Katie Leung

Actor

Katie Leung is the young woman chosen to play Cho Chang, Harry Potter's love interest in the 2005 film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Leung was born in Scotland to Chinese parents who had immigrated from Hong Kong, and was attending the upscale private school Hamilton College when she won the part in an open casting call. (Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling reportedly insisted that a complete unknown be cast as Cho Chang.) The casting generated intense interest among Harry Potter fans, since Cho Chang gives the boy wizard (played by Daniel Radcliffe) his first kiss in the book Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Leung and Radcliffe did indeed smooch onscreen in the 2007 film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Extra credit: Some sources list Leung's birthdate as 12 April 1988, but Who2 is unable to confirm this... According to a 2004 article in the Sunday Mirror, Leung's father "was running a Chinese take-away in Inverkeithing, Fife" when he married Leung's mother in 1986. "He built up his business interests and is now a millionaire with a successful restaurant in Glasgow city centre and a thriving Chinese food wholesale business."

Other Harry Potter actors include Emma Watson (Hermione), Robert Pattinson (Cedric Diggory) and Clémence Poésy (Fleur Delacour).

Blog posts mentioning Katie Leung:
Potter-Mania