Glow ( on Netflix) - Ellen Wong Interview

Glow on Netflix ( Ellen Wong as Jenny Chen, in the centre) 

Ellen Wong is throwing down the gauntlet on the hit Netflix series GLOW!

Season 2 of Glow begins streaming on June 27th and no one could be happier about the show's success than Canadian Ellen Wong! 

The Scarborough native is known  known for her roles as Knives Chau in the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Jill "Mouse" Chen in The CW's series The Carrie Diaries, and now she's hit the wrestling ring as Jenny Chey in the Netflix series GLOW.

GLOW is an American comedy web television series created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch.[The series revolves around a fictionalization of the characters and gimmicks of the 1980s syndicated women's professional wrestling circuit, the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (or GLOW) originally created by David McLane.

Set in Los Angeles in 1985, the show centres around Ruth Wilder,( played by Allison Brie)  a struggling actress, auditions along with dozens of other women in a fledgling professional wrestling promotion called the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW). She is at odds with GLOW's director Sam Sylvia due to her tendency to overact. When Ruth's former best friend, retired soap opera actress Debbie Eagan, arrives at the ring, their confrontation promises to either make or break the show.

Ellen Wong plays Jenny Chey one of the wrestlers whose professional name is "Fortune Cookie."    Wong, the eldest of three daughters, was raised by two Cambodian immigrants of Chinese descent who moved to Canada as refugees after escaping the Cambodian genocide in the late 1970s.  Wong says she is thrilled to see more diverse characters being shown on the big and small screens and is thankful for her role in Glow. She went all out for audition putting together a tape in which she slathered on makeup, wore neon shorts over a one-piece bathing suit, and jumped on bleachers to get into her wrestling persona.

Wong’s faith in the show grew when she learned that the creators wrote her character as Cambodian after meeting her. For Wong, the move was huge considering how little she saw Cambodians on screen growing up.

She is thrilled that people are loving GLOW and can binge watch it again and again on Netflix if they choose.  Season 2 digs more into the lives of the Glow gals and you can bet that Jenny Chey has a few secrets to divulge in and outside the wrestling ring! 

I spoke with Ellen Wong about working on the show and why it's been one of the best roles of her career to date!