‘Summer I Turned Pretty’ star Lola Tung on landing her first role

Newcomer Lola Tung was a student at Carnegie Mellon University when she found out she scored her first starring role role in Prime Video’s rom-com “The Summer I Turned Pretty.” 

“Jenny Han, who’s the showrunner, creator and author of the books [the show is based on] delivered the news to me over Zoom,” Tung, 19, told The Post. “I kind of froze and had a little bit of a freakout moment. It was so unbelievable, it was special.”

Based on a 2009 trilogy of the same name by Han (who also penned the books that were the basis for the hit Netflix rom-com, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,”) the series, now streaming, has already been renewed for Season 2.

It follows Isabel “Belly” Conklin (Tung), a teen girl who spends her summers in an idyllic beach town with her family, where she finds herself in a love triangle with family friends, brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). Along the way, she also comes of age and goes through a journey of self-discovery.

“I took a little bit from my own life and my own experience of being a teenager and feeling all of the feelings that she had at the same time,” said Tung, a New Yorker. “Even though I was never in a love triangle in the same way, there was sort of an understanding of what it’s like to be 16. Every interaction is the biggest thing in the world. I was able to bring some of myself to [Isabel], especially in this specific summer. This is the time that she’s really figuring out who she is and coming into her own and trying to find this sense of independence and sense of self.

“I could relate to that, since I’m 19.”

Tung was still in high school when Han’s first teen hit, “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” premiered in 2018 and turned Noah Centineo and Lana Condor into overnight stars. She enjoyed watching that movie with her friends, she said — and never would have guessed that just a few years later she’d star in the next adaptation of a Han rom-com.

“It feels so magical. The first day of filming was a really amazing moment, because everything was so new and exciting,” she said. “When ‘To All the Boys’ came out, I was the same age as [main character] Lara Jean, so that was cool. I don’t really know if [the possibility of this leading to fame] is something that you can prepare for. The only thing you can do is take it day by day, and be present.”

Tung read “The Summer I Turned Pretty” books after landing the role, she said. “I put a lot of pressure on myself to make it perfect for the fans of the books who loved them so much, and had such a specific vision of what this world looks like already,” she said. “I want to make [the fans] happy because it’s a really special thing to have such a strong connection to a piece of art or literature. In the end, it’s hard to please everyone, but we really put so much care into it [that] I do think that everyone will be happy.

“I can’t wait to continue filming and continue the journey.”