Entertainment World / School of Hollywood exclusive interview with Martha Millan “Fiona” from Fox’s “The Cleaning Lady”. We talk from Hollywood to New York shop talk to landing the role and steps it took.

Australian-Filipino actress Martha Millan (“Succession,” “The OA”) stars in the main cast as ‘Fiona Da La Rosa’ in the hit drama series “The Cleaning Lady” which returns for its 2nd season at 9/8c on FOX. Developed by Miranda Kwok (“The 100”), the series marks the first FOX primetime drama series to be produced and starring Asian women, particularly Southeast Asian actors. Last season, “The Cleaning Lady” made the top 5 new broadcast drama of the 2021-2022 season. It marked the network’s highest-rated drama premiere in two years as well as Hulu’s most streamed FOX debut in the network’s history. On the film side, Millan stars in the indie film THE DRUMMER alongside Danny Glover.

“The Cleaning Lady” centers on Thony (Elodie Yung), a doctor who comes to the US for a medical treatment to save her ailing son but when the system fails, she becomes a cleaning lady for the mob and starts playing the game by her own rules. Millan plays ‘Fiona,’ Thony’s fun, emotionally volatile and chaotic Filipina sister-in-law and fellow cleaning lady who is undocumented in the US while raising her children as a single parent. Fiona struggles dealing with the hardships of being undocumented but her journey throughout the series is one of empowerment and strength while she helps Thony in her journey to save her son. Both women show true resilience as we follow them in their plight to give their children the best they can under extraordinary circumstances. Last season, Thony (Elodie Yung) helped Arman (Adan Canto) take over Haya’s enterprise. Now that Thony’s son Luca has recovered from his surgery that saved his life, she decides to stay in Las Vegas and start an underground medical clinic to help undocumented patients, while remain working for Arman. Unfortunately, Luca’s father Marco (Ivan Shaw) had other plans and took Luca back to the Philippines. The series has dealt with important topics such as documentation, immigration, immunodeficiency diseases, and now in this season, they will touch on parental rights. Season 2 Trailer

Born in the Philippines, and raised in Sydney, Australia, Martha discovered her love for acting when she decided to take acting classes as an elective. She was enthralled after performing in her first play in high school as Gwendolen in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest and attended the University of Sydney and then New York City, where she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has since been a true New Yorker at heart. While booking acting jobs, Martha had great success in modeling and have done endless national print and commercial work in addition to editorial. Millan is best known for her work in “The OA,” “Succession,” “Entourage,” “Madam Secretary,” “Strong Medicine,” all three primary shows of the “Law & Order” franchise, THE GREAT NEW WONDERFUL with Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jim Parsons and Will Arnett and most recently, the indie film THE DRUMMER in which she starred alongside Danny Glover.

In addition to acting, Martha is also an acting teacher for children. She previously taught acting for extracurricular and after school programs in Brooklyn public schools until COVID hit and she decided to create her own global online drama education program for children aged 10-16 years old based all over the world in Brazil, Portugal, Israel, US, and more. Martha is also a world traveler and have visited a plethora of countries like Spain, Greece, Aruba, Peru, Indonesia, Guatemala, Panama, etc. As an active and athletic child, Martha continues to stay healthy and fit by running every day and practicing high intensity training. Martha is an advocate for diversity in the entertainment industry and is proud to be starring on a series portraying Filipinos.