IN CONVERSATION WITH KAREN FUKUHARA

Actress and voice performer Karen Fukuhara is known for bringing strength, nuance, and heart to some of today’s most memorable action and animated characters. She recently wrapped her acclaimed five-season run as Kimiko in Prime Video’s The Boys, a role that made her a fan favorite around the world. She first gained international recognition as Katana in Suicide Squad and has since appeared in films including Bullet Train. Alongside her live-action work, she’s become one of the industry’s leading voice actors, with roles in The Boy and the Heron, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, Pokémon Concierge, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Up next, she’ll star in NBC’s Rookie: North

top JASMINE ERBAS
skirt MARS THE LABEL
shoes FLOR DE MARIA
earrings and bracelets NAZRANAA JEWELRY
rings ASTRID & AGNES

You’ve recently wrapped five seasons of The Boys. Looking back, what does Kimiko mean to you today?
Kimiko is near and dear to my heart, and I think she always will be. She was such an incredible character, with so much growth and depth, and playing her was the first time I had the opportunity to build a character year after year and really grow alongside her. I’m incredibly proud of how far she’d come by the end of the series. She began feeling powerless and by the end, defeated the greatest villain of all. After spending so many years playing her, I still find myself wondering what she’s up to now that we’re no longer following her story.

Kimiko communicated so much without words for most of the series. What did that challenge teach you as an actor?
She said so much without ever uttering a word for most of her journey. Even though she never audibly spoke, she always spoke volumes. She had this quiet strength bubbling beneath the surface at all times. There were definitely challenges as an actor in figuring out how to communicate her intentions through body language, and often just through her eyes. When sign language became part of her story, it was immensely helpful. Learning how to sign gave me a deeper understanding of what life might look like for someone who doesn’t communicate through spoken language, and it gave me an even greater insight into who Kimiko was as a human being, someone who had spent so much of her life feeling trapped inside this so-called box.

The Boys balances brutal action with satire and heartfelt relationships. What was it like navigating those very different tones?
I think those are exactly the things that made the show work and gave it that spark. It was refreshing to see these incredibly powerful characters have soft spots and moments of vulnerability, and I think that’s why so many of us fell in love with the characters, and ultimately with the show. For Kimiko, even though she could be extremely violent, there was always a reason behind it, and I tried not to lose sight of her humanity throughout all of that. In my eyes, Kimiko and Frenchie were the beating heart of the group. Whenever possible, I tried to lean into empathy and remember the person underneath all the violence. Behind that harder exterior was a girl who grew into a woman, someone who could be vulnerable and emotional, and who was always searching for the right path within the chaos.
You’ve become known for doing a lot of your own action work. What do you enjoy most about stunt training?
Absolutely. For a physically demanding character like Kimiko, her physicality informed me about her nature just as much as her dialogue and signing did. There’s something really exciting about discovering a character through movement and understanding how the way they fight, react, and carry themselves can tell you just as much about them as what they say. I had the best time working with our stunt coordinator, John Koyama, as well as my double, Kiralee Hayashi. The entire team was top-notch and incredible to learn from. We had the best time during stunt rehearsals, and I really do miss those days together. We spent hours and hours practicing and going over difficult action beats to get them just right, and there was no better feeling than successfully executing them on the day. Stunts feel like a team sport. When it goes well, it feels like you’ve scored with the team, and it’s a celebration, a win for everybody involved.

dress LE THANH HOA
shoes VALENTINA RANGONI
earrings REVOLVE
rings ASTRID & AGNES

Looking back at Suicide Squad, how did playing Katana shape your career and your confidence as an action performer?
Suicide Squad was another formative experience, and we put in countless hours of katana training. I think the discipline I developed through doing karate growing up really showed during that process, and it’s something that has carried me throughout my career. I like to make sure the physical work is really engrained in my body so that, when we get on set, I can feel comfortable adapting to any tweaks or changes the director may make in the moment. That’s one of the things I love about action work, you can prepare as much as possible, but you also have to be able to listen, adapt, and trust your training. I was lucky to book a role like Katana so early in my career because I think it helped establish that I could hold my own physically and that I could move. Not only was it an amazing experience, but I do think it helped open the door to other roles later in my career.

