Nicole Kang On Creative Pursuits, Solidarity and The New Season of 'Batwoman'

Nicole was virtually photographed and interviewed in Vancouver by Alison Engstrom

When did you realize you could turn you passion for performing into a career?

I still don’t know that to be true. I think it’s that perpetual endeavor of any artist to make a career. I feel like saying ‘a career’ is something you look back on, however, when you are in it, it’s always the pursuit of the opportunity—whether you are making that for yourself or you are blessed with someone who opens a door and says ‘yes’ and gives you a job. Even within that job, in order to stay active and inspired, there are things like this where I can collaborate with other types of artists or explore music. I think it’s important that the pursuit never dies. I also know that the drive within myself tells me I am doing the right thing. One of my favorite things about acting is that you get to try on all of these different lives and clothes but within that, there is still Nicole Kang and she is in pursuit of finding the perfect expression of her story and her art. It’s an interesting crosshair that I find myself in. It is different from any other art form because we have to be so malleable; of course, some roles are closer to us than others, but for me, I find my truest form of expression in writing and creating my own work. In New York I had a one-woman show; I’m this sort of Korean country singer in the biggest fantasies of my life (laughs). They are the expression all of the things about me that I felt were opposing or conflicting, it’s created this unknowing of myself for so long. I’ve found so far if you want to attract the thing that is closer to who you are, you have to make it yourself.

I feel like the past year or so has been a lot about that, making things work in a new and creative way. 

I felt like we were in this portal where we were just moving at the speed of light in a way that our lives would eventually have brought us to. I think because of the circumstances of the past year artists have done some incredible things, but their need to survive is connecting to other people. We rely on our community to continue and having been stripped of that, but people have done incredible acrobatics and how we have been able to bend our wills and our bodies has been astounding to watch over the past year.

Do you ever feel like since you have a career in this profession that in a way it has already prepared you for this time of so much ambiguity and uncertainty? 

A great therapist told me that when I feel like everything is very stressful that not everything will be as hard as the job you are pursuing. You are attributing the difficulties of your work to the difficulties of your life, so now the difficulties of life have risen far beyond my job. I have developed the muscles of talking to myself and asking myself, what is the most important thing that I have to do right now? Instead of getting ahead of myself, I ask myself, what is the present moment asking of me? That’s a question that is difficult for a lot of people to live in. They have an event or a vacation set and that has never been the case for me, so I think that way of living has translated to a more healthy, mental state of being.

Living in that certainty is uncomfortable for sure.  What would you say was the role that shifted things for you?

I was in the show, You, and that was a huge shift for me. It’s my same producer and even the same director for some episodes at Batwoman, Marcos Siega, who have seen me grow up. I remember I had never really been on a set before; I had been an extra and did some student films, a ton of theater but that was the first time that I had been on a set of that scale before. I remember I was in hair and makeup and felt like the most pampered and fabulous person (laughs).  I was walking around in my own music video. They told me we are going to be filming episode two and I had only received episode one, so as a theater or as any actor, I always thought my first time I was going to be so prepared and so ready but here I was sitting in a full panic in hair. I just told myself to breathe. I was very nervous all day because I didn’t know a lot of things and everyone seemed so glamorous and like a pro, but I came to realize it was other people’s first shows, too. The whole cast became family over time. It was Lee Toland Krieger, who was directing those first episodes. He came up to me and said, I saw what you did that was great. It probably seemed so minute to him but it took that director looking at me to think, I can relax and that I can control what I am doing. 

Those positive interactions are so important, plus, you understand how someone else might feel in the future too.

I am such an empath; when we have guest stars, I can feel their energy. I like to say, you are doing incredible. If we have time and a lot of scenes together I definitely make an effort to rehearse with them. My favorite part is when you feel the trust and you can feel entitled in a good way to the space and the scene. Maybe you can try something or something comes about that you didn’t anticipate— it’s like lightning in a bottle—that’s what we are trying to capture. 

We were talking about how you moved from New York to LA, how has that transition been for you?

I always say New York was my coming of age story, it was my cultural awakening. In that way, I owe it so much. All of the hard lessons and the big triumphs for me, at the beginning of my career, all happened in New York City, which is like the prologue of a book. The move to LA was for work since I am in Vancouver shooting Batwoman. I thought it would be great to have my US-base be in LA since I am here for ten months out of the year. 

