Over the Moon: FilAm actress revels in her role and heritage

Cathy Ang, right, provided the voice for Fei Fei in 'Over the Moon' animated musical.

With an Asian American cast of Sandra Oh, John Cho, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong, Ruthi Ann Miles, Conrad Ricamora and Margaret Cho, the young star of Over the Moon, Cathy Ang, in her biggest role in her budding career, steals the show.

Ang, 25, stars in Netflix's Over the Moon, an animated film featuring her as her voice a young girl named Fei Fei who builds a rocket ship to travel to space and meet the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e.

It was a “huge privilege and honor” to be part of that star-studded lineup, Ang said.

“This cast has inspired me to pursue acting,” Ang explained. “I grew up wanting to be able to be like them, and they paved the way for a lot of young Asian American artists. They lift the young artists up so well.”

She remembers idolizing Disney's animated Mulan as a young girl growing up Southern California and having an inspirational role model who looked like her, so she appreciates the chance to pass-it-forward to another generation of Asian American children.

“This is the first time that, as a Chinese Filipino-American I’m getting to play a Chinese character," she said. "So, it’s very exciting for me to be able to share my family’s culture and some of our traditions, and I feel really proud that it’s getting represented on screen and that hopefully the rest of the world will see it and get curious and celebrate it. So it means the world.”

Fei Fei;s incredible journey to the moon and the making of Over The Moon became part of Ang's own journey of her “personal identity,” she said in a Zoom interview with Asian and Asian American media.

“I feel like I’ve learned a lot more about who I am, and even though I’m Asian American, you know, I’m still figuring out what that really means and how that will translate in the art that I make," said the NYU grad.

"But it’s been really nice because I appreciate the way that my parents, who were immigrants from the Philippines, tried to impart a lot of their culture on me as I was growing up, and I realized, more so than ever that it’s a huge gift. And so, it’s made actually the dialogue between my parents and I more exciting because we have new things to talk about,” said Ang, whose father is fron Ongin and mother is from Nueva Viscaya.

I grew up in California and so I had the privilege of going to see lion dancing and dragon dancing in Chinatown and play with Chinese yoyos and we would always eat a lot of really amazing food for every birthday, for every holiday there was something to stuff ourselves with.  There was lechon, there was pancit, there was sinigang, you know, and there were so many holidays where it was just about gathering around a table and stuffing yourselves until you couldn't help but be happy together (laughs).

Although not a full-fledged musical, Over the Moon features plenty of songs allowing the movie's singing stars to shine.

Ang took part in musicals while in college and landed a role in the Broadway hit KPOP. Growing up, she says, like many girls she grew up as a Lea Salonga fan and is slightly embarrassed to tell of her first meeting with the Broadway legend. 

"Oh my gosh. After the show I did which was KPOP musical in New York, I met her because she came to greet the cast. I grew up with Lea Salonga. My parents are from the Philippines and they love Lea Salonga. I love Mulan and Jasmine. She is one of my inspirations to pursue art. I cried the whole time when I saw her. I could not talk to her. She probably thinks I was weird. She was so sweet and I was so overwhelmed to see her."

'Over the Moon' is available for streaming on Netflix.