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'Emily In Paris' star Ashley Park says she was almost cast as her own cousin's wife in new Netflix show 'Beef'

Apr 3, 2023, 17:10 IST
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Both Ashley Park and her cousin Justin H. Min have starred in hit Netflix shows.Netflix / Christos Kalohoridis / Netflix
  • "Emily In Paris" star Ashley Park said she was almost cast as her real second cousin's wife.
  • Park and "Umbrella Academy" Justin H. Min discovered they were related in 2019.
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"Emily in Paris" star Ashley Park said that she was almost cast as her real-life cousin's wife in the upcoming Netflix show "Beef."

The new comedy-drama, which premieres on Thursday, follows two people who plot revenge after being consumed by a road-rage incident. Both Park and her second cousin Justin H. Min appear in the series, along with several notable Asian-American actors such as Steven Yeun and Ali Wong.

While discussing her role on "The Jennifer Hudson Show" on Friday, Park recalled how her agent had to tell the show's casting directors that Min and Park are related.

"There's another character in this show played by Justin Min," Park recalled. "The part they were first considering me for... the amazing showrunner, Sunny, he was considering me to play this character's pregnant wife. We have the same agent, Kevin, and Kevin was like: 'Oh wait, they're, like, very related.' They were like, 'Wait, really?'"

Park continued: "My mom's name is Sarah Min. That's her maiden name — and so we were like, 'No, we're like very much blood-related.'"

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Park said that this isn't the first time the second cousins have almost been cast as love interests.

"We've been asked to play love interests a couple of times so we need everyone to know that me and Justin are blood-related," the "Girls5Eva" star said. "We should not be playing husband and wife or lovers. That is not great."

In the end, Park was cast as a different character.

"I ended up with the part that I really loved that was very different from something I've played, but thanks to us being blood-related. Thanks, Justin," she said.

Ali Wong in "Beef."Andrew Cooper/Netflix

In "Beef," Park plays a "passive-aggressive" stay-at-home mom.

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Park and Min only learned about their blood relation a few years ago after reuniting in 2019. During an interview on Character Media's YouTube platform, Park and Min explained that they found out they were related after Min starred in the Netflix hit show "Umbrella Academy."

Park recalled that she was going to meet up with her Broadway friend, Emmy Raver-Lampman, who mentioned that she was bringing along her "Umbrella Academy" costar, Min.

When Park mentioned this to her mother, her mother looked up the show and started to "connect the dots" since she shared a surname with the "After Yang" actor.

"Then she went through her archives and found photos of her own wedding where my older brother was a ring boy," Min then explained. "So, your mom started texting you photos. You sent those photos to Emmy. Emmy sent those photos to me, and as I was driving to Emmy's house, I'm just getting photos of my childhood and my brother and I'm like, 'How do you have these photos? What is happening?'"

Park said the revelation was "hilarious" because Asian Americans are often asked if they are related when they have similar last names, but this is the one time when it was actually accurate.

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"Beef" premieres on Netflix on Thursday.

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