PUBLISHED ONJune 19, 2026 10:09 AMBYSyarifah NadhirahHollywood actress Yvonne Chapman was born and raised in a Canadian city, but to this day she still craves for a piping bowl of laksa.
In a recent interview with AsiaOne, the 37-year-old, who is returning as Kyoshi in the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender live action series, said she's learnt about our little red dot and its food through her Singaporean Chinese mother.
"My mum has brought back many recipes of the wonderful cuisines from Singapore, and she told me about her time growing up there. I went to Singapore two years ago and absolutely loved it, and I got to see where my mum used to live," she said.
"I, to this day, always crave laksa. It is the dish that I grew up on, my mum's specialty. Nobody makes laksa like her, that is the one she does it the best, and I will challenge anybody [on that]. Every time I go home to Calgary, and I visit my mom, that is the dish that I'm always requesting."
Looking back on her last trip to Singapore, Yvonne said the sights were "absolutely stunning": "I feel like you're walking around in a work of art, the way that the architecture moves around nature."
She's also a "huge fan" of durian.
"This is a hot take for some people, but I love durian, and I went there with my cousins during durian season… They're not so much fans of it but they took me and I put on the plastic gloves and just ate a full one by myself. I was very happy about that," she recalled.
"We went to the hawker centres to have our meals, and just in general, really enjoyed the ambiance of the country."
Based on the popular animated series of the same name, Avatar: The Last Airbender follows Aang (played by Gordon Cormier), a young boy who is the titular Avatar. The only one capable of bending all four elements (air, water, fire and earth), he must master his powers to save a world at war and fight a ruthless enemy bent on stopping him.
The second season — which premieres June 25 on Netflix — picks up after a bittersweet victory saving the Northern Water Tribe from the invading Fire Nation, and Aang and his friends — waterbender Katara (Kiawentiio) and her brother Sokka (Ian Ousley) — set off on a mission to convince the elusive Earth King to aid in their battle against the fearsome Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim).
Kyoshi, who was introduced in season one, is a powerful earthbender Avatar preceding Aang's previous incarnation, Avatar Roku.
Yvonne couldn't give much about her role in season two away, but she doesn't think fans will be disappointed.
"I will say that getting on the set again and seeing everybody was amazing," she said.
While filming season one however, Yvonne recalled she was "nervous walking on set".
"I was so anxious about portraying her, because I know how beloved she is in the universe of Avatar, and I really just wanted to do her justice," she explained.
The anxiousness went away with the support from the team. "I think for me the most difficult part was at home doing all my own, doing the prep, trying to figure something out with her, because I took it very seriously, and I wanted people to be happy with what I was doing."
For some fans, Kyoshi comes as a ruthless character, making decisive — often violent — decisions in pursuit of justice.
But to Yvonne, Kyoshi is a "fierce protector".
"From the outward appearance, it could feel like she's ruthless, but when you dig into the storyline in the context of why she does what she does, and in the moments that she does it, it makes perfect sense," she said.
"She's not this heartless, cold person — way opposite of that. She's super protective, highly empathetic and cares deeply, and I think that does translate into the extreme actions that she does take, because she cares so much."
How similar and different is she to Kyoshi?
Yvonne recalled feeling surprised when reading the Avatar novels in preparation for the role as she felt many similarities right off the bat.
"[In the novel], you get a glimpse of her inner monologue and her self-doubt, and her talking to herself on how to handle matters appropriately, which is a very relatable trait about her, especially for me. I think I go through that in life too — not fully knowing what it is that we're doing, but we're all trying our best," she said.
Regarding their differences, Yvonne joked that she's not seven feet tall or 200 years old before adding seriously: "I wish I had more of a fierceness which she possesses."
She also said she doesn't have Kyoshi's need to be pragmatic and organised.
Possibilities aside, we asked Yvonne whether she would want to live a life as long as Kyoshi's.
"Truthfully, no, I wouldn't want that. I think life is worth living because it is so short, and if I knew I had that much time, I don't know if I would go at things with the same ferocity or tenacity," she said.
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"I mean, her situation is very different. She's an avatar, she's constantly having to go at it, but I think life is meant to be precious and to be treated as such. So, I am happy with the less-than-a-century, probably, life that I'm going to live," she said.
When playing characters with heavy emotional weight, Yvonne said there's always a "grieving period", having to "let them go and say goodbye".
"All of these women have impacted me in some way, and I've taken a lot of great lessons from their beings and who they are, each and every single character," she said.
"I've been so grateful that it's opened up a different perspective of life for me and a different way of being, that it's integrated into who I am as a person. There're certain things that I do leave behind because they're just not me, but there is a moment where I do have to say goodbye."
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Before acting, Yvonne was a model in her late teens, travelling between Canada and Hong Kong for work.
She took on small TV roles, from around 2016, until she landed her first recurring role in the Canadian series Street Legal (2019).
While the series wasn't renewed for a second season, Yvonne would later land her breakout role in the American series Kung Fu (2021-2023) — a reboot of the 1972 series of the same name — where she played the villain Zhilan Zhang.
The same year the show began airing, Yvonne was announced as the actress for Kyoshi, and she said the martial arts training in the former helped in portraying her next role.
"Before Kung Fu, I had dabbled in some martial arts, but I was by no means an expert at it. Kung Fu was the very first job where I had the opportunity to do stunt work at that level," she shared.
"I was intimidated to do it, to say the least, because it was brand new to me, but I had an incredible stunt team that were the most patient and thorough teachers, so I was able to get up to speed to where I needed to be, and I really fell in love with the process of the stunts."
Yvonne's newest show The Season, which was filmed in Hong Kong, recently premiered on streaming platform Viu on June 17 and she told us how it was like returning to where she used to model.
She plays Madeline Wong, a niece of the Hex family, who returns amid a big scandal involving her and her late husband.
"It was so nice and nostalgic to be back in that vibrancy of Hong Kong. I revisited some of the places that I used to frequent quite a bit as a model," she said, adding that filming in an empty Ocean Park at night was one of her favourite moments.
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Yvonne's upcoming film White Lies was just announced prior to the interview, and she excitedly told us she had been waiting to share the news.
"I really can't say very much about it but it is an exciting project to work on. I'm really excited for everybody to see it, and it's been such a pleasure for me to work with such an iconic director as Oliver Stone," she smiled.
Reflecting on her career in the past 10 years, Yvonne said she has learned "everything doesn't necessarily go as planned, and that's okay".
"I've been very fortunate that I've had some wonderful opportunities, and all I can hope for is that it continues. I do want to say that if you are in this business and this is something that you're working on, you just have to keep showing up for yourself and for other people and keep doing the work because there's so much outside of our control," she said.
"What I hope to do in the next 10 years is still be invited to come play and do what I love, but at the same time, I'm still going to continue to do it, no matter what. And my frame of reference for success is really just trying to do what it is that you love to do, and if I do that, then I think I can count that as a win."
Watch all episodes of The Season now on Viu.
Avatar: The Last Airbender season 2 premieres on June 25 only on Netflix.
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