Mary J Blige is kicking ass as a time-travelling assassin in The Umbrella Academy (Picture: Netflix)

Mary J Blige went all out to be the ultimate boss in The Umbrella Academy, and learned martial arts to perform her own stunts for the show.

Speaking to Metro.co.uk on the launch of the new series, Mary revealed that her character Cha Cha – a gun toting, massive mask wearing, target-eyed time-travelling assassin – was the ultimate powerful woman.

And as a strong independent woman herself, she was going to make sure that she pulled out all the stops, no matter what the cost.

Mary J Blige and Ellen Page will be going head-to-head in The Umbrella Academy (Picture: Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Netflix)

She told us: ‘That’s definitely something that attracted me to the role, just seeing a female assassin, partnered with a male assassin? That just took it over the top for me.




‘Just her abilities is what really drew me to the role, what she was able to do. The martial arts, the shooting of guns, and it was something that I wanted to learn myself as a strong, independent woman. To be able to shoot different types of guns and to be able to fight at any point.’

Partnered with the big and brutish (but secretly loveable) Hazel, Cha Cha heads through time and space to prevent certain situations from happening.

Her next mission? The Umbrella Academy, a dysfunctional adoptive family who had been trained from birth to hone their skills and save the world.

Alongside Hazel, Cha Cha is on a mission to stop the Umbrella Academy’s plans (Picture: Netflix)

‘The first day that I landed [in Toronto, where the series was shot], I was amped to go and train in martial arts.

‘So every day we had to train for martial arts, then we had to train for fights, then we had to train to act and fight at the same time,’ she told Good Morning America.

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‘I already knew how to shoot guns before I got there, because my girlfriend took me to the shooting range, so I already learned how to shoot an MP 40, which is the gun that Cha-Cha is supposed to use.’

‘Then I just said, “Let me learn everything else”, and I was prepared for the gun part when I got there, but the fighting was a lot of work,’ she added.

The Umbrella Academy is available on Netflix today.

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