KPop Demon Hunters Star Tells How His Life Mirrors Main Character Rumi’s Journey

This is part of the BBC World Service’s Global Women series, sharing extraordinary interviews and stories from around the world.

“I hated looking Asian, not having blue eyes and blonde hair, because that was what was beautiful at the time,” says Arden Cho, the actress who voiced Rumi, star of the hit Netflix animated film, KPop Demon Hunters.

Cho, 40, describes her childhood in Texas, as the eldest child of Korean immigrant parents, and her struggle for acceptance into American society.

In the film, which tells the story of a female K-Pop trio who must save the world from the forces of evil, Rumi has to accept her identity as part human and part demon, and when Cho first read the script, this resonated powerfully.

“Being born in America, feeling American but having people treat me like I’m not American, trying to figure out my identity as an Asian American, as a Korean American, as a woman,” she says.

These were all elements of his early life that reflected Rumi’s journey.

“I can honestly say that at different times in my life I hated myself a lot and wanted to be someone else.

“When you’re a kid, what you see determines who you become and I feel like I didn’t see enough people who looked like me.”

When it was released on Netflix in June, KPop Demon Hunters recorded 33 million views in just two weeks and reached the top 10 of Netflix charts in 93 countries. Starring in the first Hollywood animated film set in Korea, with Korean leads, was for Cho “a dream come true,” but it has also made her a powerful role model for Asian American children, the kind she lacked when she was young.

Cho says many Korean Americans have told her it’s “such a refreshing moment,” making them proud for the first time of their dual heritage and culture.

“I feel like K-Pop has really, truly paved the way. K-beauty has had such a big impact on Korea being loved. But I feel like this movie is the one that pushed it over the edge: Now everyone wants to go to Korea,” Cho says.

But the film’s success was not guaranteed, and Cho says he felt the team who made it “sometimes faced an uphill battle.”

“I feel like it’s a bit unpleasant to say this, but every time there’s an Asian-led project, people feel like it’s a risk,” he says.

So when he took on the role, he made an effort to meet everyone working on the film in person, he says.

The film was released against a backdrop of increased immigration raids in the United States as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort, which sparked protests in many states.

As an Asian-American living in the United States, “it’s heartbreaking and disappointing,” Cho says. “Immigrants have made America what it is.”

Korean news sources have estimated that up to 150,000 Korean immigrants without proper documentation, including adopted children, are among those who could be deported.

As an adult, Cho realized that the racism she had experienced when she was younger was mainly due to a lack of education, as people did not know what it meant to be Korean or Asian.

“But now in this day and age, when I feel like the world and people should know better, it’s beyond disappointing and sometimes I feel like we feel very hopeless,” he says.

Because of this, it feels very special, he says, that KPop Demon Hunters can bring “hope, joy and love to all these different communities.”

“Maybe that’s why it’s like this summer movie, because we just needed some hope and something to bring us all together.”

The growth of AI is a major concern for the film industry, raising the possibility that it could be used to make a movie like KPop Demon Hunters in the future.

Cho says he is aware that AI is already being used to replicate actors’ voices, but he wants to “have hope in humanity” that people will continue to seek out human-made art.

“Sure, I’m sure they’ll have AI actors and singers. I know they already exist. I know our voices are already being manipulated, but I hope people have some respect, desire and love for something real.”

KPop Demon Hunters has also been dominating global music charts, with seven tracks from its soundtrack charting on the Billboard Hot 100. It has its own fan art and audiences around the world are demanding a sequel.

Cho tells us she wishes she could answer the question of whether that will happen, but she and fans will have to wait for Netflix or Sony Pictures Entertainment, which made the film, to give it the green light.

“I know there’s a lot of murmuring, I’ve heard wonderful things,” he says. “We’ll see, and I think everyone would riot if it didn’t.”

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