Miya Cech

Cech, who is of Chinese and Japanese descent,^[2] was born on March 4, 2007, in Tokyo.^[3][4] She was adopted at five weeks old and raised in Davis, Northern California. She is the third of four children adopted from Japan and Kazakhstan.^[5][6]

Cech began her career as a child model, landing gigs with Gap, Ralph Lauren, Skechers, and Gymboree.^[7] She made her acting debut in a 2015 episode of the CBS police procedural Hawaii Five-0 as a young version of Grace Park's character. This was followed by further guest roles in American Horror Story and American Housewife in 2016 and 2017 respectively.^[3] In 2018, Cech made her film debut in The Darkest Minds as Zu, a mute girl who can manipulate electricity.^[8][3] The film received generally negative reviews,^[9] but her performance received praise. Deadline Hollywood said "Cech do[es] what [she] can with nothing",^[10] while IndieWire considered her a standout.^[8]

The following year, Cech starred in the Netflix film Rim of the World as ZhenZhen.^[3] Released on May 24, 2019, the film was negatively received by critics;^[11] Cech's performance received commendation, however. John Serba of Decider said, "Cech is my favorite, carrying the character in her sideways glances and quiet, confident swagger[.] ... She's funnier [than the males], too."^[12] Later that month, she portrayed a pre-teen version of the protagonist Sasha Tran (Ali Wong) in the Netflix film Always Be My Maybe.^[13] According to Variety, this is Cech's most well-known film role.^[14] Later that year, she starred as Akiko Yamato in the second revival of Nickelodeon's Are You Afraid of the Dark?. The series was critically acclaimed;^[15] Decider called Cech the "[s]leeper [s]tar" of the show.^[16]

From 2020 to 2021, Cech starred in the Nickelodeon drama series The Astronauts. Common Sense Media praised the child actors, calling them wonderful.^[17] Cech played a lead role of Sammy in Marvelous and the Black Hole, which premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.^[18] Critics acclaimed her performance. IndieWire stated, "[the film is] grounded by... Cech, who effectively channels the angst of teendom into an offbeat tale... [and] does solid work in immersing us in Sammy's frustration and sadness, even if the script doesn't always give her the best lines to punch with."^[19] In December 2021, she was announced to have been cast in a lead role alongside YaYa Gosselin in Apple TV+ series Surfside Girls. She will portray Jade, who seeks to "find a scientific explanation for the existence of ghosts".^[20]

On September 19, 2024, it was announced that she would play Toph Beifong in the Netflix live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series.^[21]

Film

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2018	The Darkest Minds	Suzume "Zu" Kimura	[22]
2019	Rim of the World	ZhenZhen	[3]
	Always Be My Maybe	12-year-old Sasha	[3]
2021	Marvelous and the Black Hole	Sammy	[23]
2022	Dealing with Dad	Young Margaret	[24]
2023	A Great Divide	Ellie Licht	[25]
	American Girl: Corinne Tan	Corinne Tan	[26]
	You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah	Kym Chang Cohen	[27]
2025	Marshmallow	May	[28]

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Television

More information Year, Title ...

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2015	Hawaii Five-0	Young Kono Kalakaua	Episode: "Mo'o 'olelo Pu"[3]
2015	The Thundermans	Ice Cream Kid	Episode: "Why You Buggin'?"[29]
2015	Hand of God	Little Girl	Episode: "Contemplating the Body"[22]
2016	American Horror Story	Amy Chen	Episode: "Chapter 4"[3]
2017–2019	American Housewife	Marigold	3 episodes[3]
2019	Arrow	Young Emiko Queen	Episode: "Inheritance"[29]
	Are You Afraid of the Dark?	Akiko Yamato	Main role; 3 episodes[3]
2020–2021	The Astronauts	Samantha "Samy" Sawyer-Wei	Main role; 9 episodes[29]
2022	Surfside Girls	Jade	Lead role; 10 episodes[20]
2022–2023	The Santa Clauses	Doc Martin	3 episodes[30]
2023	Young Rock	Bad Cindy	2 episodes[31]
	Beef	Teenage Amy Lau	Episode: "The Drama of Original Choice"[31]
2026–	Avatar: The Last Airbender	Toph Beifong	Main role; season 2-3[21]

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