Katie Leung "would not want to go back" to her Harry Potter days.
The 38-year-old actress - who plays Lady Araminta Gun on Bridgerton - rose to fame as a child when she was cast as Cho Chang in the big screen adaptations of JK Rowling's wizard saga, and she is glad to be in a position with her career where she is "closer" to figuring out who she really is.
She told Entertainment Tonight: “I was so young at the time, and I was so easily influenced by what people would say about me because I didn’t know who I was.
"So I’ve come into Bridgerton having a really healthy focus on the work. I’m so glad I’m here. I would not want to go back to that time.
"Not because I had a bad time or anything, but it’s just really nice when you know who you are, and I’m still figuring that out, but I’m a bit closer.”
Katie first appeared in the franchise in 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - the fourth film in the eight-movie series - and reprise her role in Order of the Phoenix, the Half-Blood Prince, and both parts of the Deathly Hallows.
However, she didn't want to put too much pressure on whoever ends up playing Cho in HBO's Harry Potter TV revival.
She added: “For anybody really, [whatever] stage in their life, [my advice is] just to be themselves, because that’s what makes them unique.
“And to not let the kind of noise of other people get to you, because what you have already is a gift, and you should really just try and hold onto that.”
Katie recently told Variety she felt "completely lost" when she made her acting debut in the Harry Potter films.
Meanwhile, she also had to deal with backlash and racism while working on the movies, and she admitted she was "very curious about what people were saying" about her.
She told The Guardian newspaper: "I was Googling myself. Nobody could have stopped me, because I was old enough to make up my own mind."
She noted the racism "sat with her", and made her more reserved.
She explained: “I think it just sat with me, and it affected me in ways like, ‘Oh yeah, I made that decision because people were saying this about me.’ It probably made me less outgoing.
“I was very self-aware of what was coming out of my mouth. And for the longest time, I may have tried to make up for it and overcompensate.”
