Maria Zhang was recently seen playing Suki in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. The actress has impressed several fans of the series with her portrayal of the leader of the Kyoshi warriors. However, before being popular for her breakout Netflix series, the Polish actress had her fair share of struggles and had an interesting journey in her career.
Avatar: The Last Airbender Netflix live-action adaptation has generated a lot of hype among the viewers. Despite garnering a mixed reception from all around, the live-action adaptation of the famous animated series managed to attract a record-breaking viewership for its visuals and performances.
What did Maria Zhang say about her journey?
Maria Zhang did not have a primary role in the first season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. She was a guest star in the second episode titled Warriors of the Netflix adaptation. During an interview on The Wayne Ayers Podcast, when Maria Zhang was asked by the host to share more about her “interesting journey”, the actress shared that she was introduced to acting by her grandma.
The All I Ever Wanted actress shared that she was born in Poland to a Polish mom and Chinese dad but mainly grew up in Beijing. Maria Zhang went to a Chinese primary school and learned English in an International school.
“I actually learned English in international school. That’s where I kind of found acting. I would go back to uh Poland every summer and do this like summer Theater Camp like Community Theater. It was small, it was for a Tiny Town by the countryside like literally like rehearsing on the fields and like putting up a show at an abandoned train track and the whole town just like bringing little pillows and so that was like my start in acting.”
Zhang added that soon after graduating from USC with a BA in theater, she auditioned for numerous roles and somehow “stumbled upon Avatar”. She admitted that “it’s been a journey” all over the world.
The 24-year-old actress stated in an interview with Mixed Asian Media that her grandma found a newspaper clipping asking for young actors for a community theatre show of Alice in Wonderland. That was her first venture into acting and when she shared her interest in acting with her parents, they were very supportive.
Later in the interview with Wayne Ayers, the actress also shared that she knew nothing about the Nickelodeon series before being cast as Suki in the series. Even after that, the fans loved her portrayal and want to watch more of her in the future seasons.
What is the future of Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender?
Despite garnering a mixed reception, Netflix’s Avatar: The Last Airbender has attracted a record-breaking viewership. It has even surpassed One Piece’s live-action adaptation in viewership stats. The fans were delighted when recently Netflix announced that Avatar: The Last Airbender has been renewed for two more seasons.
The OTT giant has a notorious reputation for canceling good TV shows midway. The fans were afraid of the same treatment in this series as well. However, Netflix relieved the fans by renewing it for future seasons similar to the animated show. The Nickelodeon show also ran for 3 seasons and followed Aang and his friends’ journey across three worlds. Even though the live-action adaptation has gone through some deviations from the original work, it is expected to follow the same format.
More details about the future seasons are yet to unfold and it will also be interesting to see if the series can mimic the success of the first season. All the episodes of the series can now be streamed on Netflix.
