Yvonne Chapman has always loved acting. She recalls early memories of play-acting in her bedroom and participating in school plays when she was a child. “For whatever reason I just felt really comfortable in front of a camera. I was a very shy kid; very shy to the point where I almost feel like I had social anxiety. It’d be so difficult for me to be in front of people,” she shared over a video call. “But for whatever reason—there was maybe some degree of separation from the people and myself in front of a camera—the camera really allowed me to be more expressive.”
It would be years before she found her way back to the passion. By her twenties, Chapman was working a corporate job in finance, one she genuinely enjoyed but that was gruelling nonetheless. It was early mornings through to early evenings, and then late nights and weekends were spent studying for an accreditation required for the job—a true hustle. Looking for a then temporary way out, she knocked on the doors of a love she had unknowingly shut out, and registered for weekly acting classes. “When I signed up for the acting lessons, it was probably the first time in a long time that I signed up for something that was purely just for me. It wasn’t out of productivity or a need to achieve anything.”
“What [those classes] had woken up in me again was something that had been quieted a long time ago, something that had been silenced. I remember that I did have quite an emotional response and resonance with being able to take up acting again. And I questioned at that point then why is it that things that make us feel more like ourselves, why should that be sidelined in my life as just a hobby, why not take that seriously? So then I did. I tried to take it seriously and here I am.”
By “here”, Chapman means one whole decade into her acting career, a feat marked by her latest project: A revenge drama co-produced by PCCW Media and the studio behind “Crazy Rich Asians”, SK Global. Titled “The Season”, the 6-part television series takes place during the annual boating season of Hong Kong’s elite society and was filmed entirely in the city Chapman calls a second home. Her grandmother and father’s side of the family live in Hong Kong, so she’s been paying regular visits since she was 10-years-old.
“Hong Kong is like a home away from home for me. Some of my fondest memories there are with my sisters. Our days would usually consist of mornings grabbing buns before hopping on the MTR to shop, explore, or visit family,” she recalled fondly. “One of my favourite things in the city is still riding the ‘ding dings’. I remember being so excited by them as a child because we didn’t have anything like that in Canada. I thought double deckers were the coolest thing. Even now, there’s something incredibly nostalgic and comforting about seeing the city from the top deck.”
In “The Season” though, Chapman’s Hong Kong has morphed into a world stripped of youthful innocence and the warmth of home. The actress plays Madeline Wong—niece to the city’s omnipotent Hext family—as she returns to the city following a life-altering scandal that suggests she’s not exactly welcome. Madeline boasts freshly dyed hair, a glamorous wardrobe, and new wealth beyond what most have ever held—a seemingly stark departure from other characters Chapman has played before. Most recently, the actress amassed a growing number of fans from her roles as Avatar Kyoshi in Netflix’s “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and as assassin-turned-anti-hero Zhilan Zhang in an American action-adventure series called “Kung Fu”. Both belonged to genres on the complete opposite end of the spectrum to “The Season”, yet Chapman insists these roles, like many of her others, compel her for the same reason. Not only are these women empowered, headstrong and well, badass—they’re incredibly human.
“The emotional throughput is quite similar in the sense that each character is distinctly very different, but the journey that they’re on of rediscovery has been that commonality between them. They’re all trying to search for something, whether it’s reinvention, a re-imagining of who they are, and how to take up space as who they are,” she explained. “I think that’s a very universal theme for so many women as well. We are constantly shedding different versions of ourselves, trying to reinvent ourselves, trying to find our place in the world. That’s a very beautiful thing that a lot of us and I myself can relate to. I’m really compelled to people who are works in progress.”
This compassionate approach to her work spills over from Chapman’s approach to her own life. More than ten years ago she gave herself the permission to begin again, to see how far a creative outlet could take her. The week after our interview, she had precious time off to herself that she dedicated to an intensive painting and drawing course in Florence that she’s always wanted to do. As with her decision to take up acting classes, this art course was for nobody but herself. “Nothing necessarily needs to come out of it,” she said calmly, resolutely. “But I think success is something that we can all define for ourselves.”
Later in our conversation, Chapman jokes that she knows she will have “made it in life” if she gets invited to be a judge on a show like “Nailed It!” or “Is It Cake?” It’s the absolute dream for a lover of “TV shows of wholesome competition” as she puts it. But in all earnestness, her pathway to true success is much simpler. It’s a recipe from the cookbook of her twenties that, in her thirties, satiates her all the same. “For me, the definition of it is at least I gave myself the self-compassion to just try something. So, I’m just looking forward to keep on trying.”
Photography: Enrico Brunetti
Styling: Foxla Chiu
Makeup & Hair Stylist: Klaudia Martini
Fashion Assistants: Audrey Kwan & Amy Lisa
Editor
Alyanna Raissa J. Payos
