Joy Ride star Ashley Park opens up on coping with racism in Hollywood

Joy Ride star Ashley Park has recently opened up on how she copes with racism in Hollywood.

Speaking to PEOPLE for July’s digital cover, Park, who plays the role of Audrey in the movie, revealed she “understands” her character “so well”.

Park, who grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the daughter of Korean immigrants, said, “I want to acknowledge that I'm complicit and completely figuring out a way to be a part of that world. I am Audrey in that way.”

Elaborating on how she manages to deal with prejudice in the industry, the actress, who rose to fame with her character Mindy Chen in Emily in Paris, mentioned, “It's an accommodating thing. It is what people do on a basic level and I did times a thousand to be everybody's safe place.”

“Because I always had a chip on my shoulder of 'Oh well, if that role wasn't supposed to be Asian, I probably would never have gotten it because I wasn't good enough,” she confessed.

Talking about changing her behaviour in her acting career, Park stated, “The reason code-switching really helped me as an actor is because I'm really good at immediately observing what somebody needs and what somebody feels safe with.”

“Not changing myself for that, but because it makes me feel good to be that for them. But that compromised me as a person a lot.”

However, Park pointed out that Joy Ride is the first movie she doesn’t have to code-switch because the director, writer as well as stars were all  Asian.

“I didn't have to code switch for anyone, and I could just be there as myself. I can be me,” concluded the actress.

Meanwhile, Joy Ride is in theatres now.