Breaking boundaries not only for Chinese Americans but also for industry titans, Terry Hu might be the most significant name you haven’t heard of. In 2022, Hu made history by becoming Disney’s first non-binary live-action actor. Hu took on the role of blue-haired non-binary alien, A-Spen, in Disney’s musical fantasy film, Zombies 3.
A few years on, Hu continues to expand their acting repertoire, most recently securing the role of Josie on the Max series The Girls on the Bus. Speaking to Resonate, Hu reflected on their career thus far and how their gender is perceived in Asian American culture and the wider film industry.
Hu On Ethnicity
I am a first-generation Chinese American! Thanks to my immigrant parents and Chinese school growing up, I speak Mandarin — level is somewhere between conversational and fluent, though I’m sure native Chinese speakers can spot my American accent from a mile (or ~7000, that’s how far Google says China is from me) away.
Hu On Acting
I was introduced to acting as a kid when I begged my mom to let me tag along with my brothers (classic youngest sibling behavior) at acting school, where she had enrolled them in an effort to help them break out of their shell (and of course, to add to their list of extracurriculars for college applications because that’s the #1 priority of any immigrant parent).
I found myself really enjoying it. I can’t remember the exact thought at the time, but I imagine it’s similar to what I feel to this day and what it’s always come down to for me: I love being able to potentially affect people or give them catharsis in some way.
Despite my daydream of being an actor starting early, I knew my parents viewed it strictly as a hobby, so it was never really a viable career option in my head. Thus, years later, I enrolled at UCLA for Neuroscience with plans to go into the healthcare field, which was near-solidified when I got into the top physical therapy schools after graduation.
But right around that time, I had gone to an open casting call for an agency and got signed commercially. Though I wanted a theatrical agent, getting an agent in any capacity felt like a sign to just “give it (acting) a chance”. And so I deferred school and got a minimum wage job at a startup to support myself in my official attempt at “pursuing acting” and..the rest is history!
Hu On Zombies
Zombies 3 was my first feature film so it was a huge milestone in multiple ways! I’m so thankful for that experience — it helped me get through the last bit of the pandemic, I met amazing people, had a doll made of my character (!!), got to do the Disney WAND THING (!!!!), and so many other core memories.
In terms of the industry, I’d like to think it was a pretty big milestone but ultimately, there are SO many projects and creatives and actors that it’s hard for me to imagine how much one role actually affected an entire industry.
That said, what’s most important to me is that it seemed to be really impactful l for a lot of youth — I got a lot of messages after the movie came out from a lot of queer/non-binary/trans youth as well as their parents, gushing about the movie and emphasizing how much it meant for them (or their kids) to see me on screen. I think those messages and sentiments are really what last with me and what I feel most proud of — once again, one of the biggest reasons I love acting is because of the ability to affect people, and though I never predicted myself doing that through a Disney musical, I’m so happy it happened.
Hu On Gender
To be honest, I actually never came out to my parents as non-binary. I try to pick my “battles” with my parents, and I knew that being queer was already a hard thing to process for my parents, so I just personally didn’t feel like it was absolutely necessary for me to come out as non-binary too, especially because I honestly don’t even know the language to describe it. (This is not to say I don’t support anyone who DOES want to come out to their parents as queer, or non-binary, or what have you — it’s a very personal choice for each person, and I think everyone has the right to do or not do what feels the most comfortable and safe for them).
That said, in a surprising twist of events, my dad actually brought it up to me after the movie came out; I guess he had read an article online about it. It was actually really sweet..he came up with a few new Chinese characters to try and symbolize a “nonbinary” pronoun (I use “they/them” in English but in Mandarin, it doesn’t really work the same), which I just thought was like…so touching? This isn’t to say that it’s necessarily fully understood or even accepted, but what’s important to me is, that I do feel like my parents try and support me in their own way, and I feel very fortunate to have that effort and love there.
Hu On Identity
I don’t know how many roles are written specifically for “Asian & non-binary” actors, but what I have seen and am grateful for is that compared to when I was growing up, there are a lot more roles for BIPOC and/or queer/nonbinary actors these days.
Of course, there’s room to grow, but I appreciate and am excited for the direction we’re going in and hope that there are only more roles coming for people of all gender expressions and of different backgrounds.
Hu On Industry Growth
Coming from someone who, as a kid, was regularly told that there would be no roles for me, an Asian actor (let alone an Asian, queer, nonbinary actor), there have been big strides made! It’s been so encouraging to see shows and movies with fully fleshed-out Asian and/or queer leads.
There’s obviously still room to grow though — I think certain projects can, perhaps unknowingly, still tokenize diverse characters, but I’m hopeful that once there are more BIPOC/queer creatives in positions of power and/or creators in general open up more to collaboration with their diverse talent, characters and their storylines will become much more in-depth 🙂
Hu on LGBTQ Roles
I can’t speak for all non-binary actors but for me personally, I don’t want to just play non-binary characters!
I’m so grateful that there ARE many more queer/nonbinary roles specifically for queer/non-binary actors to play (as it should be!!! we’re making up for so many years of straight/white people playing queer/POC roles), but I think it’s reductive to assume all non-binary actors only want to play non-binary roles, and most of all, a creative loss! Emma D’arcy is non-binary and plays a literal queen in one of my favorite shows House of Dragons and they do an INCREDIBLE job, but we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy that performance if they were pigeon-holed into only non-binary roles.
Hu On Inspiration
It’s hard to choose one specific person but in general, I’m inspired by actors/creatives who bring their fellow friends/creatives “up” with them as they start making it big. I’ve only been seriously pursuing this career for about 6 years (compared to a lot of people’s 10+) but it’s clear that community is so important — you don’t get through this industry and all the rejection, downtime, and all that, without your people.
On that note, I would honestly LOVE to work with a lot of my friends! I’ve already gotten to work with Natasha Behnam on The Girls on the Bus but I have a handful of other dear friends that are incredible writers, actors, or both. As my career keeps progressing, I am manifesting being on (or creating) projects with all of them.
Aside from that though, since childhood, I’ve loved the Nolan brothers and would love to be a part of anything they make. The same goes for A24, David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, and Damon Lindelof..the list definitely goes on, but I love the work that each of these people/companies have done.
Hu On New Projects
Last year, I got to work in NYC on this political drama called The Girls on the Bus with one of my best friends Natasha Behnam (who is an amazing lead on the show) and that just premiered about a month ago on MAX!! We still have about half the episodes left — you can stream those on Max every Thursday 🙂
I’m also really excited about this Hulu movie I’m a part of called “Prom Dates” coming out in May! Julia Lester & Antonia Gentry are the two leads and they do such an incredible, funny, lovable job on this, along with the rest of the cast.
Aside from that, I’m just looking forward to the industry picking back up again (that double strike really took its toll..). I’m excited to explore different characters/genres — a straight mean girl, a proper action film, a buddy comedy, just to name a few!
