Broadway’s Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert: One of a Kind, No Category

Mixed Asian Media - July 25, 2022

By Alison Lea Bender

I got to sit down and chat with Nicole in-person for this delightful interview. Nicole Kyoung-Mi Lambert is currently an alternate in the Broadway show SIX, which tells the stories of the six wives of Henry VIII through a contemporary, pop competition. As we sprawled out on a comfy couch at Citizen M Hotel with our rose and lavender iced lattes, I almost forgot our conversation was an interview because I felt so at home in her presence. It was as if Nicole hijacked my brain when she began articulating the same struggles and feelings I’ve experienced in my life. I felt like I’d met my long-lost half-Korean sister, and I’m truly excited to follow her journey in the future.

What is your mix, and what are your favorite things about it?

I’m half Korean, half African American, Black. My dad is Black and my mom is Korean. And my favorite thing about it... Gosh, there are a lot of favorite things. I do feel like my mix has some of the best food. Between soul food and Korean food, I feel like all bases are covered, you know?

Yeah, I feel that. Being a mixed performer means we get perceived as so many different things by so many different people behind the casting table. What has being mixed race looked like for you in your theatre career so far?

That's a good question. I feel like I'm never able to actually play myself, other than SIX, because there is no necessary ethnicity with the characters. It's like Hamilton where it's color blind casting. I've been in a lot of shows based on how I'm perceived, and I'm perceived as darker, so usually it's easier for people to believe that I'm Black more than Asian. I've done a lot of shows with Black only ensembles. I've also done shows where I'm in the ensemble of like a Latinx community, just ‘cause I feel like those are the two most believable things I can portray. But I do feel like because I'm mixed, I can't tell the story of a full Black person. I can't tell the story of a Latinx person obviously, ‘cause I'm not. I feel like I can never be a principal in those companies. It just doesn't feel authentic.

I feel like there's nothing inherently wrong with playing certain roles, if that race is a part of our genetic makeup, but if it doesn't feel authentic to us, it's gonna feel hard. Most shows deal with race in a black and white manner, and it's unfortunate for those of us who are in-between or mixed.

A lot of shows that are about Black people are about the Black struggle, and there's a lot of colorism in that. Being lighter skinned, if I'm singing about being dark skinned… that's just not me. So even though I am Black, I still have a lot of privilege.

Have you ever felt like you had to prove your Black-ness or your Asian-ness to others growing up or even in the industry? All the time, yeah. I think for most of my life I felt like I'm just not Asian enough and I'm not Black enough. I didn't know what to do with that. I feel like I’ve finally come to a place where I'm just okay with it.

Absolutely. I’ve also more recently begun to feel okay being here in the middle. I also see myself more reflected in other people, especially other mixed performers. When I see people like you on Broadway, it gives me a lot of hope. So in the musical SIX, you get to play so many different iconic queens. Who do you have the most fun with, and why?

I think it changes, but right now I'm really feeling Catherine of Aragon. I just feel like I'm in my Beyoncé era, you know? I’ve been having so much fun embodying that. I also think, where we are in the world, I have a lot of anger. I definitely feel like, as a collective, we're all kind of pissed off and tired of people not understanding that small changes can make a really big difference and tired of people's needs not being met. With Aragon, there's this sticking it to the man vibe, like fuck the patriarchy. She opens that show. In her song, for those four minutes, I get to take the stage and take that song. It's therapeutic right now.

How do you stay grounded every day with so many different lines, harmonies, and tracks flowing around in your mind, while also not knowing if and which queen you could swing on for any given day?

How do I stay grounded? You know, I actually think my partner grounds me a lot. He really helps and takes care of me. He's just so willing and able. So having him in my corner and having a team and having a family that loves and supports me. They were at the show the other day and I was so nervous because I wanted to do my best for them. One of my other castmates was like, “You know your family is always gonna love you.” I could trip on that stage, and they would still think it’s fabulous. There are rituals I like to do, like working out and I try to meditate on the train. There are things I do from day to day, but I feel like the consistent thing is my support.

What are some of your aspirations or goals for yourself after your run with SIX is over? What do you see for yourself?

I see so many things. I kind of feel like Tyra Banks in the movie Life-Size, how she has a million lives and different careers. That’s kind of how I try to live my life. I truly wanna be limitless. I wanna be on TV and film, I wanna act, I wanna write, I wanna direct. I wanna be able to do it all, while being financially set up to still create. Even if it's not for general consumption, I feel like that's the ultimate dream.

Right, being financially stable enough to keep making art. It is nice, though, when you get to be a part of something that's a mega impactful, commercial hit. Nicole, I need you to write some stories for us mixed girls.

Absolutely. I think writing is one of my next steps. I would really love to write plays or movies. I think it's hard, especially as a woman, growing up to know that your stories are good enough to be heard or to be told. So I definitely wanna bridge this gap between what I've seen people like myself do and what could be done. Then I have to remember that, in the United States at least, interracial babies were literally illegal until the 60s. I just feel like there's so much for our stories to be told right now because they really haven't been. The best stories are the most unique ones, right? There's so much space, and I think it's really cool that as crazy as the world is right now, it's a cool time to be alive as an artist.

What are some ways that you honor your heritage on or off stage?

I feel like I'm very passionate about using my full name. I feel like that's my way of carrying my family with me, especially my Korean side. I do feel like I present differently to a lot of people, and maybe I'm wrong in saying this, but I do feel like just because my skin color is darker, people can guess that I'm part black. But I don't know that people can always guess that I'm Korean, unless they're also Korean or mixed. That’s part of the reason why keeping my middle name is important. But the mixed people… we can spot each other and get it. We just know. So I feel like holding on to my Korean side has been really important to me.

I feel that same way as well. Holding on to my Korean name feels so important. As soon as I saw you, I could tell you were Korean.

That's so crazy. I love that because I don't hear it very often.

Growing up in your household, there were always delicious flavors used in the kitchen. What are some of your favorite foods from your family? You better say kimchi.

Of course kimchi! My mom was literally just here the other day and made me a whole jar of it for me. I grew up loving Korean barbecue, and I still love it, but I'm vegan now. But if I were to eat meat, it would just be that. It was kind of sad for my mom. She's an amazing cook, but she learned how to make a lot of her Korean dishes vegan for me. I think one of my favorite Korean dishes is probably just kimchi, like a good kimchi soup and rice. I will take the sacrifice of smelling like kimchi for the next week, you know what I mean?

You're such a fierce, confident, healthy, and strong chick. What is your biggest piece of advice for others of mixed race heritage who may be struggling with identity and loving themselves?

It is hard. I feel like there are a million things I could say. I think the same thing that makes you feel like you don’t know where you belong is the same thing that is also your superpower. I think that having an identity crisis is a human experience, and I think it's actually better to have that when you're younger than like when you're old. We're given this challenge that allows us to be deeper and fuller human beings. I don't mean that we're the only people capable of that, but I do think we inherently like to confront these issues. We have to confront who we are in the world. We have to confront what it feels like to not belong, and because of that, I feel like we can be very empathetic. Mixed folks can stand the duality that two things can exist at the same time and still be true. We live in the gray, right? There’s not a lot of black and white in our lives. I think that's a beautiful thing and a blessing. Anyway, that's a really long-winded way of saying to embrace it, and know that there are other people in the world that experience what you're experiencing, even if you're not around them. Just embrace the human experience, the uniqueness of your being.