Cover Yerin Ha, Korean Australian actor who will join the fourth season of ‘Bridgerton’ (Photo: Getty Images)
Yerin Ha, Korean Australian actor who will join the fourth season of ‘Bridgerton’ (Photo: Getty Images)
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Yerin Ha, the leading lady set to steal Benedict Bridgerton’s heart in the popular Netflix series, will also be involved in other major projects such as ‘Dune: Prophecy’
Perpetual bachelor Benedict Bridgerton (played by Luke Thompson) will finally find his match in season 4 of Netflix’s alternative history series Bridgerton. The period drama’s upcoming season, which is slated for release in 2026, has cast 29-year-old Korean Australian actress Yerin Ha in the lead role of Sophie Beckett, opposite Thompson.
Created by Chris Van Dusen, Bridgerton is based on the Regency romance novels by Julia Quinn. The show revolves around the close-knit siblings of the respectable Bridgerton family and how they navigate love and relationships.
Ha will join the league of actors of colour in the new Bridgerton, which is already celebrated for its groundbreaking onscreen diversity and representation that upends entertainment production conventions of focusing on historical accuracy that often results in an all-white cast.
Ahead of the series’s exciting return, here are five things to know about Ha and her character in Bridgerton.
Who is this Sophie Beckett that Yerin Ha is playing?
While the Netflix production is still in the making, we already know from Quinn’s third book titled An Offer from A Gentleman that Sophie is an illegitimate child of the Earl of Penwood and a maid. Ignored by the Earl and disparaged by her stepmother and stepsisters after her father’s death, she’s somewhat the Regency version of Cinderella. She even has a grand ball scene in the book similar to Cinderella’s ball.
Yerin Ha comes from an acting family
Above Yerin Ha attended the premiere of ‘Halo’ at The Paramount Theatre in 2022 (Photo: Getty Images)
Yerin Ha attended the premiere of ‘Halo’ at The Paramount Theatre in 2022 (Photo: Getty Images)
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Ha was born on June 26, 1995, in Sydney to Korean parents. Her grandmother, Son Sook, is a South Korean actress who later became a politician. Her parents, also actors, met at an acting school. Ha followed the family tradition and trained at the Kaywon High School of Arts in Seoul before studying musical theatre at Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art.
What is Yerin Ha known for?
Above Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha in ‘Halo’ (Image: courtesy of Halo Alpha)
Yerin Ha as Kwan Ha in ‘Halo’ (Image: courtesy of Halo Alpha)
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Ha has acted in theatre, including the 2019 production of Lord of the Flies by the Sydney Theatre Company. She made her television debut in the same year in Reef Break (2019). Then in 2022, Ha portrayed Kwan Ha, a juvenile with a strong sense of justice in Paramount+’s series Halo by Steven Spielberg, and made her film debut in the horror film Sissy. She was named a rising star by the Casting Guild of Australia in 2021.
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Yerin Ha is a champion for diversity
Above Yerin Ha (Photo: Getty Images)
Yerin Ha (Photo: Getty Images)
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Ha has been outspoken about bringing greater racial diversity to the screen. In a 2022 interview with The Gamer, she opened up on her experience in Halo and the industry’s opportunities, “It’s definitely changing. But growing up, I never saw those stories. I only saw Asian women playing stereotypes in convenience stores and all that kind of stuff. So for me, it’s also really important that younger generations see themselves be portrayed fiercely.”
Yerin Ha will be in ‘Dune: Prophecy’
Ha’s acting career is definitely on the rise. She will portray Young Kasha, the future Reverend Mother in Imperium and confidante of Emperor Javicco Corrino in Dune: Prophecy, which is the prequel to the film Dune (2021). The American sci-fi television series, created by Diane Ademu-John, is set for release this year.
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Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
