‘The Company You Keep’: Catherine Haena Kim Succeeded Mandy Moore in More Ways Than 1
ABC‘s The Company You Keep is only just getting started, but we’re already sold on Catherine Haena Kim and Milo Ventimiglia’s chemistry. When they’re onscreen together, it’s like magic. But we can never forget Ventimiglia’s previous television partner — the iconic Mandy Moore. Both Kim and Moore have played Ventimiglia’s love interests on television, but they also have another on-set connection.
Catherine Haena Kim plays Emma Hill in ‘The Company You Keep’
The Company You Keep Episode 1 introduced viewers to Emma Hill, played by Catherine Haena Kim. Emma is a CIA agent, and no one knows about her occupation, including her very prestigious family.
During the premiere, she’s tracking down a European drug trafficking ring trying to expand to the United States. Emma eventually links the group to an Irish mobster, Patrick Maguire, and his mysterious associate, Daphne Finch. Working with the FBI, Emma arrests Maguire, but Daphne escapes capture, much to Emma’s chagrin.
Outside of work, Emma caught her boyfriend cheating on her in a hotel room. She tried to drown her sorrows at the bar downstairs, which is when she crossed paths with Charlie Nicoletti, played by Milo Ventimiglia. The two immediately hit it off as they bonded over their recent heartbreaks. Charlie’s fiancée had just stolen $10 million from his family and ran with it.
Emma and Charlie spent the next 36 hours together, away from reality. And during this time, they never (seriously) disclosed their real jobs — Emma as a CIA agent and Charlie as a con man. Despite their circumstances, they can’t seem to deny their connection, which we’re sure will lead to messy drama later in The Company You Keep Season 1.
We’re not sure if Jack and Rebecca’s love story on This Is Us was ever this complicated.
The actor reveals a secret connection to Mandy Moore
According to The Company You Keep star Catherine Haena Kim, Milo Ventimiglia isn’t the only thing that she and Mandy Moore share in common.
“I took over Mandy Moore’s trailer [from This Is Us] when we were shooting the pilot, and I’m like, ‘What?’ I remember jamming out to her music when I was growing up!'” Kim told Entertainment Weekly. “It’s such a surreal little-kid dream-moment thing that happened. They are iconic. They’re this beautiful TV family couple.”
She continued, “But at the same time, I don’t think Charlie and Emma are supposed to be them. They’re a completely different thing and a different beautiful couple that I hope people connect with and enjoy seeing every week for other reasons.”
Charlie and Emma are quite different from Jack and Rebecca, but we love that The Company You Keep is sort of keeping This Is Us alive behind the camera.
Catherine Haena Kim teases Charlie and Emma’s connection in ‘The Company You Keep’
During the interview with Entertainment Weekly, Catherine Haena Kim shared a glimpse into Charlie and Emma’s journey in The Company You Keep.
“You have two seemingly very different people who happen to be going through the same moment in both their lives, separately,” Kim explained. “So it’s that moment when you see somebody, and they just get it, they get you, and you think, ‘Oh, it’s you. It’s going to be you.'”
She added, “And the crazy thing is, even though they happen to meet in this lobby bar by chance, and they’re playing this fun lying line game and joking about what they actually do for a living, at some point, Emma does say, ‘Now tell me something true,’ and he does. He says he’s a con artist, and she tells him she’s CIA. But that’s the tricky thing about lying, right? It’s hard to tell once you start lying what’s actually true and what’s not.”
New episodes of The Company You Keep, starring Catherina Haena Kim, air Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
