolf, had been born the previous Halloween.[2]

Career[]

Leung's father saw an advertisement for a casting call for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and suggested she try out. She waited for a total of four hours in line before she got in. Her audition only took five minutes and she heard nothing further for two weeks; she was then called for a workshop and thereafter got the part of Cho. She was selected for the role of Cho after beating over 4,000 other girls (including actresses Courtney Webb and Michelle Ang) in an open call audition in London for girls of East Asian appearance. She stated in an interview with the Daily Record that her Scottish accent probably gave her an edge in the casting room by making her stand out.

OOTP promo Cho Chang wand

Katie Leung as Cho Chang

Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Harry Potter, said he found Katie to be "awesome" and a "really amazing actress". Her best friend on set has been said to be Bonnie Wright who portrays Ginny Weasley in the films. Leung delayed plans to go to art college and university in order to film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. In the film, Katie and Daniel share an on-screen kiss, a fact that received much media attention. When asked whether she will be back for the sixth film, Leung responded, "I don't think so. Cho's mentioned briefly in the books, but they try to cram so much into the films that I don't think there'll be room for her." Leung has also provided the voice of Cho Chang in the video game adaptations of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. In July 2007, Katie was asked by Gold Label Records, a well known record company in Hong Kong, to play a main female character in a music video for a song called Love Coming Home (愛回家) by Leo Ku. Leung agreed as soon as she received the invitation, and filmed the movie in London in between busily promoting the new Harry Potter film. Leo described Katie's acting as "professional" and "mature". In September 2008, Leung made her television debut as schoolgirl Hsui Tai in the episode "Cat Amongst The Pigeons" of the series Poirot, based on the novels by Agatha Christie.

She also appeared in the 2017 film T2: Trainspotting, also starring Kelly Macdonald and Shirley Henderson. Leung holds two BA degrees in photography and theatre, which she obtained from the Edinburgh College of Art and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, respectively.

Filmography[]

Year Title Role
2021 Arcane Caitlyn
2011 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Cho Chang
2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Video game) Cho Chang
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2008 Agatha Christie's Poirot (Cat Amongst The Pigeons) Hsui Tai
2007 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game) Cho Chang
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2005 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

External links[]

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Notes and references[]

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