The real and stunning face of Maria Zhang as suki in avatar outside the series+ photos
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: Also known as Zhang Zhiyi, Maria Zhang plays Suki in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the much-loved Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA for short).
In the animated series, she was the leader of the Earth Kingdom’s Kyoshi Warriors, and her fierce personality was further emplahsized by her combat skills and intricate makeup.
The 24-year-old actress comes from a theater background, and as a fresh face on the scene we put together this guide for you to get to know her better.
Stay with this part of celebrities from the series of entertainment in Eternal Pen magazine.
Read more: Avatar The Last Airbender series cast+ character photos
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar
1. She is a Leo!
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: Maria was born on August 8, 1999, making her a Leo. Leos have fiery personalities, and put their heart in everything they do. So it’s fitting that a Leo was chosen to portray the fiery Suki!
You might find it interesting: Kiawentiio as Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender: Out-of-Show Photos
2. She was born in Poland.
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: Maria’s mother is Polish and her father is Chinese. Although born in Poland, when she was around a year old Maria and her parents moved to Beijing, where she grew up raised partly by her grandmother.
3. She speaks four languages.
Due to her family background, Maria grew up speaking several languages at home: “I grew up in a house where my parents spoke Russian to each other (I spoke Polish to my mom and Chinese to my dad),” she said in an interview with Mixed Asian Media (MAM). The actress speaks four languages: Polish, Mandarin, Russian, and English.
4. Maria’s introduction to English was through Hollywood movies and TV shows.
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: In an interview with Phosphor Magazine, Maria discussed growing up in Beijing. The actress also shared the interesting way she learned English: through Disney! Her dad would bring back Disney films with Chinese subtitles each week, at least until Maria and her sister found out about the Disney Channel—specifically Wizards of Waverly Place and Hannah Montana.
She and her sister also went through a vampire phase, name-dropping Twilight and The Vampire Diaries as their non-guilty pleasures.
5. Her love for acting started through theater.
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: In the same interview with MAM, Maria revealed that her first attempt at acting was in a theater production of Alice in Wonderland in Poland.
“My grandma actually saw this newspaper clipping asking for young actors to come do this community theater show…I was like, ‘I have to do this!’ I ended up going back to Poland every summer, just to be a part of this theater group.”
6. She attended college in California, and pursued both acting and art.
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: Maria graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from the University of Southern California. She was a member of the Delta
Kappa Alpha (DKA) sorority, too!
In college Maria took up a minor in Visual Culture, because she grew up thinking she was going to be an illustrator—both her parents are artists!
In her Phosphor Magazine interview, she said one of her bucket list items is “to draw a children’s illustration book.” She’s also been learning how to sew!
Being an art lover, Maria was a huge fan of Studio Ghibli films “because I also love to draw and anything to do with nature.”
7. Maria was discovered in her junior year at college.
Her breakout performance onstage in the play Amsterdam caught the attention of a talent manager, who eventually signed her!
8. Maria’s first movie was a 2018 short film.
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: Maria acted in several theater productions at USC, but her first onscreen role was in the 2018 short film Continuum, which won Second Place for Outstanding Short Film at the Chinese Americal Film Festival.
She also played Ani Dinh in five episodes of 2020’s WorkInProgress: A Comedy Web-Series, but landing the role of Suki in Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender is definitely her big break!
9. Maria is inspired by several A-list Hollywood actors.
“I remember seeing Natalie Portman in Léon: The Professional. I love her,” Maria gushed to Phosphor Magazine. She also binged all of Game Of Thrones one summer, and thinks Emilia Clarke is “so powerful in anything she does.”
Maria is a fan of darker, more horror-centric content like American Horror Story and Black Mirror, and due to her theater background enjoyed watching Johnny Depp in his character roles: “I remember him as the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, or Edward Scissorhands.”
10. Maria would like to play a villain in her next project.
Maria Zhang as suki in avatar: “I would love to play a villain someday, because I think it’s so much fun for actors to play a flawed character,” she told Phosphor Magazine. Maria is also a fan of the good hero-turned-villain or villain-turned-hero storyline.
FYI, some of her favorite villains are Villanelle in Killing Eve and Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men.
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