Exclusive Interview: Naomi J. Ogawa Talks Wednesday, How Resiliency Landed Her the Role, and More

Naomi J. Ogawa is an up-and-coming talent who started acting as a way to combat her crippling shyness. But after stepping onto the stage for the first time, she found her calling as a storyteller. Since then, she’s dedicated her life to her craft. While the journey hasn’t always been easy, Naomi credits her resiliency for helping her land coveted roles in projects like Wednesday.

The coming-of-age drama follows Wednesday Addams as she investigates a murder spree while making new friends—and foes—at Nevermore Academy.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Naomi about Wednesday, how she fought for the role, and more!

PC: How did you discover your passion for storytelling and the arts?
Naomi: I grew up painfully shy, so acting definitely wasn’t in the cards. If I were to act, I would definitely be a weeping willow. But I actually grew up with severe dyslexia and academics just wasn’t for me at all. My mom found a school in the States that actually specializes in discovering your talent, whether it be cooking, art, acting, or whatever it is. It turned out to be acting for me. It started mainly as confidence building because I wanted to get rid of my shyness. Then the more I started doing it, the more I started to enjoy it. The acting teacher really believed in me and suggested that I audition for the school musical. At the time, they made you sign contracts. [laughs] So I signed my life away thinking that I wasn’t going to get a big part, so it wasn’t a big deal. He ended up giving me one of the leads. It was the first time that I properly performed on a stage.

My mom actually flew over from France because that’s where she lives. She came to New York to watch me. She was shocked that I was able to even say a few lines on stage. My mom’s an Asian mom. She’s a very tough cookie. She’s brutally honest. She was like, “I think you should take this seriously and see this as a career path because I back you up a hundred percent. All I ask is that you give it a hundred percent.” From that moment on, I was like, “This is where I’m heading.” I went to London to go to drama school. I got rejected everywhere. Two years later, I got into my first choice, and I went on this whole acting journey. It’s been very exciting.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Naomi: There have been so many people who have come into my life and influenced me. But the main one by far is my mom because she raised me as a single mom. She always told me she never got to pursue what she wanted to do career-wise. She even tells me to this day, “I don’t have any hobbies.” Because she never got to discover them because she grew up in a time when it was very much, “Survive, make money, and live that way.” But she always fought against the grain. She raised me to always be strong and resilient and to follow whatever passion I wanted and turn that into a career. I would say that she’s the epitome of strength for me. Every step of the way, whenever I got rejected by the industry and felt like I wasn’t going anywhere, she always picked me back up. She was always like, “Toughen up. This is what you signed up for. You’re going to have to face rejection, but find a way through it and be resilient.” I would say she is by far the biggest influence.

Also, Meryl Streep. I grew up watching her movies. I love how versatile she is as an actress. I find her so interesting to watch. I love her warmth and spirit. I love how she brings her authentic self into every interview and into every movie. You see a bit of her personality in everything that she does. I love her. I’m obsessed. She’s the GOAT as they say.

PC: Tell us about Wednesday, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Naomi: Yoko is a vampire, and she enjoys blood-type O smoothies on her morning stroll to school. [laughs] She’s a cool girl. What I love about her is that she’s unapologetically herself. She expresses herself through her sense of style. I absolutely love her closet. She’s the type of person who doesn’t have to say much to get her point across. Her facial expressions are very telling as to how she’s feeling. She seems like she’s quite secure with herself. She’s in touch with her quirkiness, and she owns who she is. But underneath it all, there’s an element of wanting to be accepted and to fit in.

I love the series as a whole because it celebrates being different and being an outcast and it allows you to own that. Anyone who watches it will be encouraged to be themselves and to own their weirdness. That’s what really drew me to the show because growing up, I always felt like I was weird and odd. I wish I had owned that because we care too much about what other people think.

PC: You fought for this role. Can you tell us a bit about your journey to this character?
Naomi: Oh my goodness. It was quite a journey. It was pretty wild. But yeah, I’m glad I fought for it. It was actually during a time when we were slowly coming out of COVID and auditions started to pick up. But it was also a time in my life when I was feeling so disheartened because I wasn’t getting anything. It had been over a year and a half, almost two years, and I had nothing. I thought, “I’m not going to get anywhere in my career.” Then this audition came through. I immediately saw Tim Burton and I thought, “There’s no way I’m going to get this. So we’re going to have fun with it.” I put myself on tape. I went over the top and went as quirky and as weird as possible. I figured if nothing else, he’ll remember I did a fun tape. I didn’t have any attachment to it, which I think was the difference. I wasn’t attached to my first tape because I decided to have fun with it. So I sent my tape out.

