Yes! Magazine Article

Cho Chang loves the girls not the boys February 2004, a father (who emigrated from Hong Kong to the UK) saw an advert on TV for the young Chinese girl character in Harry Potter film. He told his daughter about this. Katie Leung, who was 17 years old at that time, went to the auditions just for fun. And then, Katie got the role of Harry Potter's first love, Cho Chang.

Katie Leung was picked from a few thousand of girls which I believe has drawn her destiny closer to Emma Watson (who plays Hermione Granger). If "Yes!" didn't interview Katie face to face during her HK visit, all of you may not know "Cho Chang"'s crush is not on "Harry" but "Hermione".

She got the role as Cho Chang because of her natural and pure temperament.

It was almost the end of November. Katie Leung came to Hong Kong to promote "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" which will release on 22 December in Hong Kong. When I saw this girl for the first time, I knew one of the reasons why she can beat 5,000 girls and get the role: a good body figure and a sweet, pretty face.

The outline of Katie's face is like a traditional Mongol (the East people)'s face: a thick cranium; a flat, short but exquisite nose; thick lips; and, of course, the classical Chinese eyes. A lot of people may think the teenage Michele Monique Reis or Cecilia Cheung is prettier than Katie but both of them haven't got that "natural" look which Katie has. So she passed the test and became Cho Chang.

She loves Aaron Kwok and Stephen Chow the most.

Actually, this is not Katie's first time to Hong Kong. Since her parents were born in Hong Kong, she visits Hong Kong nearly every year to see her relatives. Each time she is in Hong Kong, the happiest thing for her is doing what most visitors would do - shopping and eating.

Since Katie loves Hong Kong so much, does she think about developing her career here?

A gentle and a little quiet, Katie replied immediately: "Yes, I really want to. When I was a kid, my father always bought some magazines from Hong Kong. I knew Aaron Kwok and Stephen Chow from those magazines. I like Aaron Kwok the most. If I get a chance to meet or work with him, I will be very happy!" When she was talking about her idol, you can notice her glow. She looks the same as she did in the scene when Harry meets Cho for the first time in the movie.

She wants to get an acting role as a mental patient.

Being an actress, Katie is absolutely new. But compared with the other new actresses, her start is incredibly different which makes everyone envious (the high cost of movie production and marketing in the Earth). Therefore, she would like to consider acting in the future. "I would like to act as a person who is suffering from a mental illness. It is because I want to experience different people's life and psychology through acting. It is a challenge to act someone's life."

Before the performance of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Katie had no experience in acting. She needed to smile in front of the camera and introduce herself in the first audition. Then she did a drama workshop with a few girls at the second audition. At the last audition, she did a screen test which was the scene where Harry invites Cho to the Yule Ball.

After Katie knew she got the role, she felt very surprised and happy. Katie said she thanks the movie company for giving her this opportunity. She wouldn't be able to work in the film industry (where the competition is intense) without this chance because she is an introvert. In addition, she met a lot of actors who were around her age and the atmosphere of the filming was great. It made her become more optimistic.

She knows Emma the most out of the Harry Potter cast and crew.

When we mentioned of Daniel Radcliffe (who plays Harry Potter), she answered very courteous: "They [the other actors] are very nice. We are all good friends. "Harry" is a great guy and is very nice. He is a gentleman." Her reply is very polite. "Actually, I don't know him very well but I know Emma Watson the most. Maybe it's because we are both girls. We exchanged our views of make-up, dress sense and shopping."

Let me quote what the English always said: Naturally.

She is looking forward to a date.

When I asked a question about love, I saw Katie blushed rapidly.

"Oh my god! I haven't any boyfriends. Many people say there must be so many guys who want to date me but I find there's no one in fact. I want to fall in love with someone. I love the kind of guy who has a good sense of humor, and is taller and braver than me. The appearance is not important." What a simple requirement. If I ask a Hong Kong girl, her answer may be "the appearance is not important, the only thing is endeavour."

In the near future, Katie will continue her study and, of course, she will be still playing Cho Chang in the fifth Potter film next year. In fact, Katie hadn't got many parts in the previous film and there wasn't so much between "Harry" and her. But it said that she will have a kissing scene with "Harry" in the next film! When she was talking about the kissing scene, she seemed to look forward to it while was embarrassed at the same time. It made me feel as though she has never fallen in love with someone before.

We spoke in English during an hour long interview. As I spoke in Cantonese and discussed with the photographer how to show Katie's long legs in the best way, I suddenly found that she seemed to listen to us. And then we gave a very secret smile to each other. Her foreign assistance didn't understand what was going on. Katie is so "Cho Chang" at this moment. No wonder!

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