Kelly Marie Tran (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
After “Star Wars” actress Kelly Marie Tran left Instagram in June because of racist and sexist bullies, she recently broke her silence to address the issue of fans’ toxic behavior, and her reactions to them, in a New York Times op-ed.
“It wasn’t their words, it’s that I started to believe them,” said Tran, who plays Rose Tico, a heroine who was introduced in last December’s “The Last Jedi,” the second film of the new fantasy trilogy.
“Their words seemed to confirm what growing up as a woman and a person of color already taught me: that I belonged in margins and spaces, valid only as a minor character in their lives and stories.”
Mocked as a kid
The Asian-American actress, 29, added, “Those words awakened something deep inside me—a feeling I thought I had grown out of. The same feeling I had when, at 9, I stopped speaking Vietnamese altogether because I was tired of hearing other kids mock me.”
Tran related that her refugee parents changed their names to Tony and Kay for easy pronunciation, “a literal erasure of culture,” she said, “that still has me aching to the core.”
But, Tran expressed hope that things would change for the better, that minorities and women would no longer feel less deserving of opportunities: “I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings.”
Changing attitudes
She stressed that her visibility in film is imperative in changing attitudes.
“I know how important that is,” Tran said. “And I am not giving up.”
To reiterate her contributions thus far, she concluded, “You might know me as Kelly. I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in a ‘Star Wars’ movie. I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair. My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started.”
Costars Mark Hamill and John Boyega defended and expressed admiration for the actress shortly after the bullying made the news in June.
In a tweet meant for haters, Boyega said, “You’re not entitled to politeness when your approach is rude. Even if you paid for a ticket!”—OLIVER PULUMBARIT