Lola Tung, the actress who captured hearts as Belly Conklin in Jenny Han's hit Prime Video series, The Summer I Turned Pretty, is on the cusp of a significant turning point in her career and life. As the series draws to a close, Tung is transitioning from teen drama star to taking on more mature roles, with her feature film debut in Forbidden Fruits on the horizon. But beyond the roles she plays, Tung's journey is one of self-discovery, navigating the pressures of fame, and learning to prioritize her well-being.
Stepping Back into the Dance Studio: A Return to Roots
"My heart is beating so fast," Lola Tung whispered, standing in the hallway at Broadway Dance Center, about to take her first dance class in a while - possibly since her 2024 Broadway debut in Hadestown. The mirrored walls and echoing counts evoked a feeling she once knew well. Rooms like this were where she first learned about physicality and how to move with purpose, before life pulled her in other directions. For the next hour she was just like everyone else, a theater kid training at a dance school in New York City, working toward a dream.
Tung often took classes in this building during her junior year of high school, like any New York-based aspiring theater kid would. She may be nervous, but it’s also clear this environment is something she’s used to. Being here is like brushing up against the edges of who she was and who she has become.
The Pressure to Excel: A Self-Imposed Standard
"I don’t know why I put so much pressure on myself," Tung says, dressed like just another dancer in her blue hoodie, black leggings, and Salomon sneakers. But she’s always been this way; the self-imposed pressure has roots she’s still trying to outgrow.
For Tung it’s that invisible standard that makes her career both terrifying and thrilling. “Even doing the dance class, it seems so silly, but I get nervous,” she says. “I used to have such gym anxiety, because it scares me. There's nothing I can't do.’ I think that's why I like theater. It feels like the scariest thing ever when I get on a stage, but I love it. I'm here. I feel alive, and I'm doing something scary, but it also makes me feel something in a way nothing else in my life does.”
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Always being on point can be a heavy burden - a lesson Tung learned the hard way. “With that first season, I wanted so badly to prove that I could do it and make everybody happy and proud,” she says of the beginning of her time on TSITP set. “I never wanted to show that I could ever be weak or struggling. I was like, ‘I just have to be good at this,’ and I was putting so much pressure on myself.”
Tung continues, “I fractured my foot on set and was in a boot for six weeks, and I was like, ‘It's okay, I'm still going.’ I got sick at a certain point and I was like, ‘No, I have to keep going.’” People on set were great and supportive, she says, but it didn’t stop her relentless inner voice.
“I remember I had a day on set where we were rushing between scenes and I just started crying, and I felt so bad,” she recalls. “I was like, ‘I don't want to hold anybody up.’”
From Teen Star to Adult Roles: A Crucial Bridge
Tung is now at a turning point. In her first professional project, as Belly Conklin in Jenny Han’s Prime Video series The Summer I Turned Pretty, she was thrown into the experience of leading a hit show, and the end of the series feels like graduating from her own version of college. Her high school best friends marked the moment by surprising her on set last summer with a tiny cap and a red “Congratulations 2024” sash. “They had just graduated from college, so they were like, ‘This is kind of your graduation [too],’” she remembers with a laugh.
As TSITP comes to an end, Tung, 22, will soon cross that crucial bridge from teen-drama star to playing more adult roles. With new projects, including her feature-film debut in Forbidden Fruits, close on the horizon, she’s not slowing down. But she’s also entering a time of change.
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Navigating the Love Triangle: Fan Expectations and the Essence of the Story
Many fans, meanwhile, have already begun doing their love-triangle detective work, with everyone trying to figure out whether, in the end, Belly will choose Jeremiah or Conrad Fisher.
In season 3, our favorite Cousins Beach crew jumps ahead a few years in time: Belly is now with Jeremiah, but we’re all wondering if she’ll go running back to Conrad - the love that started it all.
This complicated triangle with Belly and the two Fisher brothers is the crux of a summertime story about first loves, friendship, grief, and growing up. Of course, The Summer I Turned Pretty is about more than just who ends up with who, but the love triangle is undeniably gripping for fans.
