"It's hard to be an actor if your parents are from a different world and you didn’t grow up in the entertainment industry."
Kelly Marie Tran has discussed watching herself on screen and her appreciation for her role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
In an interview on Freep, Kelly Marie Tran is described as the “breakout star” of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, in which she plays Rose Tico, a Resistance mechanic.
In the interview, Tran reflected on struggling as an Asian American actor. “It’s not just because it’s hard to be an actor, which it is when you’re first starting, especially if your parents are from a different world and you didn’t grow up in the entertainment industry,” she said.
Nonetheless, Tran is determined not to let her success affect her everyday life.
“I love watching movies by myself,” the 28-year-old said. “This is going to sound insane, because we just did this awesome press tour, but in terms of my life – yeah, I did that, but other than that everything is so normal. I thought for a while, “Oh, man, am I going to be worried about leaving the house?” And I’m like, “No!” I went and no one noticed, and it was great.”
“I went to the ArcLight yesterday and saw three movies by myself,” she added. “It was awesome. I saw “Shape of Water,” which I freaking loved. I saw “I, Tonya,” which I also loved. And then I saw … “(The Last) Jedi,” because it’s really weird to watch yourself, and I want to watch it enough to the point where I can forget it’s me. I’m having a hard time doing that at the moment.”
Discussing Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Tran complimented writer and director Rian Johnson and co-star John Boeyaga.“Rian was always so generous in terms of his ability to make everybody feel comfortable, and John Boyega, who I have the most scenes with, was so easy to work with,” she said.
Tran went on to discuss how appreciative she was of Rian introducing a main Asian American character into the Star Wars franchise. “Because I’m an Asian American, and every role I was auditioning for before was sort of this same side character,” she said. “To have someone like Rian write something that was so full and rich, and a complete human – I’ve never had that before. I don’t know that many people of color have that often.”
In other parts of the interview, Tran was keen to keep her cards close to her chest with regards to the future of Rose and Finn’s relationship in the upcoming Star Wars films.
“I don’t want to create any rumors by saying what I think will happen,” Tran said. “But I will say that I really liked the emotional journey that those characters went through together. It starts out with Rose seeing Finn as a hero and someone who is out of her league, someone who represents everything she’s ever believed in.”
“To have Finn immediately tarnish this idea she has in her head about him – which I think is a little bit of her own fault, for idolizing any person — I love the evolution of that relationship.”