Jessica Henwick

I had been in talks with Marvel prior to 'Iron Fist,' and I had researched all the prominent female roles that I was interested in. Colleen Wing came up really early in the process, and I had a strange feeling.

As a female actress - I've been doing this since I was a teenager - I often got approached with the ingenue roles: naive and wide-eyed and childlike.

When I came on to 'Iron Fist,' it was really Colleen Wing that sold it for me. I thought it was a good opportunity to see a really strong female Asian American.

I learned more on 'Spirit Warriors' than I think I have on any other job.

I turned down a lot of parts, and I ate a lot of canned tuna for dinner because I was just like, 'No, I don't want to do that; no, that's awful.' But sticking to my guns paid off, and I can look back now and be proud that I refused to take any stereotypical Asian parts.

I think, back in the day, the ultimate trifecta was considered 'Harry Potter,' 'Lord of the Rings,' and maybe 'Star Trek.'

I've shied away from playing Asian characters. if you look back, I'm playing characters that have no relevance to my ethnicity.

I was always going back and forth between Singapore and the U.K.

The U.K. and the U.S. are in different places. Don't get me wrong - I am there for the U.K. industry, and I am always searching for more roles to play there, but it's sparse.

There's something about fantasy and sci-fi that seems more welcoming of different ethnicities.

For me, I really liked the idea of playing a non-superhero on a superhero show.

It's very hard as an Asian actress to get seen for anything which isn't specifically Asian in England.