In a new interview with Arden Cho, the actress talks about how Teen Wolf breaks stereotypes when it comes to her character Kira Yukimura.
Kira was introduced in the first episode by her father, the new history teacher at Beacon Hills High. In an embarrassing move by Mr. Yukimura, Kira is put front and center in the middle of his classroom, much to her chagrin. And just like any other dad, he doesn’t seem to understand when to use tact.
You can check out the video from ISAtv below:
Cho describes Kira as quirky and fun, just an average high school girl. She praises Teen Wolf for breaking stereotypes, and for being as accurate as they can about her ethnicity. For example, once Cho was cast in the role, the creators changed Kira from a Japanese-American student to someone who was a Japanese/Korean-American student.
“They don’t ever make her ‘the Asian girl,'” Cho says. “She gets to be like any other main character on the show.”
“I love that she has a really sexy mom,” she continues, talking about Tamlyn Tomita. “And they actually show that side of her a lot, which I think is great because how many times do we see Asian families on TV and they are so stereotypically your immigrant, Asian family?”
Cho goes on to talk about how right before she was cast as Kira on Teen Wolf, she had decided to focus more on her singing career than her acting career, and was so grateful for the opportunity the show gave her, saying it was her dream job.
Kira’s presence on the show has been well-received by fans, even giving the popular ship of Stiles and Lydia a boot in our Battleships tournament.
Kira will return to Teen Wolf on next week’s episode, scheduled for January 20 at 10 p.m. ET on MTV, which will include another scene of her father embarrassing her.