Ken Leung on ‘Industry,’ the finance show for everyone

Ken Leung has had an illustrious career. Since debuting in the 1998 film “Rush Hour,” the New York-raised actor has made a name for himself on programs like “The Sopranos” and “Lost.” Since 2020, he’s been one of the stars of “Industry,” HBO’s series following the high-energy, high-stress world of international finance.

With the return of “Industry,” by way of a third season now streaming on HBO, Ken Leung joined The Culture Show for a conversation with Jared Bowen about entering the (fictional) world of business, making drama television in a drama-ridden world, and the streaming-era “race” for audience attention.

Leung describes his character, American-born London-based managing director Eric Tao, as a “mentor” for the younger staff at Pierpoint & Co, particularly Harper, played by Myha’la Herrold. Leung says that Eric and Harper “kind of gravitate towards each other from the get-go. We’re both people of color. We’re both Americans in London, and so we follow that journey.”

By the end of season two, “something changes radically. And at the beginning of [season] three, we no longer see them together, physically at least,” said Leung. “It’s a very explosive, chaotic, unpredictable show, particularly this season, I feel.”

The spoiler-free insight into season three by Leung reveals that the upcoming episodes will explore Eric’s personal journey. “The season starts with him making partner, finally,” Leung explains, but not without sacrifice. “His wife has left him, he’s developed a drinking problem, so he’s coping with aging in a young man’s game. But I think from the get-go, there is a sense, or hopefully there’s a sense, of what he must have gone through to get where he is as an Asian American man.”

Leung admits that he joined “Industry” with little to no experience in the finance world. “I think it’s fair to say that for most of us, this world [of finance] is completely foreign,” he says, but that didn’t necessarily limit him. “As an actor, you don’t need to know finance. You don’t need to be an expert in all of finance. What you need to know is your stakes in the scene. […] I think it helps, too, that we all know that none of us are experts in this. So there’s this kind of team mentality where we support each other.”

The show has resonated with audiences beyond the finance world, as well. “Power is just a human thing,” Leung says of the show’s universal appeal. “There’s so much at stake right now. And to see different people take different paths to power makes power interesting despite being an age-old human impulse.”

He also thinks that the show itself is an exercise in power.

“You can watch any number of shows,” says Leung. “So there’s this race to get attention, be relevant, do something while we know we’re living in such a consequential time. We want to be part of that. We want to say ‘we were here for that, because we did this.’ […] I don’t think that’s unique to this time. What is unique is one thing on top of the other.”

Listen to the full interview above, and listen to The Culture Show every weekday at 2 p.m. on GBH.