Ashley Park on Building Resilience and Practicing Gratitude

Sunday Pancakes with Celia Keenan-Bolger

ASHLEY PARK is a Tony Award nominated actress, currently starring as “Mindy” in the hit television series Emily in Paris. For her performance, she became the first Asian American Actress to receive a Critics’ Choice Nomination for “Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.” She will next appear in Bleecker Street’s upcoming feature Mr Malcom’s List. On stage, Park is perhaps best known for originating the role of “Gretchen Wieners” in the Broadway production of Tina Fey’s Mean Girls. In addition to her Tony nomination, she received Drama League, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Chita Rivera Award nominations for her performance in Mean Girls. That same season, Park garnered critical acclaim for starring as “Mwe” in KPOP, for which she won the esteemed Lucille Lortel Award for Lead Actress in a Musical and was nominated for her second Drama League and Drama Desk Awards of the season. Other Broadway credits include: Grand Horizons; Mamma Mia!; The King and I; and the recent revival of Sunday in the Park with George. On television, Park reunited with Tina Fey for Peacock’s new hit series GIRLS5EVA and was previously seen in the critically-acclaimed Netflix limited series Tales of the City. Other television credits include Apple TV+’s Helpsters and PopTV/Lionsgate Television’s Nightcap. Park is the proud recipient of Actor Equity Association’s 2018 Clarence Derwent Award, and in 2019 was honored with the inaugural Marin Mazzie Award for Empowerment by the Cancer Support Community. Her outreach as a social activist and a cancer survivor has stayed important to her through her dedicated work and support of service organizations such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. Park graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Musical Theater.

Weekly Round-Up:

• Listen to the Still Processing podcast episode with Cathy Park Hong.
• Read the Harvard Business Review article, “To Dismantle Anti-Asian Racism, We Must Understand Its Roots” by Lily Zheng.
• Listen to Krista Tippett’s On Being podcast episode, “A Life Worthy of Our Breath” with Ocean Vuong.
• Watch highlights of the late Marin Mazzie in The King and I, which she starred in with Ashley.