It’s a typical morning rush hour in Manhattan, New York City. The sidewalks of the city’s buzzing financial heart are teeming with a bustling crowd that’s moving along with a frenetic pace. Amidst the sea of professionals in dark suits, the only woman of colour stands out. Clad in a powder pink suit ensemble, she’s strutting down the street determinedly with purpose in her stride.
Meet Asian American lawyer, Ingrid Yun, who’s also the lead character of Partner Track, Netflix’s new contemporary legal drama. And bringing Ingrid to life? It’s none other than actress Arden Cho, of Teen Wolf and Chicago Med fame.
“Shooting in Manhattan is a big event. It’s a busy city, and there was a lot of pressure,” says Cho, of the scene described in the opening paragraph. “In that moment, I realised how powerful a walking scene could be. The scene defines it as Ingrid’s world, and we get to see the show from her lens, in her voice, while we’re in her shoes.” This scene also serves as the opening sequence of both the trailer and the first episode of Partner Track.
“That’s a really special scene for me, and it didn’t hit me until I was watching it while recording the voiceover for the opening. When I was filming it in that moment, all I was thinking about was me walking. It’s only afterwards when I watched it – I just started crying,” she tells me with a small laugh, picking up her coffee – she takes it black – after a pause. We’re chatting whilst comfortably ensconced in a business meeting room within Cho’s hotel in town – the actress was in Singapore last month for a brief holiday mixed with a couple of press days for Partner Track.
You were crying in the sound booth? I parroted back to her, surprised. “Yeah, because I was like, oh my gosh, little Arden would have given anything to see a show like this,” she says with a shrug. “[A show with] an Asian American woman is walking down the streets of Manhattan [as] the main character…I can’t think of another time that I’ve seen that.”