Emily In Paris' Ashley Park reveals how cancer battle has made her more 'resilient'
Emily In Paris star Ashley Park has revealed how battling cancer as a teenager has left her more "resilient".
The actress, 31, is still in remission after undergoing chemotherapy for leukaemia at the age of 15 years old.
Speaking to The Sunday Times' Style magazine, she recalled: "Once the cancer was out of my body I felt it was still winning if I let it define me.
"I missed a semester of school but I didn’t want to go back and repeat it, I wanted to continue with my life and I was OK being a semester dumber than everyone else!
"I think not wanting to be defined by that has made me who I am today. It definitely made me more resilient, but I think I was always like that."I think it made me more solution-driven rather than ‘Let’s sit on this problem.’”
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Park, who grew up in Michigan, endured six rounds of chemotherapy and spent almost eight months in hospital.
At the time, the Make-a-Wish foundation flew her and her family to see a Broadway musical.
The star explained: "I loved musicals but never saw people who looked like me on screen, so never thought of musical theatre as a tangible career option."
However, she moved to New York after graduating from university and promptly landed parts in Mamma Mia!, Cinderella, The King and I and Mean Girls on Broadway.
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Park had been nominated for Grammy and Tony awards by the time she won the part of Mindy Chen in Emily In Paris in 2019.
She will appear alongside Lily Collins' Emily Cooper in the upcoming third series of the Netflix show.
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