Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Riverdale’s Phoebe Miu

Phoebe Miu is an emerging star who has quickly established herself as one to watch. She’s brought the most dynamic characters to life in projects like Get Shorty and Upload.

Currently, she can be seen in the CW’s fan-favorite series Riverdale.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Phoebe about her journey from marketing into acting, joining the Riverdale family, and collaborating with Cole Sprouse.

PC: Your family is heavily involved in the industry. Has acting always been the plan from the get-go? How did you discover your passion for storytelling?
Phoebe: I’ve always loved acting. It’s always been something that I loved doing, but I never thought it was realistic. I never thought it was a career that was realistic to pursue. Because my family is in the industry, they’ve always kept me super grounded and super in-the-know of the realities of our industry. It can be pretty awful. This industry isn’t for the faint of heart, or people that are like, “I’m going to check it out and see what’s up.”

I always tell people, “Don’t do it. Don’t do it unless you really love it.” I had to take a couple of wrong turns in life in what I wanted to do before I finally landed into acting.

PC: You were working a marketing job before you decided to pursue a career in the arts. How challenging was that decision to make that pivot?
Phoebe: Honestly, it wasn’t challenging when I got to that point. I hated my job so much. [laughs] I hated sitting in a cubicle. I was actually blowing through television shows—I was watching shows as I worked. I was like, “You know, I shouldn’t be doing this.” [laughs] When I finally made that decision, it was so quick. I handed in my letter of resignation, and I applied to film school the same day.

PC: You officially got your start in 2015. You’ve had a lot of success since then. When you look back, is there a particular moment that stands out?
Phoebe: Thank you so much. I would say we’re on the up and up, maybe not successful yet. Honestly, I’ve been getting super lucky; they’ve all been stand out moments, but the thing that really kickstarted it for me was this one year when I booked three things at the start of the year. That was in 2018. The first thing I booked that year fell into my lap without me even knowing. I didn’t audition for the movie—it came to me.

Someone approached my agent and was like, “Casting is sending her an offer for this movie.” I was like, “Are you sure? Do you even know me?” At that point, I was pretty green. I was like, “You want me to do this? Are you sure? I could ruin your movie.” I had this serious imposter syndrome, which I still do, but back then I was so scared. They hadn’t even seen me audition. I was like, “Do you want me to read?”

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Phoebe: I love working with actors that have been around for years and years. I love working with veteran actors, even if it’s for a short amount of time. I love watching them work. On one of my first features, I worked with Tim Murphy. He’s an incredible actor. From his presence, the way he walks and moves, how he talks to people, and how he operates, I learned so much watching him and my other castmates. The same with my castmates on Upload and Riverdale—people who are much higher on the call sheet than me.

There’s something to be taken away from how they do their jobs and what their responsibilities are. Being a lead of a show, there’s a lot to learn in terms of that responsibility, how to interact with directors, the crew, the scene, and how to take charge of it. That’s very inspiring to me. I attribute a lot of that to the people that I’ve gotten to work with.

Also, my acting coach. Her name is Deb Podowski. She’s been a very fundamental part of my journey as a mentor and coach.

PC: You’ve played a diverse range of characters. Which has been your favorite?
Phoebe: My character in Riverdale has been a lot of fun to play because of her journey. Her storyline is so exciting. She fits into the hustle and the bigger picture with the main cast. What I’ve been able to do with her, I’m really excited for everyone to see the episodes that are coming up. It’s been a lot of fun to walk her path and grow with her. I’m finding more about her every script that comes out—that’s been a lot of fun to build around such a bad-ass little character.

PC: What can fans expect from Jessica in this back half?
Phoebe: They can expect a bit of mayhem. She will help you unlock a bit of the mystery that surrounds Jughead. For all the Jughead fans out there, she will be a nice little component to figuring out more about what’s happened to him.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that when you started playing Jessica, she wasn’t quite defined. Can you tell us a bit about your process shaping her?
Phoebe: I watched a lot of Riverdale because I hadn’t seen the show before. When I was cast, I watched all the older episodes that were more centered around Jughead. I wanted to see how he was and the qualities that would attract Jessica to him. I built her around that.

Cole [Sprouse] has built such a great foundation with Jughead. All I had to do was watch and be like, “Where do I fit in?” In my head, I wrote her history, her inspirations, and her motivations. I was trying to pull from what was already out there so that I could fit into the narrative as best I could.

PC: How were you and Cole able to build the chemistry needed between your two characters so quickly?
Phoebe: It was a lot of chatter, banter, and establishing a nice, fun work relationship. When we get to set, we chat. We’ll talk in between scenes. Sometimes we’ll discuss what’s happening between our characters. We’ll agree on certain things and then go off of that. But I think being able to discuss things and interact with your castmates is so important to build that camaraderie. Cole has been lovely to work with.

PC: You just wrapped on another project. Is there anything you can tell us about the movie that you just filmed?
Phoebe: It’s a horror movie. It’s about how technology could potentially take over. There’s an A.I. that runs the house. We’re a group of six young people. We go away for a fun weekend, and it goes haywire. The A.I. goes rogue. The way that it can control our rooms and the house is crazy.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Phoebe: Vampire Diaries.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Phoebe: Mean Girls and Pirates of the Caribbean.

PC: Favorite book?
Phoebe: One More Thing by B.J. Novak.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Phoebe: Dear Evan Hansen.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Phoebe: Bia.

PC: Dream role?
Phoebe: Jessica Chastain in Molly’s Game.

To keep up with Phoebe, follow her on Instagram. Watch new episode of Riverdale every Wednesday at 8/7c on the CW.