Developed by Miranda Kwok (The 100) and executive produced by showrunner Melissa Carter (Queen Sugar), the Fox drama series The Cleaning Lady follows Cambodian doctor Thony (Élodie Yung), who has given up the life she knew to bring her son to the U.S. for the medical treatment he needs to help save him. Now an undocumented worker struggling to make ends meet, Thony finds herself tied up with the mob in Las Vegas, cleaning up their aftermath in the type of situations that you don’t want to ask questions about.
During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, Yung talked about how involved she got with the series, never wanting to glorify crime, how relatable a mother’s struggle is, the responsibility of taking on a role like this, playing a real-life hero versus the superhero she played on the Netflix series Daredevil, working with the twins that play her son, the Thony-Arman (Adan Canto) dynamic, and her character’s journey to empowerment.
Collider: This is a deceptively really complex show. I didn’t know what to expect from the title, and then all of these things happened and just kept building on top of each other. Did you know all of that going into it? Did you have more of an awareness of where things would be headed, past just what the pilot would be?
ÉLODIE YUNG: I got really involved with everything we were doing, so yes, I was aware. When I first auditioned, no, I was not aware at all. They give you two scenes and good luck. Like you said, the show is very deceptive. We are tricking people. It’s set in Vegas and it’s very seductive with a lot of lights and glitz, with everything that can happen in this very sexy world of Vegas. But really, we’re looking at the people who are propping Vegas up, the invisible people. There are different layers. There are so many more layers added to it. For me, I felt like playing Thony was a bit like being Alice in Wonderland, but in a very horrible world. She’s falling, and it gets harder and harder and harder. She has to deal with so many things, in order to save her son.
There’s the fantastical side of it because most people don’t know what it’s like to work for the mob. But then, there’s the very realistic, grounded side of it with immigration and deportation, and all these other things happening. I love how it really marries those two things together because it gives you something that’s easier to relate to, even if you can’t necessarily relate to knowing what it’s like to work for a criminal enterprise.
YUNG: Yeah. What I think those show is doing is that there’s no glorification of crime and the mob. There’s no glamour in all of that. Really, what we’re trying to do is put the audience in the shoes of a simple human being who’s been forced and pushed into situations, and she has to struggle with whatever she can to get out of those situations alive and to survive. That’s what the goal of the show is. We’re telling an underdog story. We’re talking about the criminals and the undocumented workers in Vegas. We’re focusing on this woman, this mother, who’s alone and facing these choices, and she has to do anything she can for her son. There’s this bond she has with this other woman who is her sister-in-law, but really becomes more of her sister. Fiona is here undocumented, and she has two kids, and how do you deal with that when you’re a woman alone with two teenagers? Those questions are raised cleverly in the show because this is fiction, and it’s beautifully shot, but these are the questions we’re asking. How do you do these things, when you are a woman alone with kids, and you have no money? It’s inviting the audience to feel for them. Certainly, that’s how I approach the part.
Seeing the show, it’s easy to see why you would want to play this character, but you don’t know everything about who she’ll be when you sign on to do the show. Is it exciting when something like this comes your way? Is it terrifying? Is it, both of those things? Is that the point of it all for you? Is that what you like about acting?
YUNG: Look, I’m a starving actress. When I book a job, I’m just happy with whatever, to be honest with you. Maybe it’s tied to my ethnicity, but my rhythm of booking jobs is about two to three years, so I’m very grateful for any part. Now, when I have something like this landing on me, first, I’m super excited, but then there’s a responsibility about it. That’s why I got really involved with Melissa Carter and Miranda Kwok. We really worked as a team on this. I’m not doing another action movie. I’m telling an important story here, and I wanna tell it from a very truthful point of view, from what is true to me. On a daily basis, anything we could improve on, we did. Everyone on this team and the crew, because they cared so much about the story, brought their A-game. To me, it was so exciting just to book a job. But then, the responsibility of it really hit me, and I did my best. That’s what I can say, I did my best. I hope it’s gonna hit home for audiences. I hope the audience likes it. I really poured my heart into it and hoped that I was telling the story right and that it could become universal for people who know what struggle means. This woman, Thony is struggling. That’s the story we’re telling.
