Three new cast members for HBO’s “The Sympathizer” include Sandra Oh
Kieu Chinh and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen will also recur in the series starring Robert Downey Jr.
Sandra Oh will join HBO.
The Emmy winner, who concluded production on AMC’s Killing Eve earlier this year, has joined the cast of the drama series The Sympathizer on the premium cable network. Kieu Chinh and Nguyen Cao Dy Duyen are also on board the Robert Downey Jr.-executive-produced drama. Each member of the three will have ongoing roles.
The Sympathizer is a cross-cultural satire and espionage thriller that will premiere in July 2021. It centers on the Captain, a Communist spy who is half French and half Vietnamese who operated during the last stages of the Vietnam War and was exiled to the United States as a result.
The series, which is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen, is produced by A24.
As the Captain, Hoa Xuande (Cowboy Bebop) is joined by fellow Vietnamese-American performers Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Alan Trong. An extended search for actors in North America, Vietnam, Europe, and Australia led to the casting after a global open call. In The Sympathizer, Downey will play a variety of characters.
I’ll play, oh In the midst of a love triangle, emancipated feminist Sofia Mori starts to recognize the complexity of her own Asian-American identity.
Chinh, who immigrated to the United States with the assistance of Tippi Hedren, who also assisted her in finding work in Hollywood, and who is best known for her appearances in MAS*H and Dynasty — will play the Major’s Mother. Homesick for Vietnam, she doesn’t find an easy fit with her new circumstances, in contrast to her son who has jumped in feet first.
Duyen, aka Ky Duyen, who is the youngest child of Nguyen Cao Ky, a former vice president and prime minister of South Vietnam, and who hosted the popular variety program Paris By Night, portrays Madame, the General’s wife and a beautiful and strong matriarch who is desperately trying to keep her daughter modest and her husband from falling apart as they start over as refugees.
The Sympathizer’s co-showrunners are Park Chan-wook (Oldboy) and Don McKellar (Last Night), with the former also serving as the project’s director. Coproduction partners for the show include HBO, A24, Rhombus Media, Cinetic Media, and Moho Film. Along with Team Downey’s Robert and Susan Downey and Amanda Burrell, A24’s Kim Ly, Rhombus Media’s Niv Fichman, Ron Schmidt, author Nguyen, and Moho Film’s Jisun Back. Production on the series is underway in Los Angeles and Thailand. A premiere date has yet to be determined.
Oh is repped by UTA, Principal Entertainment, and Hansen Jacobson. Chinh is with Allen Edelman Management, and Duyen is with Prestigious Powerhouse Agency.