Kelly Marie Tran, best known for her role as Rose Tico in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, has publicly come out as queer. In a candid interview with Vanity Fair, Tran opened up about her identity while discussing her role in the upcoming remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 film, The Wedding Banquet.
“I haven’t said this publicly yet, but I’m a queer person,” Tran shared. She explained how this new role, in a film centered around a queer romance, felt particularly significant to her. “The thing that really excited me about it was I got to play a person that I felt like I knew. I don’t feel like I’m acting at all in this movie.”
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In the film, Tran plays Angela, a woman trying to have a baby through IVF with her girlfriend, Lee, played by Lily Gladstone. The remake, directed by Andrew Ahn, also features Bowen Yang and Minari Oscar winner Yuh-Jung Youn.
Tran described the experience of working on the film as uniquely fulfilling. “I’m here doing this amazing movie with these amazing people,” she said. “I’ve never been in a queer space before. I’ve never truly felt this accepted before.”
The actor also revealed that coming out to her own mother was a deeply personal experience, mirroring scenes she filmed with Joan Chen, who plays her mother in the movie. “I came out to my mom in a very specific experience,” Tran confided. “The scenes that I have with Joan Chen in this movie are very similar to the experience that I had.”
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This isn’t the first time Tran has voiced her support for LGBTQ+ representation. In 2021, she expressed her belief that her character in Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, Raya, is queer, and shared her enthusiasm for the possibility of exploring that in a sequel.
