Miya Cech is about to greet the world in her biggest role yet. The 19-year-old actress is stepping into the shoes of Toph Beifong in season two of Netflix’s live-action remake of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a fan-favourite from the original 2005 Nickelodeon animated series. The new season arrives on Netflix on 25 June, though fans are already excited for Miya’s rendition of the beloved character after catching glimpses of it on Netflix’s social media channels.
While many viewers will be getting to know Miya for the first time in the upcoming season of Avatar, she has been acting for more than half her life. After an early start as a child model for brands like Gap, Ralph Lauren and Skechers, she landed her first acting role in a 2015 episode of CBS’ Hawaii-Five-0 playing the younger version of main cast member Grace Park’s Kono Kalakaua.
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Many of her early roles were television guest appearances in shows like American Horror Story, American Housewife and Arrow. Miya made her film debut in the 2018 dystopian sci-fi film The Darkest Minds as Suzume "Zu" Kimura, a teenager with mutism who escapes a confinement camp for superpowered children. She later took on major roles in films like Marvelous and the Black Hole (2021) and A Great Divide (2023), and in children’s television series like The Astronauts (2020-2021) and Surfside Girls (2021).
As she entered her mid-teens, Miya moved on to roles in comedies like 2023’s Young Rock, a sitcom based on the life of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Netflix’s Beef that same year. She starred in the latter as the younger version of Ali Wong’s character Amy Lau. Miya also further explored the sci-fi genre with the 2025 film Marshmallow.
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In September 2024, Netflix announced that Miya had been cast as Toph Beifong, one of the main characters introduced in season two of its live-action remake of the beloved Avatar: The Last Airbender series. The second season follows Aang and his friends as he explores the Earth Kingdom and learns earthbending—the element he struggles with most as an airbender—with Toph playing a major role in his journey.
One of Avatar Aang’s bending teachers and close friends, Toph is a blind, wealthy girl from the Earth Nation who leads a double life in an underground fighting ring to escape her overbearing parents and their expectations for her to be part of high society. Known for her headstrong personality and brash humour, the character has been a favourite among fans for the past 20 years.
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“I grew up watching the animated series,” Miya said in an interview with Tudum, and added that she has watched the series at least ten times, with Toph being her personal favourite character. The actress added that her background training in martial arts and dance helped her pick up Toph’s fight choreography quickly.
Miya, who is of Chinese and Japanese descent, also spoke about honouring Toph’s Chinese heritage in the series. “Even though the universe is fantasy, it feels like every culture is represented in some way and tied to the history and traditions of that culture or country,” she said. “Just a few years ago, you might have seen one or two of these actors in a show or movie, but on this show we are all able to represent this world together and work together and collaborate.”
She also shared that she had been working with a blindness consultant on set in order to represent the blind community appropriately with how Toph moves through the world. In a behind-the-scenes introduction to the character, the producers of the series revealed that they had provided the actress contact lenses that obscured her vision, and applauded Miya’s discipline and dedication to the role. The actress both trained and filmed for the series with the lenses on in order to accurately portray both Toph’s blindness and the unique way the character senses her surroundings.
At the time of publishing, Miya has yet to announce any other upcoming projects. However, with season three of Avatar: The Last Airbender already greenlit by Netflix, the actress is expected to reprise the role in future seasons as Toph remains part of the Avatar’s core group throughout the original series. And with the role of the lifetime already under her belt at just 19, the future for Miya looks bright.