Zine Tseng’s Shou’an is the best character in ‘Young Sherlock’

Tseng spoke with JoySauce ahead of the series’ March 4 premiere to talk about building her character, working with Ritchie and how she’s learning in her career.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Daniel Anderson: A big part of the premise of the show is watching young Sherlock Holmes grow into himself. He has all this education and knowledge, but not much real-world experience yet. I always like asking actors, especially those who formally studied acting, what’s something you still rely on from your training, and what’s something school could never have prepared you for until you were actually on set doing the work?
Zine Tseng: Oh, to be honest, I am utilizing everything that I learned from school, especially from two of my professors. One is David Warshofsky. I used his method while I was doing my script analysis, and I use a lot of Natsuko Ohama’s work about voice and breathing in my acting. And what school wasn’t preparing for me was like the actual experiences. I would say, to be specific, communicating with directors and fellow actors. It’s quite different. It’s quite different from what’s actually happening on set.

DA: Your character was an original creation for this series, which I loved. I know for 3 Body Problem, you wrote a long letter to the showrunners about your character. Did you do something similar for this one?
ZT: No, because I imagine I got a lot of freedom in this newly created role. For 3 Body Problem, it was a character written in a book, and it had to be accurate and specific and deeply rooted in the culture. 

DA: Since this was an original character and you had more freedom, what were some of the background details or character work you built that we might not explicitly see on screen but that helped shape your portrayal?
ZT: I had a lot of freedom in working out the princess’ name. It was initially a random name for her. I was curious about what was an actual princess name in that period of time. I was doing research for that too. I worked closely with Matthew Parkhill, my showrunner and writer. I was very grateful for having this much freedom, but then I was scared because I couldn’t decide. I came up with a list of names that could be used for her and actual titles, because women from that period of time, even as noble as herself, couldn’t just be called by any name but a granted title by the Emperor. I came up with a list for him to pick, and each different character represented different meanings. For example, peace, long life, beauty, joy, happiness.

DA: Ultimately, what does her name translate to?
ZT: Shou’an. Shou means long life, and An means peace. So long life and peace.

DA: Did you have similar collaborative moments with Guy Ritchie while building the character?
ZT: He is such an intelligent man. He likes to grab stuff from here and there. Culturally from history, from religion, from language, from physical movement, from his understanding of martial arts and weapons. He just grabs everything and puts it in one line for his character to sound immensely intelligent. I benefited from that, but I had to really work hard to meet the standard, because English is my second language. I was asking if Guy could give me more time preparing for my newly written monologues—usually they were like half a page long. He was like, “Do you need five or 10?” I said, “Can I do like 15?” On my first day on set, he wrote me that judicial Bible monologue in the church. I remember wandering around the Oxford building thinking, “If I don’t do this, I’m going to dig a hole and bury myself.” In 15 minutes, I pulled it off. It’s so cool working with him.

DA: What impressed me so much was seeing an original character who is often several steps ahead. You’re just as clever as Sherlock and Moriarty, if not more so. How did you prepare the accent and cadence? There’s such a rhythm to how everyone speaks, and she carries herself with so much confidence.
ZT: For language, I put some really hard work in there with an amazing coach called Nick Trumble. He’s been coaching my British accent from the beginning of the show, even through the ADR sessions. I remember I had to stick my tongue out because I couldn’t get the sentence straight, then stick my tongue back in to talk like this. I was desperate to grab the British accent. I was in the green room practicing, and when Colin Firth came to me and said it sounded good, I felt so happy hearing that approval.

For the movement part, I started training one month before filming, especially for the first fight choreography. I was introduced to the amazing stunt team that embraced a heavy sense of Guy Ritchie style, which is modern and a mix of everything. He likes to establish irony in his choreography. I got to lift weights and learn weapons. I was stealing weapons from set to practice in the car and returning them the next day. I might have broken some of them, but that was cool.

DA: I love that each character has a distinct fighting style. Can you talk about developing her specific style?
ZT: Yeah, it’s very specific. My style was a mix of Western boxing and taekwondo, as well as kung fu, to get a taste of Chinese culture in there.

DA: What was it like seeing the finished action sequences compared to filming them?
ZT: We had very limited wire work. We were training really hard on flips and jumps. Watching it on the big screen stunned me because the movements were more detailed and more defined. When I was doing it, it felt intensely fast. One hundred percent energy and speed. The punches were real punches.

DA: Is there anything you learned from 3 Body Problem that you applied for Young Sherlock?
ZT: It’s jumping into an entirely different universe. Hearing your thoughts makes me think of Derek Tsang, my 3 Body Problem director. He taught me so much about framing and building a character in terms of developing a story arc—what I’m rooting for, my value, my legacy, my history, my background. I kind of stole that and used it in the Young Sherlock universe.

DA: The chemistry between you, Hero and Dónal is so fun. I love the distinct back and forth you have with each of them. What was it like building that dynamic?
ZT: Hero and Dónal are awfully sweet people by themselves, but in the series they were constantly in my way. That was a very interesting dynamic to keep offset. We tried to maintain some mystery between us. What was interesting is that Hero and Dónal were mind-competing even off set. They’d play chess in the green room and talk about golf, football, plays, authors, games, even Robert Downey Jr.. They’d cut into conversations to talk about scenes. From the beginning, I saw they were very smart.

DA: Were you much of a mystery fan before this?
ZT: Before this, I was more of a science fiction person. And way before that, I saw myself as a comedian or a Shakespearean actor playing at a park or amusement park. That’s kind of my vibe.

DA: Are you into true crime or documentaries?
ZT: I am in love with documentaries. I recently watched something that reminded me of how a film could be made. It was by Sean Penn. Into the Wild.

DA: To wrap up, what are the biggest things you’re taking away from this experience—especially working with Guy?
ZT: I’m definitely taking my experience with Guy to my next project. I remember walking up to him and saying I had this strange feeling I couldn’t help but try to please him in the scene. As an actor, that’s not healthy. He was honest and said that’s normal, but he was happy I caught myself. He said I should work on it.

I asked him to come to me as much as possible because I needed praise. English is my second language, and dialogue would change form. I needed time to settle my breath. He was very encouraging. After a few rounds, I told him I understood how he works. I asked if he builds a playground for actors and wants to see them enjoy it. He said he liked that. I saw other amazing actors who worked with him. They just enjoy themselves. The more fun they have, the better it works with Guy. That’s what I’m stealing away.

DA: I’m so glad you had that experience. I’m excited to see what you do next. Before we go. What was your favorite outfit? You had incredible costumes.
ZT: In the first two episodes, I might have had seven outfits already, thanks to Jenny, our costume designer. She asked me at the beginning, “Zine, you cannot stop moving, right?” I said yes—that’s my character. She asked if I preferred skirts or pants. Definitely pants. So she designed something that looked like a Victorian dress from the outside when I was still, but I could kick and stretch and transform it into pants. That was my favorite. If I could steal anything, I’d take every piece home.