Zoë Chao Keeps Stealing The Show

Zoë Chao was born to act. While many parents push their children to pursue more practical careers in fields like law or medicine, the 39-year-old actor says her mother practically raised her to become a movie star.

“My mom really loves movies, and instead of cartoons, she would share Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies with me, like Swing Time and Top Hat,” she tells Bustle over the phone. “We’re talking 3 years old, just watching black-and-white tap-dance movies.”

This informal film education awakened in Chao a love for the art, and today, more than a decade into her career, the actor can’t imagine herself doing anything but acting. “It’s a question I’ve actually asked myself a lot in my life, like, ‘Zoe, are you capable of offering more to this world?’” she says. She then turns to her mom, who’s visiting Chao at her Brooklyn home, before the pair goes on a mother-daughter trip to Berlin and London for the premiere of her new film, The Roses.

“I’d love to arrange flowers, but [my mom’s] laughing because it’s not like I have a green thumb,” she tells me, before her mother says she’d be a good “cruise director.” “Are you trolling me?” Chao says to her. “She might be trolling me.”

At the very least, Chao has proven herself to be funny enough for the job. Her first screen role was in 2014, on the second season of Lisa Kudrow’s cult classic HBO sitcom The Comeback, and her TV repertoire also includes the 2017 comedy Strangers, HBO Max’s anthology Love Life, and the 2023 reboot of Party Down. On the film side, she’s made her name as a plucky scene-stealer, going toe-to-toe with A-listers like Cate Blanchett in Where’d You Go, Bernadette and Reese Witherspoon in Your Place or Mine.

In The Roses, a remake of the 1989 film The War of the Roses based on Warren Adler’s 1989 novel, Chao plays Sally, a friend who proves herself to be more of a frenemy to the enviably charming but doomed couple Theo (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ivy (Olivia Colman).

She was drawn to The Roses for the chance to work with Cumberbatch, Colman, and comic heavyweights like Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon. “It’s always a scary thing to meet your heroes, because what if they’re disappointing as human beings?” she says. “I’m here to say Olivia Colman is the opposite of disappointing.”

Below, Chao opens up about her devious character, working with Colman, and her “embarrassing” experience on The Comeback.

What drew you to the role of Sally?

Sally’s such a c*nt. I felt very lucky to play her because she’s such a little villain. I appreciate the excuse to act abominably, because I don’t do that usually in my life. Maybe my boyfriend would say differently.

Sally has a part in instigating Theo’s breakdown, but the audience only gets small glimpses of her story. What backstory did you imagine for her?

She’s like the nightmare colleague you never want to have. If you’re doing well, she’ll be the first person singing your praises, and if you’re doing badly, she’ll be pointing out all of your missteps that got you there. I’ve met Sallys out in the world, especially in our industry. My radar is always on for people like Sally, because if you are not careful they’ll really take you down. I’ve studied them, as a defense mechanism, for a very long time.

There’s a pivotal dinner scene when Sally tries to emulate Theo and Ivy’s deceptively playful sparring with her husband, Rory (Jamie Demetriou), only to sound more venomous.

I like Sally the most when you see the cracks in her facade, when she is trying to understand this game that Theo and Ivy are playing. She wants to be in on it. She’s a literal person who doesn’t read between the lines, and there’s something tender about that. I feel for her in those moments.

How was it working with Olivia Colman?

She could not be less interested in talking about the work. She obviously loves to act, but she doesn’t need to talk about it. She wants to enjoy the people she’s working with, have a drink, eat some delicious food, and hang out with her lovely family. It’s a nice reminder to know your heroes are also showing up in their own lives in such robust ways.

In honor of its newly announced third season, I wanted to ask about your experience working on The Comeback.

This is so embarrassing, I actually thought that the TV show we were shooting was the fake TV show within The Comeback. I had researched Seeing Red, and I was like, “There’s not much on the internet about it.” I was so green to TV acting. I wasn’t really in on it, so I played everything very earnestly. [Creator] Michael Patrick King said, “You never broke character. You were so intensely in it.” The reality is, I was just trying to understand what was happening. But I am thrilled that they’re making a Season 3. Lisa Kudrow is on my list of comedic geniuses.

Up next, you’re in The True Beauty of Being Bitten by a Tick, and you also just finished a draft of a feature film. What can you tell us about the latter?

It’s about my 95-year-old Chinese grandmother going back to Shanghai for the last time, and me going for the first time. I feel like there’s a lot left to explore, and that’s really exciting for me.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.