Pop Culturalist Chats with Cloak & Dagger’s Ally Maki

As an Asian-American actress, Ally Maki grew up not seeing herself represented in media—a struggle that still plagues the industry today. It made her journey a challenging one, both personally and professionally, but with her passion and drive for performing she was able to overcome any obstacle, and she hopes characters like Mina Hess (who she’s currently playing on Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger) will continue to inspire and impact a community and culture who want to see their stories told.

PC: For readers who may not be familiar with the series, can you tell us about Cloak & Dagger and your character?
Ally: Cloak & Dagger is a show on Freeform. It’s Marvel’s first entry at Freeform, which is super exciting. It follows the pairing of Tandy and Tyrone. Tandy works with the light and Tyrone works in the darkness. They make this unusual pairing, but you soon find out that they work best together. My character is Mina Hess, who is a brilliant environmental engineer. She becomes a mentor and friend to Tandy throughout the course of the season. You find out that they have this unusual bond because they both essentially lost their dads in an oil rig explosion years ago. Throughout the season, you see them develop this beautiful female friendship, which is fun to watch.

PC: What drew you to this project?
Ally: The funny thing is when I first got the audition, I didn’t really even know what it was for. Marvel is very secretive. All I got was that the role was Cindy for an untitled Freeform project. Looking back, I’m kind of happy that I didn’t know it was for Marvel. I think I would have gotten really nervous, but now that I’m a part of the project, I feel so, so incredibly lucky that Mina developed into the character she has become on the show. The show is dealing with issues that we need to be talking about right now like social justice, privilege, and police brutality. I’m so proud to be a part of a show like this.

PC: Mina is an original character who is not in the comics. Was that an advantage or disadvantage?
Ally: So much of this goes to one of our writers, Jenny Klein; Mina was her heart and soul. She put everything that she cares about and is passionate about into the script and brought Mina to life. When I first got the role and I found out that she was an original character, I was extremely nervous, but, now I think what is so cool is that we can really make her anything that we want. Marvel did that by making her a complex, well-rounded Asian-American female character, which I think is so bold and brave. It’s really exciting. Beyond that, making her a scientist who cares about saving the world is really awesome.

PC: Your character has meant a lot to women and to the Asian community. What has she meant to you as an actress and have you had time to reflect on the impact that she’s had?
Ally: Playing a role like Mina means so much to me. I’ve been in the industry for such a long time. I moved out here when I was fourteen and was basically on my own. Growing up, I didn’t see women who looked like me on TV. We didn’t have the representation. My drive and my passion for performing are what brought me out here, but it hasn’t been easy. When you don’t see yourself in the media, it’s incredibly damaging. It’s been a long journey for me to find my own self-worth and my own inner confidence. By creating more characters like this that represent us, I’m hoping that women can find their confidence at a much younger age than I did. It’s taken me over a decade to even begin to feel those feelings of self-worth. These are things I’m learning now as an adult. I’m learning my place in the world. I’m finding my voice and learning how to use it. Every day I’m trying to practice how to use my voice. When I feel it’s impacting people, it’s incredibly emotional for me. It’s exciting when people care about what I have to say or share in these feelings that I feel. A lot of that is thanks to social media. I think social media has changed everything for us. When you saw these OG Asian-American YouTubers who were amassing all these views, for us, it was like wow, there are these people out there that care about who we are and can relate to us. It was an incredibly powerful moment. It changed a lot for us, especially for me, I found my voice through social media and a lot of my confidence.

PC: Do you have a favorite fan interaction that you’ve had? Maybe on social media?
Ally: [laughs] Oh my gosh! I’ve been talking about the Marvel fans forever now and how awesome they are. I was a little bit nervous because I felt like the new girl in school. Are they going to like me? Are they going to be nice to me? But man, it started on Twitter. Everyone has been so supportive. I think the cool thing about the Marvel fans is that they’re so invested. They really do their homework. They know everything. They’re so supportive. I love all the fan theories that they come up with. I watch all of them. It’s kind of funny: I sit at home and watch all the recaps and the theories. It’s so fun!

