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She’s all about representation

Soo’s father is a first-generation Chinese-American, whose parents came from China; her mother is European-American, born and raised in Illinois. Her multicultural heritage was brought to the fore on July 6 when she saw – and shared – a video of a young Asian girl’s reaction to Soo’s performance.

Jenna, fabulous in a pink unicorn shirt, pointed to Soo as she sang Helpless in Act 1 of the Hamilton film, saying “It’s me”.

“Little Jenna here is exactly why #representationmatters,” Soo says. “I am so grateful for this show, that so many young people can watch this show and say 'It’s me.'”

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The singer has also supported the LGBT community, having previously posted a photo of herself standing in front of a rainbow background – the rainbow being a widely known symbol of the community.

She has also spoken out about the #MeToo movement. In an interview with Women in Hollywood in 2017, she talks about how social movements and the acting world can be closely intertwined.

“Theatre gives people a collective experience together in a room as opposed to us individually watching things on our televisions, computers, or on our phones,” she says. “Having an experience together will change people – hopefully for the better – and hopefully that experience will shake them out of their minds and get them thinking beyond their everyday.”

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She is very supportive of #BlackLivesMatter

Hamilton is known for casting actors from a variety of ethnicities, most notably for the roles of the founding fathers of America, and Soo has said that this is particularly relevant at this time.

“I think that at the end of the day, what’s most important to remember is that these historical figures that we look at, when we see their stories, it’s important to remember that they were people, too,” she says in a June 2020 interview with Coming Soon.

“I am so glad that we can have this film come out and have it be a part of the conversation into Black Lives Matter, and really examining what it means to be an American. And like the show, to see that it’s imperfect, that revolution is messy. And that shouldn’t deter us from going out into the streets, using our voice, using our ballot to create a country that we want to see. I have to ask myself … what can I do to honour the people who have come before me by using my body, by using my voice?”

She has used her Instagram platform in particular to raise awareness for Black Lives Matter, taking a pledge for the Broadway for Black Lives Matter campaign, and bringing attention to Elijah McClain and Breonna Taylor, black Americans who were killed in incidents involving the police.

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She recently welcomed a new addition to her family

Soo and husband Steven Pasquale have a new baby girl – a furbaby, that is.

On Soo’s 30th birthday on May 31, Pasquale put a picture of her and Billie, their new puppy, up on his own Instagram page, saying, “Happy birthday, @phillipasoo. You’re the greatest, so you deserve the greatest dog. This is Billie. The newest member of our clan.”

Soo has also posted a photo of Billie with a face mask on, urging others to do the same, presumably to control the spread of Covid-19 [Note from STYLE editors: please remember that this was just a fun post; coronavirus cannot be transmitted by pets and therefore they don’t actually need masks].

She was involved with Moana

Soo had a small role as one of the Motunui villagers on Disney animated film Moana which came out in 2016 (Soo’s final year playing Eliza in the Hamilton musical). Lin-Manuel Miranda, the creator and star of Hamilton, was also responsible for the music in Moana, along with Opetaia Foa’i and Mark Mancina, and on May 21 this year, he released a demo of Soo singing one of the film’s most popular songs, How Far I’ll Go.

Miranda and Soo were rehearsing for the off-Broadway Hamilton debut when they recorded this track, in a dressing room at the basement of The Public Theater, no less.

“This is my first or second draft,” Miranda writes on his SoundCloud account. “I don't know why it's so dingdang high, but Pippa can do anything.”

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She’s been busy

In addition to the recent Hamilton film launch, Soo also has plenty of other projects under her belt.

She played Lieutenant Harper Li on the CBS series The Code last year and was in Clubbed Thumb’s off-Broadway production of Tumacho earlier this year as Catalina Vucovich-Villalobos.

The film Broken Hearts Gallery is up next – set to be released on August 7. Soo plays a character named Nadine in the romantic comedy, which has Selena Gomez as its executive producer.

And there’s a million things she hasn’t done, but just you wait, just you wait …

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