Helen J Shen Wants You to See ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ at Bernardsville Cinema

For Broadway actor Helen J Shen, landing her first feature-film role in The Devil Wears Prada 2 alongside movie royalty Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep represented something uniquely Jersey: a trifecta of Garden State luminaries shining on the silver screen together.

Shen, 26, grew up in Basking Ridge, while Hathaway, 43, spent her formative years in Millburn. Streep, 76, was raised in both Bernardsville and, like Shen, Basking Ridge. On set, Shen and Hathaway bonded over their experiences at the prestigious youth theater program at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, where they both trained as teens (though at different times). Between takes, they would sing the Paper Mill Playhouse song as they gabbed about their experiences and spoke fondly of their former teacher Mickey McNany, who passed away several years ago.

“Knowing that Anne felt so heard and special because of Mickey, and I felt the same, was such a testament to Mickey’s impact, how she made people feel, and on a larger scale, to Paper Mill in general,” Shen says.

Shen landed her breakout role of Claire in Broadway’s Maybe Happy Ending in 2024, and starred in the show until this February. She discovered a love for theater at Annie’s Playhouse in Far Hills and continued her training at the Paper Mill. The child of Chinese immigrants, Shen attended Mount Prospect Elementary—important to note, because it’s the neighboring school to Oak Street Elementary, where Streep went.

“She’s a huge point of pride for the residents of Basking Ridge,” Shen says. “Oak Street claims her.”

The Devil Wears Prada 2 opens in theaters on May 1, 20 years after the original came out, when Shen was six years old. In the sequel, Shen plays Jin, who works as the assistant to Andy Sachs (Hathaway) at Runway magazine. Streep reprises her role as icy editor in chief Miranda Priestley, and fan favorites Stanley Tucci, as Nigel, and Emily Blunt, as Emily Charlton, are also back.

“You’ll see in the movie there are a lot of reflections of how the world has changed and how this institution, Runway, has to navigate that. Different characters have different journeys around how they fit into this magazine that’s been around for so long,” Shen says of the plot—without giving any spoilers.

Shen’s character gets her own arc, where she “steps into her own power, and she gets to flaunt that and use it to help.”

To book the movie, Shen did a self-tape, followed by a virtual callback with director David Frankel. The next day, Frankel came to see Shen in Maybe Happy Ending. Backstage, after the performance, he not-so-subtly hinted that she’d landed the part.

Once Shen was on the set of The Devil Wears Prada 2, she soaked up everything she could from her legendary costars. “[Hathaway] led the room, and the piece, with such grace, strength and kindness,” Shen says. “There was efficiency and respect for everyone’s time.”

The opportunity to be cemented into the pop culture fandom of The Devil Wears Prada comes as Shen closes the chapter on her Broadway debut. Her complex portrayal of Claire, an abandoned robot who finds love, earned her a coveted spot on the most recent Time 100 list of the world’s most influential rising stars.

“When I look back at the year I’ve had, I couldn’t possibly have asked for more things on my bucket list to be checked off. I owe this new experience of being in this movie to being in this show,” she reflects. When Paper Mill artistic director of Mark Hoebee came to see his former student on the Broadway stage, it felt like a “wonderful full-circle moment,” says Shen.

Originating a top-billing role in an original-concept musical was no easy feat. Signing on, she had no idea of the enormity of that responsibility. “I couldn’t have prepared for the reach it had,” Shen says. Quick and intense on-the-job training, like appearances on morning and late-night shows, helped prepare Shen for the next chapter.

“My parents came to New Jersey as immigrants and built a life in America. They sacrificed so much to give me the opportunities I’m now experiencing,” she says. Shen makes sure to thank them. When her demanding eight-show-a-week schedule permits her to visit, the family often goes for comforting hot and sour soup at Szechuan Delight in New Providence.

When longtime fans of The Devil Wears Prada watch the movie at local theaters, like the independent Bernardsville Cinema near Shen’s hometown, Shen wants to remind them that, “I’m a product of the place that I’m from and the people that I’ve met along the way.”

Hair by Angela Di Carlo; makeup by Andrew Chen; assistant: Diego Gomez