Animated series Amphibia premiered yesterday on Disney Channel and features Brenda Song voicing Anne Boonchuy, a Thai American teenager who gets transported to a mystical land of anthropomorphic amphibians, reports NBC News.
“She has leaves in her hair. She’s missing a shoe. She’s blasé about everything,” Song said of the character Anne. “I was like, ‘Oh, my god, I kind of love her.'”
Song, who is Thai and Hmong, saw Anne as a chance to showcase her heritage through a role. Song is known for playing London Tipton in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody on Disney Channel.
“I remember [Song] during her audition, and she’s killing it,” said executive producer Matt Braly, who is half Thai. “One of the executives said to me, ‘You know, she’s also Thai.’ I remember being like, ‘I’m trying to evaluate the performance and that is just going to extremely bias me.’
“It’s always been a huge goal of mine to create a Thai character. From the very inception of Amphibia, I knew that Anne had to be Thai.”
The titular world of Amphibia is inspired by Braly’s own childhood summers in Bangkok. Anne’s messy appearance, with hair full of twigs and leaves, is based on a picture of Braly’s grandmother as a child.
“This amazing thing would happen every summer where, by the end of the trip, I wouldn’t want to leave,” said Braly. “This sensation of getting to a new place, getting very uncomfortable and slowly but surely adjusting was a sensation I wanted to bottle up for my own show.”
Song and Braly even called Braly’s mother for help to make sure Song pronounced Thai words in the script accurately.
“Something I really love about what we’re doing with the show is that we’re introducing our audience to a very specific culture, but she’s not defined by it,” said Song. “It’s just who she is.”
“These characters have different cultural backgrounds,” Braly added. “But it really is about this great universal story that anyone can hop in and enjoy.”
You can watch the full first episode here.
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