Your résumé moves seamlessly between live-action and voice acting. Do you approach those performances differently, or is the process more similar than people imagine?
I love doing both because they’re so different. What I love about voice acting is that you’re not confined by your physical appearance, so you can really go to extremes and test the boundaries of a character. It’s so much fun to play with how far you can push your voice. If someone were to watch me doing some of my voices, they would probably be pretty weirded out. You can get really silly with it, and sometimes it works and creates magic, other times it doesn’t. You never know until you try.

 What I love about live-action is how deep your connection to a character can become. Often, we get more time with these characters, which means we can create a whole backstory and really begin to live in their shoes. Then the hair, makeup, and costumes come into play, and suddenly you start to see who this person is. Even the props and set design can inform you about the character and give you little pieces of their world. It just keeps expanding from there.

I love having the time and space to figure all of that out and really dive into a character’s psyche. So while the processes are very different, I think both are ultimately about being curious, taking risks, and finding the character from the inside out.

dress LE THANH HOA
shoes VALENTINA RANGONI
earrings NAZRANAA JEWELRY

Voicing Lady Himi in The Boy and the Heron was a special project. What did it mean to be part of a Studio Ghibli film?
It had been a lifelong dream of mine to work on a Studio Ghibli film. I grew up watching the films, and similar to how many of us grew up with Disney, Ghibli was such a big part of my childhood. The soundtracks in particular are deeply nostalgic for me, they’re the sounds of my childhood. In fact, just a week before I booked The Boy and the Heron, I went to see Joe Hisaishi at the Hollywood Bowl. So to be attending the Golden Globes with the legend himself a year later was pretty surreal. 

What I’ve always loved about Hayao Miyazaki’s films is that they can be so whimsical and fun to watch, while also carrying such depth. So many of them have strong female leads and explore social, political, and environmental themes in really thoughtful ways. There’s always something beneath the surface that stays with you. It meant the world to me to become a small part of the Hayao Miyazaki universe. To be able to contribute to something that had such a profound impact on me growing up was truly special.

dress NICOLE + FELICIA
earrings JULIETTA KNOT

Next, you’re about to join the The Rookie universe with TheRookie: North. What can audiences expect, and what excited you most about this new chapter?
We’re beginning filming, and I’m so excited to start this new chapter and work with this cast. We’ve already been going through police officer training together, and we’ve had such a blast so far. There’s something really special about going through that kind of experience together at the very beginning and getting to know each other along the way.

 I’m playing a character named Leah Mizuno, who’s a skilled training officer with a strong personality. I’m really looking forward to discovering who she is and seeing where the character takes me. Our showrunner, Alexi Hawley, seems to have a real gift for bringing good people together, similar to Eric Kripke on The Boys. We’ve heard so many stories about how close the original cast of The Rookie is, and I can’t wait to become part of this new family and create our own version of that.

The Rookie: North is also such a different world from The Boys, so I’m really curious to step into something completely different and see what that experience is like. It feels like a fun change of pace for me.

Growing up bilingual and between cultures, what aspects of your Japanese heritage have stayed closest to you? 
Being respectful of others is probably the most prominent, and most important, thing that has stayed with me. I feel like it’s deeply ingrained in me, almost a knee-jerk instinct to be mindful of the people around me, to make sure others feel comfortable, and to approach different perspectives and ways of life with an open mind. We’ve all grown up with different cultures, experiences, circumstances, and access to different things, and all of those pieces shape us into the people we become. I think having that awareness has always felt very natural to me, and it’s become a part of how I move through the world.

dress HER.I
shoes FLOR DE MARIA
earrings PETIT MOMENTS
bracelets NAZRANAA JEWELRY
rings ASTRID & AGNES

How do you recharge after physically and emotionally demanding projects?
I have a really strong network of friends and family, and most of them aren’t in the industry. I’ve found that incredibly helpful because they give me a perspective on what life is like outside of our bubble and remind me that there’s a whole world beyond what we do. I also love taking little recharging trips with my support system. I always come back from those feeling rejuvenated and ready to get back to work. And, of course, I love treating myself to a good facial and massage whenever I can.

TEAM CREDITS:

talent KAREN FUKUHARA

photography JESSE VOLK

styling ESTELLE APORONGAO at Anomalous Agency

makeup PRISCILLA PAE at A-Frame Agency

hair DEREK YUEN at A-Frame Agency

editor TIMI LETONJA

editorial director and interview JANA LETONJA