By World Licence 
Chase Sui Wonders as Quinn Hackett in “The Studio.” Photo: Apple TV+
The first time Chase Sui Wonders tried her hand at acting, she was still a shy teenager in suburban Detroit. Inspired by the freewheeling, racy humor of the Austin Powers movies, Wonders was just beginning to come out of her shell. “I was kind of the house clown, and then slowly I became the playground clown,” she tells W. Wanting to encourage her daughter’s interests, her mother took her to a downtown comedy club. “There were seasoned comedians on stage, and there was no way a 16-year-old was going to say anything acceptable up there, so I was scared,” she recalls with a laugh. “But I’ve always loved and respected the sport.”
Today, the 28-year-old’s innate sense of humor shines through in her role as dynamic executive Quinn Hackett on The Studio. The Apple TV+ series, created by and starring Seth Rogen, is a cynical but touching parody of the modern film industry, plagued by issues like AI, performative social justice, and the relentless race for prestigious intellectual properties. As Quinn, Wonders is full of panache, effortlessly stabbing her colleague and rival Sal (Ike Barinholtz) in the back and desperately trying to prove her worth in the unpredictable, male-dominated world of Hollywood.
Chase Sui Wonders, Seth Rogen, Kathryn Hahn, and Ike Barinholtz in The Studio
Photo courtesy of Apple TV+
Kathryn Hahn and Catherine O’Hara round out the cast, alongside dozens of guest stars, including Bryan Cranston, Zoë Kravitz, Martin Scorsese, Zac Efron, Charlize Theron, and Steve Buscemi, to name a few. Quinn’s character is a departure from Wonders’ previous roles in Gen Z staples like HBO’s teen drama Genera+ion and the campy pandemic horror film Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. “It’s crazy to be surrounded by so many comedy legends. Being funny is a lot of pressure,” Wonders says of entering the studio. Below, the actress discusses working with Rogen, “going all in” on her biggest scene on the first day of shooting, and why Quinn dresses the way she does:
Were you a Seth Rogen fan growing up?
I’ve been a Seth Rogen fan for as long as I can remember. I still remember the first time I saw Superbad, Knocked Up, Pineapple Express, and This Is the End. All of his movies had an impact on me. As soon as I got the audition, I read it and reread it, thinking, “Really? This is crazy.” I called Seth back, and he was like, “Let’s just ditch the script and just improvise.” Suddenly, I was improvising with Seth Rogen after meeting him for the very first time on Zoom. I was really nervous, so thankfully my character’s energy is nervous on the show.
Photo courtesy of Apple TV+
Quinn dresses older than her age, with her bob and retro suits. Was it to hide her nervousness?
Quinn wants a seat at the boys’ table. “Lean In” by Sheryl Sandberg is one of her favorite books. She has a bit of a power complex and wants everything, right now. Part of that comes from the way she dresses, which is very serious, almost masculine. She wears big suits, ties, and button-down collars. She always wears pants. Until the last episode, she’s never caught in a skirt. The bob [which is a wig] was an intentional choice, to have a very severe, almost Edna Mode look. She knows she’s young, but she wants to be taken seriously.
Episode five, “The War,” is actually a long fight between you and Ike Barinholtz. How did you choreograph that?
It was the first day, first scene. I was meeting everyone for the first time, and Seth said, “We’re going to start slow and do one scene.” And that scene was a six-minute take of Ike and I screaming at each other. We went for it. But it was helpful because then we knew the limits of his character. There was a lot of choreography, and rehearsals were a playground. It was our time of total freedom, and we could judge by the laughter of the crew what worked and what didn’t. Once shooting started, it became much more rigid: there was practically no margin for error.
Photo courtesy of Apple TV+
Bodies had a comedic dimension, but this series is on a whole other level. What is your relationship with this genre?
I have a casual but deep relationship with comedy. Mike Myers, Jack Black, Rowan Atkinson: all these comedians and physical clowns made me want to become an actor. I was a shy kid. I remember thinking, “It’s so awkward when people talk.” I didn’t talk outside my home. But those movies made the conversation interesting because what they did and said was so funny.
In college, you wrote for the Harvard Lampoon.
It was a real wild training ground: if you tell a joke that’s not funny, no one laughs. No one will coach you through your bad jokes. I felt funny in real life, but translating that to the camera was a whole other story. But Seth and [creator Evan Goldberg] were so generous. Unlike Lampoon, they have a very generous laugh, which gives you the sea legs to let your freak flag fly. They’re both snake charmers at bringing out the weirdness in people, and they definitely did that with me.
How much of yourself did you invest in Quinn, given that you also had the experience of being a young woman growing up in Hollywood?
I have a Chinese father and a Midwestern mother, and they’re both very invested. They were focused on my success and the success of all my siblings, and on surpassing their own goals. It was a lot of pressure, but I’m also very grateful for it because it helped me navigate this chapter of my life in Hollywood. I really felt like it was the Wild West out there. People appreciate gunslingers who take risks. That approach became second nature. When I was first starting out, I would email people I wasn’t supposed to, or say something probably inappropriate in the audition room. Things that weren’t part of the rulebook or the code of etiquette, but that could set me apart. Quinn definitely has that attitude. She’s more sly and ruthless than I am, but I appreciate her attitude. She’s so fierce in her approach, and so blindly, wildly ambitious.
Photo courtesy of Apple TV+
There are so many guests on the show. Do you have a favorite?
Ron Howard was a real joy. It was fun to watch him play a real jerk, because he’s a really nice guy. He was on set for two days, and between takes, I was asking questions about all his movies: Splash, Happy Days, American Beauty. I went up to Seth and said, “I think I’m really annoying Ron Howard.” He said, “No, no, no. Do that. If I were your age, I would be so annoying Ron Howard.” That really shows what a real geek Seth is.
You have some interesting projects coming up, like Gregg Araki’s I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Want Your Sex, which also features another Studio guest star, Olivia Wilde.
Olivia is the coolest woman in the world. She’s a true legend, and we were just talking about the movie and how excited we are. If you’re a Gregg Araki fan, you’ll love it, and then some. And if you’re a fan of Olivia Wilde, Charli XCX, Cooper Hoffman, they’re all actors to the extreme, myself included. I Know What You Did Last Summer, I can’t say enough good things about it. It’s a fun, suspenseful, horror, and thrill ride.