At Comic-Con, what made it real for me is when we did the signing. I was able to meet people one-on-one and it was amazing how many Asian-Americans came through. To meet these young women and talk to them about their hopes and dreams makes everything real for me. It pushes me to keep speaking out and to push forward in entertainment. It shows that these stories really are making an impact and a difference. Also, meeting the veterans has been awesome. I met this guy who had a bionic arm. They’re the true superheroes. That was an honor to meet and talk to them as well.

PC: “Ghost Stories” is an emotional episode for all the characters. Were there any conversations about showing how Mina approached that day?
Ally: Mina’s journey has been a long one. She’s been without her dad for eight years. She’s had to learn how to fend for herself and find answers when she didn’t have him there to be a support system for her. Now that he’s back, that’s been a huge transition for her. She’s learning how to adapt to having someone else in her life. She has this beautiful friendship with Tandy, but obviously, we see that has been affected as well. She’s had to be the cornerstone for her family for so long, so his return has been an adjustment for her.

At first, when you see that she works at Roxxon, you question her motives, but what I love about this show is that it deals with the gray area of every character. It explores what they’re going through and the choices that they make. It’s all part of the hero’s journey. She’s trying to find her way and trying to work within the ranks of Roxxon to change it from the ground up. She super passionate about changing the world.

PC: What can you tease about the dynamic between Mina and Tandy moving forward?
Ally: Mina understands where Tandy is coming from. They both share that pain from losing their dads. It’s a vulnerable spot for both of them and it’s what draws them together. It was heartbreaking when you saw her steal Mina’s hopes, but I think the two of them develop a relationship much deeper than that. Without giving too much away, you’ll get to see them team up. They share such a deep connection through their dads. Mina definitely has a soft spot for Tandy.

PC: What are you most excited to explore with your character next season?
Ally: I think what’s been really exciting is to see how it’ll impact women in STEM. One of our writers said that her daughter is graduating from high school and after watching this season, she changed her major because now she wants to become an environmental engineer, which is so awesome because less than 30% of women are involved in science. It’s really sad. We need to up those numbers. It’s not because women aren’t interested in it. They have that interest inherently, but when they go out into the field and see it’s a boys’ club, they immediately get disheartened. For next season, the more we can do with Mina and her love for science and the more we explore how she can help the environment with her storyline would be really cool.

PC: The show has been teasing a bit about the larger Marvel Universe. If your character could appear in another one of these properties, which would you want it to be and why?
Ally: I’ve been a long time fan of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The show has been incredibly groundbreaking because it has two Asian-American females as leads. What’s exciting is that our creator, Joe Pokaski, has said that because Mina is an original character, that leaves a lot of room of what her back-story could truly be. I’m as excited as everyone else is to see where that could take us. Potentially, that could go anywhere. It makes a lot of sense to do something with The Runaways and/or Luke Cage—we’ve already seen that there’s some connection there. I love my girl, Ming. I love my girl, Chloe. I think something with girl power and Asian-American women uniting could be super awesome.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Ally: The Handmaid’s Tale

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Ally: Everything Avengers! I mean Infinity Wars just broke me in half.

PC: Favorite book?
Ally: I was really into anything Jane Austen when I was younger, so maybe Pride and Prejudice.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Ally: The Color Purple. When I saw that I was sobbing, sobbing, sobbing…

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Ally: I don’t know if they’d be surprised but I have a lot of Spice Girls.

PC: Last show you binge-watched?
Ally: The Confession Tapes

PC: Hidden talent?
Ally: I can speak conversational French.

Make sure to follow Ally on Twitter and Instagram, and catch Cloak & Dagger at 8/7c on Freeform.

Photo Credit: Ryan West