Sandra Oh Takes ‘Killing Eve’ Break with Dramady ‘The Chair’

This image released by Netflix shows David Morse, from left, Sandra Oh, Cliff Chamberlain and Ian Lithgow in a scene from “The Chair.” (Netflix via AP)
This image released by Netflix shows David Morse, from left, Sandra Oh, Cliff Chamberlain and Ian Lithgow in a scene from “The Chair.” (Netflix via AP)
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Sandra Oh Takes ‘Killing Eve’ Break with Dramady ‘The Chair’

This image released by Netflix shows David Morse, from left, Sandra Oh, Cliff Chamberlain and Ian Lithgow in a scene from “The Chair.” (Netflix via AP)
This image released by Netflix shows David Morse, from left, Sandra Oh, Cliff Chamberlain and Ian Lithgow in a scene from “The Chair.” (Netflix via AP)

Sandra Oh has been dancing with death and serial killer Villanelle on “Killing Eve” since 2018, so she could do with a laugh.

That’s one of the reasons the Canadian-American actor took on the role of Professor Ji-Yoon Kim, the newly appointed head of a prestigious but struggling college’s English department in Netflix’s comedy-drama series “The Chair.”

As rewarding as she finds “Killing Eve,” Oh said, its darker elements make it “hard for me to shoot the show.... I feel like I’ve wanted to live in a comedy space.”

The six-episode “The Chair,” out Friday on the streaming service, blends humor with the daunting challenges that Ji-Yoon faces at a school beset by financial woes and generational clashes.

Enrollment in the English department is down and most of the professors are older, white and stuck in their ways — which doesn’t go down well with the politically correct students of Pembroke University.

Ji-Yoon’s relationship with her headstrong, grade-school daughter Ju-Hee (Everly Carganilla) is rocky as well. The series from actor-turned-showrunner Amanda Peet attempts to show family relationships in a realistic and complex way.

“I moved into the mother part of my career, and usually it’s kind of been a death knell for actresses,” Oh said. “I realize it’s because the parts for the mother aren’t that great. But the ones that I am playing are very full, multidimensional and rich to play.”

While most of the show’s cast, which includes Jay Duplass, Holland Taylor, Nana Mensah and Bob Balaban, have been to college, Oh didn’t attend.

Indeed, the show’s focus on academia was not a pull for the Canadian-born daughter of South Korean immigrants. It was her character’s name that she noticed first.

“I can, very slowly over my career, note the change that has happened, to be actually able to put a Korean name and have all the characters say your name. It really appealed to me,” she said. “It says something because it normalizes things that you don’t realize that in everyday life (are) normal. So it needs to be normalized on screen.”

“The Chair” was filming in Pittsburgh in March when a series of shootings in the Atlanta-area left eight people dead, six of whom were women of Asian descent. Oh felt compelled to make her voice heard at an anti-violence rally on a Pittsburgh street corner.

“I just knew I didn’t want to be alone. I wanted to gather with other Asian people,” she said. She discussed it with the cast and crew, “who really responded so beautifully because these things are important to them as well. So even though it was a tricky time during Covid, because we still need to do our jobs and continue shooting, it was very important to all of us to be in (the) community and to hear each other.”

Oh said she hopes her screen portrayals make a difference when it comes to representing people of Asian ethnicity.

“I feel like what I can do in my work far outweighs anything that I could possibly say in a rally or a tweet or even in an essay, because that’s not the medium that I am at my best, that I feel I can communicate the most in.”

Oh has been in London filming the final season of “Killing Eve,” which in 2018 earned her a best drama series actress Emmy nomination — the first for an Asian actor in the category. She’s had two other nominations in the category since. She’s hoping to tie up the twisted relationship between her character, Eve Polastri, and serial killer Villanelle (Jodie Comer), while remaining “truthful″ to the characters.

There’s another role of Oh’s that has touched audiences: her portrayal of Dr. Cristina Yang in the long-running hospital drama “Grey’s Anatomy.” Oh left the hit show in 2014. Early in the pandemic, people stuck at home tuned in to — or discovered — the show and gathered on social media to discuss plotlines from recent and older seasons.

“I do think the show was a real comfort to a lot of people during the pandemic,” she said. “It’s amazing to be a part of a show that gives that type of comfort or familiarity to people. It’s a great, great privilege. I’m happy if people rediscovered it or discover for the first time.”



Disney Launches Stage Musical 'Hercules' in London

FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
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Disney Launches Stage Musical 'Hercules' in London

FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

Disney takes London audiences back to Ancient Greece with its new musical "Hercules", bringing alive its 1997 animation on the West End stage.

Showing at composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the show is inspired by the much-loved Disney film, itself based on the ancient myth.

It follows the titular character and son of Zeus who, upon losing his immortality as a baby due to the plotting Hades, god of the underworld, goes from zero to hero to stop his uncle from taking over.

“It's a myth that reflects contemporary culture and still honors the DNA of (the) animated movie," Robert Horn, who wrote the show's book with Kwame Kwei-Armah, told Reuters late on Tuesday at the musical's press night.

"It's its own new thing and yet fans of the movie will absolutely come and recognize it and love it.”

Central to the show are the five Muses, who sing their way through the story with energetic gospel-like tunes and plenty of costume changes, Reuters reported.

"I think I speak for all of us ... we have idolized these women. We have looked at these women and seen ourselves in times when we weren't really represented," actor Malinda Parris, who plays Calliope, said. "So being able to be that representation for other young girls ... who ... want to be The Muses ... it's living the dream."

The show differs from the movie in several ways, including Hercules' mentor, Phil, no longer being a satyr but a taverna owner.

“The main thing is that he still is there ... to love and support Hercules on his journey," actor Trevor Dion Nicholas said.

"It really is about building this bond between the two of them that kind of builds this paternal relationship that I think we were able to deepen more so than the animated film was."

"Hercules" is the latest Disney stage adaptation in London, showing in the same theatre where the hit show "Frozen" ran up until last year.

It features songs written by Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricist David Zippel from the animation, including "Go the Distance" and "Zero to Hero", as well as new tunes.