You played something of a superhero on Daredevil, but you’re playing a very real hero on this show, as a mother who will do anything for her child. While being this superhero in a comic book show is really cool, does it feel even more meaningful to play a real-life hero?
YUNG: Yeah. I’ve been waiting my whole life for a part like this because this is really where I can express my heart and what I know about life. It’s always heightened in a superhero show. The world is not grounded, but I’ve always approached my parts and anything that I’ve done by trying to make them human and relatable. If I can’t relate, who will. With this part, Thony is just a simple woman, but she’s like so many people that have to face tragedy in their lives. She’s a real woman, and I’m so glad that I got to play that, so I can just go right at. I don’t have to find the humanity and truth, like I had to with Elektra. With Thony, it’s simple. She’s a mother, her son’s dying, and she has to make the choice about whether to go back home and not have any treatment for her son, or stay in a country where she becomes undocumented, but potentially has a chance at a treatment to save him. That’s a horribly tragic choice that so many people are facing. It was a blessing to have that to play. That’s really what I’ve wanted to do for a long time.
This is a woman that has had to give up everything she knew, including a prestige occupation of having been a doctor, so that she has this chance to save her son. What was that mother-son relationship like to explore and to work with twins in that role?
YUNG: It was so good. We bonded. They have their own personalities. Valentino is more outgoing and Sebastien is more quiet, but they bring different things to the part. Depending on if we had a lot of text, we’d probably bring in Valentino more. And then, if we needed more reaction or emotion in the moment, or a more tender moment between mom and son, we’d probably bring in Sebastien. They bring in different directors for every episode, so they would rely on me to ask what they thought. We became a little family. That was really how we felt. It was the same with Martha Millan, who plays Fiona. It’s a set family, but we’d see each other outside. I think that helped to create more organic moments on the day, on set. But there were beautiful and truthful moments there, between the kids and I.
Thony is torn between three very different men, from her husband to this mob guy, to the FBI agent. How hard is it for her to continue to be torn between what everybody wants from her?
YUNG: It’s interesting that you see it that way because I never felt that way. I only felt that she was on a mission. Her only goal is to save her son. She’s torn between the situation and what they’re asking her to do. She’s dealing with all of these freaking men in her life that are just adding to her plate. The mob guy wants her to clean murders, the FBI guy wants her to sell the mob guy out, but the mob guy is helping her son. And then, her husband has gambling issues, and of course they live in Vegas, which is gonna add problems. As a woman who’s really just struggling so hard to find a solution to keep her son alive, that’s her only goal. Those men are just making it more complicated.
How do you view the dynamic between Thony and Arman? There’s definitely an attraction between them, but he’s also terrifying. What’s it like to play that dynamic?
YUNG: It’s layered and complex, for sure. That’s where we had to find a fine line. This is the story of a mom that’s fighting for her son. I didn’t wanna fall into another story, that I would love to tell later, which is the woman has Stockholm syndrome. Arman actually wants to help her, from the get-go. He’s practically the head of the mob, but there’s something that makes him need to save her. He’s terrifying because he’s got this violence in him, but it’s always contained when he’s with her. It is a relationship that evolves very subtly and slowly, although everything happens very fast in the series. Their relationship starts with a threat, but also protection on his side. She’s terrified to have to work for the mob, but then she understands that actually is probably an asset to help her save her son, so she’s gonna use it. Slowly, her vision of him is changing because he’s the only one who cares. The system has failed her. The system just can’t help her. He’s the only one who’s giving her a hand and helping her. There’s something that changes in her. You’ll see the progression in the evolution of their relationship and everything makes sense. They connect on a human level.
You talked about having a voice in this character. Do you already have a sense of what would happen in the future, if you get to do a second season? Have you had conversations about the bigger picture for this?
YUNG: Yeah. In this first season, Thony was dropped in an environment she didn’t know, under horrible circumstances. She had to learn to navigate what it means to become an undocumented person and having to live in hiding. She also had to navigate the criminal world. By the end of the first season, she’s well-traveled in both of those worlds. It feels to me that, in this first part of the journey, life throws things at her, and she tries to find a solution in the moment. By the end of it, there is a change that’s happened in her, and she will become more empowered in her situation. She’ll take control back. I guess I can say that.
The Cleaning Lady airs on Monday nights on Fox.