Profile | She was going to quit acting – then John Wick 4 called: Aimée Kwan on parents’ disapproval, Donnie Yen’s influence and classical music

A week before finding out she had a role in John Wick: Chapter 4, Aimée Kwan had thought about giving up acting. ‘I was in a total crisis,’ she recalls

Kwan, an Oxford graduate who plays piano and violin, had to convince her parents to let her take up acting; she cites Donnie Yen’s Hero as an influential film

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Aimée Kwan at the “John Wick: Chapter 4” UK gala screening. In the film, Kwan plays a relative of Donnie Yen’s character. She tells the Post why, a week before she was cast, she was thinking about giving up acting. Photo: Getty Images

Mabel Lui

Published: 4:15am, 24 Mar 2023Updated: 5:35am, 24 Mar 2023

A week before landing a role in John Wick: Chapter 4, Aimée Kwan had been contemplating giving up acting.

“I was in a total crisis,” she recalls. “I was saying to my friend at the time, ‘I don’t know if I should quit. It’s just tiring. I love it, but I don’t know if I love it enough’.”

Kwan never had the chance to succumb to her doubts, as she was flown to Paris a day after finding out she had been cast as the violin-playing Mia – a relative of the blind assassin Caine, portrayed by Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen Ji-dan, in the action movie.

“It meant a lot to me because I was on that precipice,” the actress says. “It sounds really weird and cheesy because it’s just entertainment, but I think you need a really thick skin and a lot of mental strength just to get through the process before you’ve even got a job.”

Kwan plays the character Mia in “John Wick: Chapter 4”. Photo: Linda Wei

Kwan was born in London to a Thai mother and a Malaysian father. She grew up playing piano and violin, and studied at the Royal College of Music and Oxford University. While completing her undergraduate degree, she took a year-long break and decided to take up acting professionally, having always been in love with film.