Anna Akana on "Youth & Consequences," Mean Girls, and Mental Health

"High school is just one big buzzsaw that grinds people up into little, bite-sized pieces. Some people just do a better job at avoiding the teeth."

That's how we're introduced to Farrah Cutney, the queen bee at Central Rochester High School in YouTube Red's new series, Youth & Consequences. She's Regina George in theory but not in nature, and viewers learn early on that there's more to Farrah's motives than meets the eye. And Anna Akana, who plays her, jumped at the chance to play the young woman — a character who has been mythologized in both pop culture and the psyche of anyone who has ever stepped foot in a high school.

The performer built her career making YouTube videos that help destigmatize mental health, and she looked at Youth & Consequences as a new way to continue the conversation she's sparked with her viewers. Teen Vogue talked to Anna about the role, creating new opportunities for minority artists, and what she thinks about the responsibility creators have for their YouTube audiences.

Teen Vogue: You not only star in Youth & Consequences, but also had the chance to do a lot of the creative stuff as well. What was it like working with the cast and kind of helping shape their characters?

Anna Akana: Well, when Jason Ubaldi's initial script got sent to me, I felt was perfect already, so I didn't have a lot of creative notes on that. I had a lot of say in where I saw the [season] going, where I saw people going, and trying to be the hand on the pulse of what felt authentic and what felt fake and forced.

TV: What about Farrah jumped out at you?

AA: I love that she's so complex! She's not just a stereotype. If it wasn't for YouTube Red, there's no way that I would be the queen bee of the school in a regular traditional TV show. There would be a Regina George-type, like an icy blonde with blue eyes. I loved not only that I could play against type, but, because she's really complex, she's empowering. It seems like she's just a b*tchy, mean girl on the surface and then, by the end of the second episode, you realize "oh, she's been doing this this whole time for a selfless reason." She doesn't want anyone to know what her morals are because then they can take advantage of her, and I loved how different this female character was, that she wasn't afraid to be disliked.

TV: Is there anything that you're particularly excited for the viewers to see in the show?

AA: We have all these issues that we're tackling — the transgender bathroom laws and being doxxed with your private photos — so I really hope people resonate with the show. It was the first script that tackled social media in a way that felt genuine to me and really reflected how quickly kids have to grow up now because they have all this information readily available. Parents can't control that anymore. I remember being a teen and, everything felt like life or death because your reference level for life is so tiny. I just felt tired of teen shows talking down to teens because it was like "No. We were all teens. We knew how f*cking confusing and hard that was." I felt like this show really, really attacked that in a way that I love.

"I love that every girl on the show is so complex and different, and it wasn't about tearing each other down."

TV: The show also subverts Mean Girls, which is a legacy project at this point. What was it like to have that looming over your head?

AA: Honestly, the writing is so strong that I felt like it spoke for itself. As much as I loved Mean Girls, the trope of "I'm a nice girl and all I want is to be popular, so I have to be a big old b*tch," even that I didn't like. Even though Farrah's mean, it's like "Yeah. Sometimes in real life, you are mean. Sometimes in life you don't have a good day." I don't feel like we should put anyone in a little box about anything, and I love that every girl on the show is so complex and different, and it wasn't about tearing each other down, you know? It was all about power dynamics in a microcosm of society.

TV: There has been better representation of Asian women in Hollywood, and this character is more complex than a stereotype. Is it exciting to see that there's a multitude of the Asian identity?

AA: I think it's representation's so important. They've done film studies that show what you watch on TV influences your career choice, whether or not you get married, your hobbies, so I owe my entire career to seeing Margaret Cho perform because that was the first time when I was like "Oh! Maybe I could do it," even though, I've wanted to do entertainment my whole life. Asian parents are like, "No, you can't do that. There's no Asians in Hollywood. That's not a sustainable career." So, I think it's really important for, not just Asian-American women, but also Asian men who have a much harder time in Hollywood than we do, to have that representation of you are a protagonist, you are a lead, you are complex, you know? To really give them the belief they can do this. I think it's really important to showcase that you're not just a nerd.

