The actress opens up about surviving leukemia at age 15. Plus, why her new partnership focuses on "appreciating every moment we’ve been afforded."
For actress Ashley Park, time is something she thinks about differently. Diagnosed with leukemia at 15, the Emily in Paris star spent months in the hospital. Now 34, she is revisiting that experience through a different lens as part of Bristol Myers Squibb’s “Time Back” campaign, which focuses on what it means to regain time after cancer. The initiative also includes a new platform, cancertimeback.com, where patients and caregivers can share their own stories. Park says that perspective is something she rarely saw reflected in conversations about cancer.
Best known for her roles in Emily in Paris and Beef, as well as her Tony-nominated performance in Mean Girls, Park is also premiered her new film Basic at the SXSW film festival in March. In her recent one-on-one conversation with The Healthy, she returns to those early months of treatment, when her oncologists became her main human connection and when a single conversation could shift everything. She also reflects on an early acting job that taught her extra empathy in medical settings.
Ahead, she unpacks how these experiences influence not just the work she takes on now, but how she moves through her life.
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The Healthy: Ashley, you’ve spoken about your oncologist giving you something incredibly profound—time back. Can you talk about your relationship to time and how it’s changed since your diagnosis and recovery from acute myeloid leukemia as a teenager?
Ashley Park: When you’re diagnosed with cancer—or your loved ones are—the first thing you think about is time. That’s also what you’re thinking about while everything’s happening and even afterwards. A big part of my life was, “Oh wow, there’s so much time lost,” or “Will I ever get that time back?” When you are a patient, it really is living moment to moment—is today the day there’s improvement? Everything is measured by time, but in a really minute, specific way.
What I loved about this campaign is that it shifts that perspective. It’s like, let’s focus on the time that’s gained back—the time you get to experience in the present. It’s really about living in the moment and appreciating every moment we’ve been afforded because of the work that oncologists have done.
The Healthy: This campaign centers on reclaiming moments that might feel lost. How did you shift from that feeling to appreciating the present?
Ashley Park: I think because I was diagnosed when I was 15, it wasn’t an intentional decision to say, “Now I’m shifting my perspective.” But your perspective on time—or really anything—can’t help but shift when you go through something like that. At that age, you feel like an adult, but you’re really still a child. And our idea of time is so skewed in this beautiful but also naive way. At first, I was focused on moving forward—like, “Let’s not harp on the past.” I remember when I went back to school after being in remission—I had missed a year—and people were like, “You should redo your year.” And I was kind of like, “I want to keep moving on as if this didn’t happen.” And I realize now that erasure isn’t the answer either.
The Healthy: That’s an interesting balance to thread.
Ashley Park: I remember when one of my oncologists came to see me perform after I had been released, it was the first time we saw each other outside of me being in a hospital bed. The whole time you’re with your oncologist, you’re thinking, “I never want to see you again.” You want to be past that time. But then you realize they were with you through the hardest part of your life—and they don’t always get to see what comes after. That’s what I love about this campaign. It’s about recognizing that they’re part of the life you get to live afterward. When we were starting to do this campaign, I was like, “Oh my gosh, I wonder if any of my oncologists watch Emily in Paris.” Their whole job is trying to have empathy through what they’re doing, which is essentially what my job is, too. I have empathy for the characters I’m playing or the audience that I’m playing it for.
The Healthy: You’ve referenced empathy—both as a patient and as an actor. How do those connect for you?
Ashley Park: One of my first acting jobs in New York was working with oncologists. We would be helping to train and rehearse oncologists delivering bad news. We’d be given scenarios—like, “You’re the sister of a patient,” and you react in different ways. It was improv. That was my first time ever professionally acting or anything. I was processing at that time now that I had moved to New York, I was healthy, I was in remission. I thought, How do I give back? I was like, “OK, well, I have an acting degree. I’m an actor, so maybe I can help.” I could be part of rehearsing a social skill. Because in acting, our catchphrase is, “It’s not a life or death. We’re fine.” [But] it is kind of for oncologists.
The Healthy: Has everything you’ve gone through changed how you spend your time and choose projects?
Ashley Park: The only thing I could do when I was in the hospital for eight months was watch things on a screen. I come from the world of musical theater, and I never thought there was really going to be a place for me on screen, but I was the best audience member. Honestly, the best thing to hear is when someone says, “That got me through a really tough time.” That’s what I look for now—projects that feel like a conversation, where even one person might feel a little less alone. Because I experienced being so isolated and alone, and still feeling part of a community just by watching something. When we talk about “time back” and what moment you’re grateful for, I would say [the] week at South by Southwest with [her new film] Basic was probably the best week of my life.
The Healthy: Who are the people in your life who keep you grounded, people you’d say would be on your Board of Directors in life?
Ashley Park: Far and away, my mom. Every quality I have—personally and professionally—is because of her. She really grounded me in gratitude and in finding the silver lining. She wouldn’t call herself resilient, but I really learned resilience from her. And then I think of my friends—what I call “lifers” or “soul sisters.” I probably have one from every job or throughout life. There’s many people throughout my life who have either believed in me or really seen me before I could believe in myself or see myself, whether they were a theater teacher or a doctor. I think that is really monumental in anyone’s growth or success.
The Healthy: What age do you feel compared to your actual biological age?
Ashley Park: It depends on the area of my life. Imagine being stunted at age 15—never having had a first kiss, never having had a boyfriend—and then wondering, did that affect me? Am I stunted there? I’m a Gemini, and you know how Geminis get a bad rap for having two sides. But what I think that actually means is that sometimes I feel like an incredibly wise soul. I feel like I understand certain social dynamics and what’s going on. And then the other half of me is truly a toddler. But I actually take that as a compliment now. That ambition of, “I’m going to walk, I’m going to run,” that desire to be part of the world, and that naivety of not being discouraged—it’s a good thing. And honestly, I don’t really understand age.
The Healthy: What’s one self-care ritual you never skip?
Ashley Park: You’ve got to brush your teeth. That’s probably not what you’re talking about, but honestly, if I had 10 seconds before bed or when I wake up, it’s brushing my teeth and washing my face. And Chapstick. I recently realized I’m addicted to Chapstick. If I don’t have one, I feel like I’m not OK.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