Congratulations on the new season of the CW Batwoman. What has it been like to play the part of Mary Hamilton? 

Like many actors, I entered into pilot season and the first one I received was Batwoman. I read the part of Mary Hamilton and saw that it was my same producers, plus I really connected to her. I always say that part has to fit you like a glove but the sides always have to be difficult enough so you can do your thing. She was described as this influencer by day and by night she was running an illegal underground clinic. I thought that was such a flip on a cover and what she was hiding was this huge underground clinic serving Gotham’s underserved. She has been harboring these criminals along the way but she has this huge heart. The epitome of all of that is we have Batwoman, and Alice who is going to be the series villain and I am the third sister. To be the third point in that triangle of Batman and Joker and for her to be Asian, I thought, I cannot wait. I went into the audition and thought nothing of it. I auditioned on a Tuesday and by Friday I found out I was testing; by that next Monday, I was being flown out to LA. It was beyond my wildest dreams. 

In a past interview you said how the producers wanted the cast to represent the diverse world we live in, it’s awesome how Javicia Leslie has taken over as Batwoman. It’s so great to see the evolution in the DC comic world, it’s much needed since so many younger people look to these worlds and maybe don’t see themselves reflected. 

I think about myself and if I was growing up and could have looked to the screen and seen myself represented, I feel like I would have been able to dream a lot bigger, not necessarily become an actor, but to see somebody who was strong, prominent and not a stereotype. I wouldn’t think my only options in life were to be what my parents and grandparents were, to maybe run a convenient store or nail salon. What you are exposed to can become your destiny. To be in collaboration and to be able to write different possibilities for a Korean girl is my greatest honor. It doesn’t get past me at all how important the role is that I get to play. It definitely fuels me at work. I still have never been to set and felt like, this is a drag, this is work. There is something exhilarating when they say ‘action’, it’s this out-of-body experience. I think if I told myself I’d be doing this be ten years ago, I would have never believed it.

Last year was a challenging one to say the very least from the pandemic to a racial reckoning with BLM. One thing that I want to raise awareness on and is very upsetting is the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans especially in New York but all over the country.

I started this collective called Asian We Stand in the wake of the events from last March and April. I went through this deep interviewing process that I posted on Instagram and I  intend to continue. I was living in New York in March of last year—I lived for many of my years in New York in Chinatown—and I was hearing these stories of women and men who looked like me and it was terrifying. For the first time, I had a terrible experience on the subway and I thought, okay, I don’t think anyone is paying attention and what does that mean? I was having a lot of conversations with my elders; I spoke to someone whose dad worked at the postal service in Queens. It’s a lot of maybe I don’t speak the language so I don’t feel comfortable going to the police; also, I don’t want to aggravate the people in my neighborhood by bringing the police into my store. It is just swallowing the hate crime. It’s very sad because they feel like no one is listening, which is really the huge detriment of this news cycle coming back now—this is the tragic part of this for me because we hurt. 

There are a lot of things we need to heal in our country, we are fractured in a lot of different ways. As we pay attention to one minority of people, there is room to lend a hand and use the same tools, fervor, and vitality that we have to a bunch of different communities. Solidarity is my biggest endeavor, so I try my best to pay attention. I interviewed a ton of Asian professors, working professionals, CEOs, and scientists across the country and I had deep conversations with them. It was the first time in an interview I didn’t want to hear what their favorite Asian snack was or when they arrived in the US. I wanted to talk to them about what they do, their profession, and what they think and feel about the rise in hate crimes. The conversations that ensued were very enlightening and empowering. 

What’s next for you? 

I am working on a short film of my own making. It’s an homage to my parents—my dad immigrated to Colorado in the 60s and he is just my Korean cowboy. I grew up on Patsy Cline, she is my absolute icon and favorite music artist of all time. On my mom’s side, she immigrated to the Bronx, so I have these two sides of myself, I am always exploring those roots. 

I love it, You are an urban cowgirl! 

Right, and once you get to know me, everything falls into place (laughs). I am also working on my own country music. It’s really hard to get your music out there if you don’t have a platform so that’s one of the most beautiful gifts of all that this career has given me, the platform I have. The good of social media these days is we can seek out and find other communities. 

Follow Nicole Kang on Instagram

Stream new episodes of CW’s ‘Batwoman’ on Mondays

This interview was edited slightly for clarity.