Three days later, my agent was like, “Tim liked your tape. They want you to do a chemistry read.” I was like, “Oh my God. There’s no way. There’s no possible way that I’m going to get on a Zoom with Tim and all the other producers and do a scene.” I was so nervous. But I was like, “Let’s go for it.” I went over the top with my hair and makeup. I had pigtails with pink hair strips, and I did gothic eye makeup. I went overboard. Then when I hopped onto the Zoom meeting and I saw Tim, all of the producers, and Emma [Myers] pop up, everyone was dressed normally. I was over the top with this black choker. I was so nervous. I was doing the scene with Emma, and she skipped a line. We both looked at each other through the screen with this deer-in-the-headlights stare. It was the longest pause. Then I skipped to the next line, and then they let us do that scene again. Even if she hadn’t skipped a line, I was so nervous that it wouldn’t have worked anyway. It was a five-minute Zoom session, but it felt like hours. I knew I didn’t get it. The next day, my agent ripped off the bandaid and was like, “Listen, you didn’t get it.”

I asked, “Is there anyone else in the running for this part?” They said, “No, he didn’t like anyone that day.” I was like, “Okay, I still have a chance.” I think every actor does this where they look up the most successful actors who failed an audition on YouTube. [laughs] This one with Chris Hemsworth came up. He messed up his Thor audition. Then he found out that they still couldn’t find Thor so he sent another audition tape. I was like, “If Chris can be Thor, then Naomi can be Yoko.” I sent another tape out and my agent was like, “I’m not sure if they’re going to see this, but we can try.” They liked my second tape, but they still weren’t sure. I kept doing tapes until they said yes. Then I got the part and I was in Romania.

PC: It’s that resilience that your mom taught you. This is Tim Burton’s first television series. What was it like getting to collaborate with him and share in that milestone?
Naomi: I still can’t believe I’m in the show. It’s mind-blowing to me. I literally went from not booking anything to this. I wanted one job because I love acting so much. I was at the point where I just wanted to book a job and get back on set. I was supposed to be on another show as a guest star, but that got canceled because of COVID. It was quite disheartening. Then when this came through, I was like, “It’s literally the best project ever.” I love playing transformative roles and being able to work with such an iconic director like Tim. It was incredible, especially with this being his first TV series. What an incredible journey to be on! I’m so grateful to be a part of that. It was fun.

PC: This is one of your biggest roles to date. Did anything surprise you about the experience? What’s been the biggest takeaway?
Naomi: There are so many. This is my second acting job ever. The whole thing was such a big learning experience. I definitely learned a few lessons being on set like learning to voice your concerns or if you’re feeling lost about a scene or something, it’s important to speak up. When you’re new, you’re very scared to say anything out of fear of overstepping. It’s okay not to know, but it’s important to ask questions.

I didn’t realize it was something you could do because you’re not told that. I learned to savor every moment because you can get carried away with being in a scene or being on set, but it’s about being with other people.

PC: This is such a visually stunning project. Is there a scene or episode that you’re excited for audiences to see now that it’s out?
Naomi: That’s a tough one. It is visually stunning. There are so many amazing scenes, but there’s one fight scene that I’m really excited for people to see because I love fight scenes. They’re so epic. The fencing scene with Wednesday and Bianca is so sassy and iconic. But there are so many other fight sequences. They’re really cool. I love scenes where you get to see the monster because it’s such a weird-looking monster. It’s like a monster that you’ve never really seen before. He looks so otherworldly.

PC: If we’re lucky enough to get a second season, where would you like to see Yoko’s storyline head?
Naomi: I was just thinking about this the other day because she’s quite mysterious in Season 1. You don’t know much about her. No one really knows who she is. But I’d love to discover more about her in Season 2. I’d love to see her beat the crap out of someone. I want to kick some ass because I want to see her use her powers. You don’t really see her fighting in Season 1, but it would be cool for her to fight because I want to see her fighting skills. Also, it would be interesting to discover more about her as a person and to see more vulnerability.

I’d like to see some of that warmth because she does have insecurities. I’d love to see more of that in Season 2. There’s so much to unpack with her. It’d be interesting to discover more. I’ve heard people ask if she’s gender fluid and mentioned that her outfit looks quite different. There are so many different ways to go with Yoko. I look forward to seeing what else she’ll bring to the table.

To keep up with Naomi, follow her on Instagram. Watch Wednesday on Netflix today.

Photo Credit: Netflix