Exclusive: Ashley Park Says It Was ‘Heartbreaking’ to Pass Up Broadway Shows, Is ‘Dying’ to Return

Now that Ashley Park has wrapped filming the sixth and final season of Emily in Paris, her schedule may allow her to take on more theater projects. 

“I miss it so much,” the Tony Award nominee exclusively tells BroadwayWorld, adding that there’s been “quite a few things on Broadway” that she was “a big part of helping to develop.”

The Mean Girls alum, who recently partnered with global healthcare company Abbott to promote its We Give Blood initiative, says that it was “heartbreaking every time” she was unable to go with a project to Broadway. 

“I was supposed to do Into the Woods,” says Park, who was initially announced to play Cinderella in the Encores! production that transferred to Broadway in 2022. 

“I was supposed to do Maybe Happy Ending,” she adds. “I was supposed to do All Out.”

The actress has been busy playing Mindy Chen on Emily in Paris since 2020. She recently arrived back in the United States from her time in Europe, where she wrapped filming the sixth and final season of the popular Netflix series. 

“A lot of people [ask], ‘Why don’t you want to come back [to Broadway]?’ And I’m like, ‘I’m dying to come back to Broadway.’ But schedule-wise, this is the last season of Emily in Paris,” she explains. “Until we were wrapped with this show, the priority had to be with Netflix.” 

Park reveals that one of her “biggest regrets in life” is “not being able to do Into the Woods” with friend and fellow University of Michigan alum Gavin Creel, who died in 2024 at age 48 after being diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. 

“I remember him calling me while I was in Paris and being like, ‘Is there any way?’ And me being like, ‘I wish,’” Park recalls. “He was just the embodiment of everything good.” 

Park — who had her own experience with cancer after being diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia during her sophomore year of high school when she was 15 years old — is encouraging others to donate blood to help those in need. 

“My treatment relied really heavily on blood donations and blood transfusions and platelet transfusions,” she explains. “A lot of my eight months of treatment was very much defined by having a bag of blood attached to me.”

With the We Give Blood initiative, Park is especially urging UMich students and fellow alumni to donate. A Big Ten Conference college with the most donations will receive a $1 million grant from Abbott.

“Having grown up in Ann Arbor and then going to the University of Michigan for school and also having been treated in the children’s hospital at Michigan, that Go Blue spirit really runs through my blood,” she explains. “Building this whole new donor base with young donors is incredibly impactful and important.”

Photo Credit: Bruce Glikas