“I think we see with a lot of these love-triangle stories, people want the leading girl to end up with someone,” Tung says. “When people have an attachment to the characters, they want to see it come together at the end. I’m so grateful that they care so much, but people get a little scary about it. Please don't threaten to kill someone if something doesn't go your way - I promise you, it's not that serious. Jenny [Han] is so smart and she cares so much about the story and making it the best story that it can be. It will be okay.”
The Impact of Fame: Creating Boundaries and Protecting Personal Life
That all-consuming emotion from fans is something that was new to Tung when she was cast as Belly in 2021. You never truly know if the show you’re starring in will become a huge cultural phenomenon, and you aren’t prepared for it - especially when you’re a teenager, booking your first professional gig. It's the reason Han, the show's creator, advised Tung to create space between her career and her personal life.
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“I said to protect what is precious and special to you,” Han tells Teen Vogue. “I think that to be creative, you have to hold some stuff just for you that makes you tick and makes you excited to work every day.”
You can see that practice in action on Tung’s Instagram, which is clearly a work account. Almost every post is a photo shoot, promotional image for work, or a shot from a brand’s runway show or dinner party. Her public image is polished; there’s personality, but no oversharing. Though, she does use her platform to support a cause: she posted to her Instagram Stories in support of Zohran Mamdani during New York City's Democratic mayoral primary in June.
Tung's fans say her curated social media presence is because she wants to be seen as a “serious actor.” But when asked if that air of mystery online is intended to help build out her career, Tung shakes her head; it's about self-preservation. She’s an adult Gen Z'er who is perhaps overly aware of her digital footprint - and what too much Instagram does to her mental health.
“It starts to get very overwhelming sometimes,” she says. “There are so many people giving their opinions about you, and it can sort of mess with your head. My mind feels a lot clearer when I don't have social media on my phone.”
Tung likes to connect with her extended family and see what her friends are up to, but all of that ultimately leads to doomscrolling. And she’s careful about how her public presence affects those she’s close to. “At the end of the day, I'm not posting my family. I post my friends, but not all the time because I want them to feel like they have privacy too,” she explains. “I want people to feel a connection to the show and me, but they also don't know me personally, and I don't think anyone owes their personal business to anyone else.”
Finding Balance: Therapy and Self-Care
Over time, though, Tung learned how to quiet, at least temporarily, that inner voice telling her to keep going at all costs. Han encouraged her to try therapy, which helped Tung prioritize her well-being alongside doing the best work she can. “Thank God I did that at that point in my life,” she says. “Now I think there are times when, in a respectful way, I know how to say, ‘Hey, I'm sorry. Can I take two seconds to just go to the bathroom and collect myself?’”
High-Caliber Training: The Influence of LaGuardia and Carnegie Mellon
Does the need to excel in every aspect of her life stem from Tung's high-caliber training while attending two top schools for her craft? The New York native attended the famous Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, whose alumni include Timotheé Chalamet, Sarah Paulson, Jharrel Jerome, and Lara Raj of KATSEYE. The environment is high pressure and competitive, but for Tung, it was also just… school. After high school, she briefly attended Carnegie Mellon University, also renowned for its theater program.
But the question does make her pause, and for a moment, something flashes across her eyes: “I hadn't even thought of that,” she says. “Maybe, subconsciously, it's contributed a little bit.”
Tung says further, “I had this feeling that I was going to let people down if I wasn't this perfect model of what number one on the call sheet should be. With TV and film, you can go back and nitpick every little thing you did and be like, ‘Why did they use that take?’ or ‘I could have done that better, I wish I did this.’ I've had to realize that you have to let go of it at a certain point, but I've always put a lot of pressure on myself.”
She adds, “I don't know where that comes from, but maybe it is this thing of hearing, ‘Well, you're at the best, so if you can't prove yourself, then…’”
The Importance of Self-Acceptance: Stop Apologizing
It’s also the reason Han tries to ingrain in Tung’s mind that she doesn’t need to apologize for every little thing: “I'm always telling her, ‘Stop saying sorry.’ She'll be like, ‘Oh, sorry! Sorry!’ It's just that impulse - specifically for young women, and women in general - to apologize for taking up space. In such a short time, though,” Han says, “I've seen that growth and maturity from her. I don't even know that she needs advice from me, because I think you can't learn how to be a caring and kind person; people innately have to have that kindness in them, and I think she does.”
