Keiko Agena is opening up about the mixed feelings she has when thinking back to playing Lane Kim on the popular TV series . The actress, who played Rory Gilmore’s (Alexis Bledel) music-loving best friend for all seven seasons from 2000-07, recalled her experience on the , admitting that she has a different perspective of her character compared to what fans may have. “For me, it’s this separate thing a little bit because I think what [the role] was for people was different than what it was for me,” she explained.
“And so, in a weird way, I feel like I want to honor the experience that people had from the show, and what it meant to them, especially young Asian people, because I get that comment a lot, about what it was like for them to see someone like that on screen.” The actress continued, “And, for myself, it was such a survival mode situation. I didn’t think of it that way at the time.
And so now it’s just a mix of just having gratitude for having gone through that experience and having that experience.” Host Juliet Litman also asked Agena what it was like playing a Korean American character on , when she is Japanese American. “The best thing is to have a Korean American writer [and a] Korean American actor,” she responded.
“I don’t think that that role, cast that way, would happen today. But at that time, in 2000, it was such a different time that I definitely know I wouldn’t have said no or pulled myself out of that situation at that time.�.