I think, with Crazy Rich Asians, if we have an amazing turnout in box office theaters, that could be a real pivotal moment for everything to change, in terms of Hollywood stuff. The catch-22 has always been "there's no bankable Asian stars," but then it's "you're the system that creates stars. If you're not going to make any Asian stars, how are we supposed to succeed?"

TV: Farrah also helps to dismantle the idea that representation is only about being the protagonist. Sometimes you want to see yourself as the bad guy. It's really about widening the range for who can play what.

AA: I love that about Black Panther; it [felt like] the first time that the villain actually had a better reason than the protagonist, where those roles were really flipped. In Youth & Consequences, Piper Curda plays the antagonist, and it's two Asian women who are the main protagonist and antagonist, but it's never about our race. It's always just about power and motivation, which I was like "Yes!"

TV: One of the reasons why, I think, there are more roles opening up is in part to the fact that creators have made spaces for yourselves, and that has opened up pathways for other work and for a lot of other people. How do you feel about forcing those doors open?

AA: It feels good. I mean, I am able to leverage my audience in the traditional space all the time when I'm down to that final mix. They can be like, "Hey! She has two million subscribers, also, to promote this thing to." So, it's been a great leveraging tool in getting myself into doors that I otherwise wouldn't be able to, or getting auditions for roles that I don't necessarily look like. I have loved it, and I think it's very, very much merging into one. The lines between online and traditional are so blurry at this point.

TV: To go back to the start, how did you find your career path?

AA: I was in standup when I was 19. Mostly, I went into comedy because comedy is kind of what saved me after my sister died by suicide. I was like, "Oh, this is a chance to really heal" and to give back in a way that I really received my healing. And I found a lot of joy in it. I love anything that puts you in the moment and makes you not be able to see in to the future or past because I'm a very cerebral, in my head, kind of person. Standup is just you and a microphone and a stage, and so I really fell in love with how many more tools you have in filmmaking to really communicate your message.

I started [on YouTube] and it was seven years of just making content nonstop that made me be like, I can either go along with the whole "what girls wear to this thing" or I can say something more meaningful, and I've always been, I think, too emo to stick with comedy. So, I really gravitated towards mental health awareness. I wanna talk to teen girls. I wanna make a difference in a way that makes me feel like I'm getting some redemption from the way that I failed my sister, and so I've been really excited and an advocate for talking about these darker topics.

TV: What was the transition, the kind of landscape change, where you see more creators talking about these subjects?

AA: Ultimately, I think it's good because it's creating more awareness, but it is a weird thing now because it is "Oh, do you genuinely believe what you're preaching out there or are you doing it because it's a good thing to do?" I think, as long as the message is getting out there and impacting people in a positive way, then who cares? If it's having positive ripples.

I guess that makes it sort of easier. It's opened the floodgates to talk about a lot more stuff than normal, like how we have all these active mass shootings now and everyone getting really active in gun control, the Parkland teens really stepping it up politically. I think there's just been a lot more tolerance for conversation, too.

TV: What sorts of projects would you kind of want to explore next?

AA: I've been working on an album since last fall, so I'm really excited for that. I just get very ... my parents were always very much like "you have to do one sport and one musical instrument, and you have to be learning one skill all the time." So, I get very, not bored per se, but I'm like "ooh! I wanna try this next meeting or I want to try this next meeting;" and so music is something that ... I started out in comedy music, and so I wanted to do a more serious project, and I'm also directing a stop motion thing in May that I'm really excited for. This is going to be Coraline style, like 3D printed faces, and physical-practical sets. I'm so stoked on it.

I really want to do a role that makes me shave my head. Like some kind of V for Vendetta thing, you know? I just love dramatic sci-fi. I think that's a really great way to point out what's wrong with the world, or societal structures, so I'd love to do something like that.

Additional reporting by Gabe Bergado.

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