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Lola Tung: Finding Her Place Beyond Belly

 

Lola Tung

Lola Tung became known almost overnight as Belly Conklin, the central character of The Summer I Turned Pretty. It is a difficult introduction to the screen: three seasons, a complicated love triangle, grief, family conflicts, and a character whose emotions are constantly at the story's center.

It is also worth remembering that Belly was Tung's first credited acting role. Before landing the part, she had studied acting at LaGuardia High School and Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama. She was still very early in her professional career when she was cast as the lead of a major streaming series.

That makes The Summer I Turned Pretty an interesting starting point for looking at her career. Tung has had to grow into a character while the character herself was growing up.

A Complicated First Role

Belly


Belly isn't an easy character to play.

She can be insecure, romantic, selfish, vulnerable, angry, confused, and occasionally incredibly frustrating. Her emotions also change quickly, sometimes within the same episode. The role requires a young actress to carry much of the show's emotional weight while making those contradictions feel natural.

For me, Tung is more convincing in some of Belly's heavier emotional moments than in her lighter ones. The dramatic scenes tend to give her something more concrete to work with, while some of Belly's happiness and romantic excitement can feel less natural.

That became particularly noticeable in the third season, when the story asked Belly to be older, more independent, and more certain about her life. Some of those changes didn't always come across as convincingly as I would have liked.

But that doesn't necessarily make the role a failure. It makes me curious about what Tung can do when she isn't playing Belly.

Beyond The Summer I Turned Pretty

The most interesting thing about Lola Tung's career right now is that she is beginning to move beyond the role that made her famous.

She has already appeared in I Know What You Did Last Summer and has taken on roles in Chasing Summer and Forbidden Fruits, while more projects are in development.

Those roles matter because Belly has defined so much of Tung's early career. Playing the same character for three seasons means that audiences naturally associate the actress with Belly's voice, mannerisms, and personality.

Breaking away from that will probably be the real test.

An Actress Still Developing

I don't think Lola Tung's career can be judged entirely from The Summer I Turned Pretty.

She was given an enormous opportunity very early, and she has spent the beginning of her professional life carrying one of the show's most important characters. That is a lot to ask from a young actress, particularly when the material itself becomes increasingly uneven.

What I find more interesting is what comes next.

Tung has already had the chance to learn from a long-running lead role, and now she has the opportunity to show a different side of herself. Her career is still young enough that there is plenty of room for her screen presence to develop, become more natural and, hopefully, more varied.

Belly may be the character that introduced Lola Tung to audiences, but she doesn't have to be the character that defines her.

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