A Glimpse of the Future: Season 3 of The Summer I Turned Pretty
We've been counting down the days for The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3 ever since the show's sophomore season wrapped up in August 2023, and the wait is almost over. Ahead of the show's premiere on July 16, Teen Vogue caught up with Lola Tung to chat about her journey as Belly Conklin throughout the show's three seasons, and she filled us in on the body language that defines the dynamics between her character and love interests Jeremiah and Conrad.
In a new instalment of Teen Vogue's Character Study video series, Lola Tung dished on how Belly acts differently when she's around Jeremiah (played by Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (played by Teen Vogue New Hollywood alum Chris Briney), which might be key to understanding her final decision in The Summer I Turned Pretty season 3.
“When she's around Conrad, I think she tends to freeze up a little bit,” Tung explains in the video, which you can watch in full below. “When she's around Jeremiah, it's more of this playful energy where they have this comfortability where they can touch each other a lot. Because that's what their friendship is, and that feels like Jeremiah's love language and maybe her love language with him. But with Conrad, there's a lot of eye contact.”
Of course, Tung's observations match what we've already been told on the show. Belly is more on edge around Conrad, her lifelong crush, and everything is easygoing with Jeremiah. But that's precisely what will be put into question in season 3. Is real love fully breezy, or should there be a little tension?
ICMYI, TSITP season 3 will feature a two-year time jump. Belly and Jeremiah have been dating ever since we last saw them, and, to the surprise of everyone, they decided to get engaged, which brings Conrad back into the picture.
"I'm grateful that [the show] means that much to people," Lola Tung says.
The season's official synopsis is as follows: “Belly has only ever been in love with two boys, both with the last name Fisher. And after being with Jeremiah for the last two years, she’s almost positive he is her soul mate. Almost. While Conrad has not gotten over the mistake of letting Belly go, Jeremiah has always known that Belly is the girl for him. So when Belly and Jeremiah decide to make things forever, Conrad realizes that it’s now or never - tell Belly he loves her or lose her for good. Belly will have to confront her feelings for Jeremiah and Conrad and face the inevitable: She will have to break one of their hearts.”
The season's trailer already confirms that Belly will face some serious doubts this season, especially after not getting her mom's blessing to marry Jeremiah, or at least not initially. It's also been teased that Belly will be impressed by the life Conrad has built for himself in California, where he's been studying and training to become a doctor. In the season's trailer, we see Belly paying a visit to Conrad on the East Coast. “You just seem like you got everything figured out,” she tells him. Judging by a teaser posted by Prime Video, it looks like that might be tempting for Belly. "What if I said I’d maybe rather stay here with you?” Belly says in the first episode of the season. Could she be talking to Conrad when she utters these words? We will have to wait and see, but regardless, Tung has a word of advice for the final outcome.
Embracing the Unknown: A Journey of Self-Discovery
Lola Tung started her journey on The Summer I Turned Pretty at 18, and now she’s ending it at 22. The lyrics from Taylor Swift’s “Nothing New” come to mind: “How can a person know everythin' at 18, but nothin' at 22?” Tung squeals at the reference: “That’s going to make me cry,” she says.
“I didn’t feel invincible, but at 18 I was like, ‘The world is my oyster,’” she says. “When we were filming that first season, it was truly like summer camp. We would just hang out together and go to the beach and be like, ‘Oh my God, can you believe that we're getting to do this thing that we love with each other?’ I can't even explain the feeling, but I will always remember it and have those memories.”
Tung continues, “I felt so old and wise, but at the same time, I had so much to learn. I was like, ‘Wow, we're going into the world,’ and now I feel like I don't know anything. I can't even give an answer without saying, ‘I don't know.’ My best friend said to me the other day, ‘Stop saying “I don't know” after everything you say. You do know, ’cause you wouldn't be saying it if you didn't know.’”
When asked if she hesitated before saying yes to Belly, Tung doesn’t miss a beat: “No, it was like, f*ck it. You have to do that. When it’s the right thing, it’s the right thing, and the stars aligned.” She points out that she had just turned 18 - a timing coincidence that made it all possible. “I don't even know if I would've been able to audition if it had happened a year before.”