To Kwan, and to Capcom, these two variations of Chun Li are completely different individuals, with years of life expertise between them, which provided a possibility for Chun Li to develop and mature in her personal approach. As such, Kwan needed to convey one thing new with the character that mirrored her progress whereas additionally conserving the important essence of who she is.

Past Lives

Prior to Street Fighter 6, Kwan is greatest identified for her roles as Suki in Avatar: The Last Airbender and Sam Woo within the NBC sitcom California Dreams. Suki is a fighter who’s a part of the Kyoshi Warriors, a bunch based by Avatar Kyoshi of the Earth Kingdom to guard her homeland, Kyoshi Island. In addition to her hand-to-hand combating expertise, Suki can also be adept at utilizing weapons akin to conflict followers and katanas. Coincidentally, there are fairly a couple of similarities between Chun Li and Suki.

Both characters exhibit an air of maturity and in addition concentrate on hand-to-hand fight. And since Chun Li has needed to take care of certainly one of Street Fighter’s fundamental antagonists, M. Bison, for a few years, Kwan thinks the character has a extra rogue persona in comparison with Suki. Chun Li is extremely disciplined and is commonly the voice of cause in teams. Despite her grounded conduct, she generally acts rashly if criminals insult her delight as a cop, which may trigger her to desert her higher judgment—particularly when going through off in opposition to Bison, the person who murdered her father. 

Starting with Street Fighter III: third Strike, Chun Li begins to indicate a kinder, mentoring aspect when she meets Li-Fen for the primary time. In Street Fighter 6, nonetheless, Chun Li assumes the function of instructor and settles down a bit.

On the opposite hand, and in one other function fully, Kwan says that Suki nonetheless had loads of rising as much as do within the Avatar collection, since she was younger and nonetheless going by means of her personal journey. Both characters are fascinating as a result of they’re allowed to alter over time, as individuals do in actual life.

Kwan brings that very same range of perspective to the roles she performs. She notes that she’s been in a position to work in TV reveals, movie, animation, and video video games, taking part in all kinds of characters. “Being an actor, this long in the business, you have ebb and flow,” she continues. “I’ve been so fortunate to be able to cross all different genres. Not everybody’s able to do that.”

Looking Forward

At 2022’s San Diego Comic-Con,  Capcom introduced Kwan to the large onsite Street Fighter 6 sales space and gave her a tour the place she may see individuals taking part in the sport in actual life. Chills went down her backbone. She says it was surreal seeing individuals taking part in as Chun Li and listening to her personal voice.

Even in spite of everything these years, Kwan says she’s nonetheless looking for the unique contract for that previous Chun Li voice pattern, as a result of the character ended up being so widespread. As an actor, she says that she must remind herself that there are all the time ups and downs within the leisure trade. She had no concept that an audition many years in the past would come again round like this.

Chun Li is by all accounts a badass, sturdy, and decided brawler, and Kwan says she will get emotional realizing individuals look as much as her. “Just seeing her in Street Fighter 6, even just the little snippets, there’s a sort of calm before the storm with her, that she’s able to hold it and just really follow through,” says Kwan. “She has enough grit and power not to back down, which is pretty impressive, and that’s something I admire too.”