Chao has been on a publicity march for nearly two weeks, hyping the release of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, in which she plays Ye Wenjie—a genius Chinese scientist now living in England who, depending on your point of view, either rescues humanity or condemns us all to our doom. The series is the first substantial work from showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss since the end of Game of Thrones.
I was so nervous because I was like “my baby will be hungry,” and she just calmly said “he’ll be fine.” You also gave birth on Star Trek, and the mighty Klingon warrior Worf was your midwife. Yes, that’s how Michael Dorn and I got close. He stood between my legs for eight hours. Joy Luck Club was a phenomenon. I rewatched it last night—was it annoying that you had to do your big speech with Andrew McCarthy in the pouring rain? When we rehearsed that scene it wasn’t working.