KPop Demon Hunters voice actress Arden Cho opened up how playing Rumi in the hit Netflix animated film helped her heal.
In an interview on the The Kelly Clarkson Show, Arden opened up about her journey growing up as a Korean-American born in Texas and the identity struggles that shaped her early life.
"Growing up with this confusion of identity, feeling like there's not a place for me. I'm Korean, Korean-American, I'm Asian, I think I'm American. I'm born in Texas, I thought I was Texan and then you know, when people ask where are you from, that's not what they are looking for, right? So I think it was this thing when I felt, then when I started as an actor I felt it was really hard to find my identity and who I was, and it was almost like sometimes I wasn't Asian enough, sometimes I was too Asian, or I wasn't the kind of Asian people expected me to be," she relayed.
The actress admitted that in her younger years, she felt pressured to conform to societal expectations before eventually embracing her heritage. "I think the early part of my like 20s and 30s I just kept trying to be just perfect, or maybe who I wasn't and then in my 30s, I really just embraced my Korean culture and who I was," she remarked. "And I feel like that has helped me figure out who I am and become the woman I am supposed to be."
She pointed out that Rumi's journey closely mirrors her own. "And I feel like Rumi goes through that as she sort of battles hiding who she is, and then when she comes to Celine (adoptive mother of Rumi) and it is like, 'why can't you love me?'" she stated.
Arden added that portraying Rumi allowed her to process her own experiences and find healing through the character’s vulnerability.
"So many of us trying to to figure out who we want to be and I think as woman we just have so many pressures to be perfect, to be beautiful, to be bold but not too bold, strong but not too strong, and I feel like I just related with [Rumi] so much and I love that again her sort of losing it all, breaking down, and being exposed was the thing that helped her rebuild," she remarked.
KPop Demon Hunters centers on Huntr/x, a K-pop trio juggling their superstar lives with a hidden mission which is battling demons. Their double life takes a dangerous turn when they clash with the Saja Boys, a rival boy group whose members are revealed to be actually demons.
In the movie, Rumi is the lead vocalist of Huntr/x and the daughter of a demon father and a deceased demon hunter mother.
Back in December 2025, Netflix announced that KPop Demon Hunters reached 500 million views since it premiered on their platform.
The animated film recently won Best Animated Feature at the 31st Critics' Choice Awards and 83rd Golden Globe Awards.
The movie is directed by Maggie Kang.