Nguyen founded the non-profit organization Rise, dedicated to furthering the rights of sexual assault survivors.
Kelly Marie Tran is developing a biopic about her friend, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, telling the story of her transformation from a survivor of college sexual assault to an activist for survivors' rights.
Tran will star in and produce the biopic about Nguyen, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee who founded civil rights accelerator Rise and wrote the Survivor's Bill Of Rights, which inspired the federal law passed in 2016.
“Over the years, Amanda's activism has changed the lives of billions, as she continues to make our world safer for sexual assault survivors everywhere,” Tran said in a statement. "Her courage inspires me every day, and I am honored to help tell her story."
Tang Yi is in talks to write and direct the film, which is in the early stages of development.
Jeff Yang and Phil Yu present an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America.
What's up, podcast listeners? We've got another episode of our podcast They Call Us Bruce. (Almost) each week, my good friend, writer/columnist Jeff Yang and I host an unfiltered conversation about what's happening in Asian America, with a strong focus on media, entertainment and popular culture.
In this episode, we welcome actress Kelly Marie Tran, who stars as the titular voice in the Disney animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon. She talks about getting her life-changing role in Star Wars, the surreal significance of playing a Disney princess, and the appropriate response to seeing yourself on a billboard.
And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.
"I wear my mask if I want F**KING ASIAN you create the virus"
In San Francisco, police are investigating a hate crime in the city's Sunset District, where a man vandalized an Asian American woman's home and left a letter saying, "I wear my mask if I want FUCKING ASIAN you create the virus." The hate incidents were apparent set off by an altercation in which the woman, who was outside her home with her infant twins, asked a passing man to wear a mask. The man later returned multiple times to throw a water bottle, then an egg and then to leave not only the letter but a mask with writing on it, which said "keep America without Asian." Police are investigating the incident as "racially motivated." Ya think?
Woman Pushed Off Vancouver Bus After Spitting on Man
Metro Vancouver Transit Police are investigating after a video was posted on TikTok showing a woman who appears to have been pushed off a bus after she spit on another passenger. In the video, the bus is stopped when a woman, who is standing in the aisle and not wearing a face mask, appears to spit on a man. The man, who is wearing a face mask, appears shocked and disgusted, gets up from his seat and appears to push the woman twice. After the second push, the woman can be seen falling onto a sidewalk. I can't say I condone physical violence, but hell, I'm not gonna fault this guy for losing his cool in the moment.
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Steven Yeun Could Become the First Asian American Best Actor Nominee
With Hollywood's upcoming awards season starting to take shape, A24 has confirmed that Steven Yeun will campaign as a lead actor for his performance in Minari. Co-star Yeri Han will also campaign for best actress, while his cast mates Alan S. Kim, Will Patton and Yuh-Jung Youn will look for consideration in the supporting categories. If nominated for best actor, Yeun would be the first Asian American to ever be recognized in the category. Written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Minari tells the story of a Korean American family who searches for a better life when they move to a small farm in 1980s Arkansas. The film is scheduled for release sometime by the end of this year.
And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.
A comedian’s tour was canceled. So she started the Auntie Sewing Squad.
Los Angeles comedian Kristina Wong was planning to take her new one-woman show on tour in the spring when it was suddenly canceled because of the swiftly spreading novel coronavirus. Wanting to put her time to good use, she reached out to the homeless population in her community and donated tents and air mattresses, and also paid to have two washing stations installed so people could keep their hands clean. Then a friend showed her a news story in March about Los Angeles-area hospitals pleading for face masks. Wong knew it was time to pull out her Hello Kitty sewing machine and leftover fabric scraps.
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Trump administration rescinds foreign students rule
The Trump administration on Tuesday rescinded a policy that would have stripped visas from international students whose courses move exclusively online amid the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes after the policy announcement last week sparked a flurry of litigation, beginning with a suit brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, followed by California's public colleges and later a coalition of 17 states, among other challenges.
Shang-Chi Concept Art
This is totally unofficial, but still kind of interesting. As we all know, Shang-Chi will make his cinematic debut in next year's Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. While we've nearly nothing of what Simu Liu will look like as the Master of Kung Fu, Marvel Studios' co-founder and former Co-Head of Visual Development Charlie Wen recently shared his own unofficial fan design for Shang Chi. I'm not crazy about the head gear.
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Kelly Marie Tran Boards 'Monsterland' Anthology Series at Hulu
Kelly Marie Tran, best known for playing Rose Tico in Star Wars, has signed on to appear on Hulu's upcoming anthology series Monsterland. Based on the collection of stories from Nathan Ballingrud, the eight-episode series will feature encounters with mermaids, fallen angels, and other strange beasts which drive broken people to desperate acts. According to Variety, Tran will play the character of Lauren in an episode titled "Iron River, MI." Her character has just returned to her small hometown to be married. Lauren managed to build a new life for herself after her best friend, Elena, went missing when they were 16.
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'Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness' Moves To HBO Max, Gets Premiere Date
The CNN Original Series Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness is a four-part buddy comedy docuseries that follows actor/documentarian/philanthropist Ravi Patel as he travels the world seeking answers surrounding life's universal questions. At each stop throughout his journey, Patel is joined by a friend or family member, with whom he shares a big conflict or question about life. Driven by an obsession to constantly learn and grow, the series offers an unfiltered look at Ravi's personal struggles with each topic and the earnest comparison of social norms domestic and abroad. Ravi Patel's Pursuit of Happiness premieres August 27 on HBO Max.
And Other Things to Know From Angry Asian America.
She 'Rode That Bias Off a Cliff'
A San Francisco couple got their asses dragggggged for calling the cops on a man who was stenciling "Black Lives Matter" with chalk on the retaining wall outside his own home. Jaime Juanillo, who is Filipino American, pulled out his phone to record Lisa Alexander and all her fake politeness, as she questioned his presence there and falsely claimed she knew the property's owner. Lies. The video has since inevitably gone viral, and Lisa Alexander's ignorance has been costly to her personal and professional reputation. Shrug.
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Man Faces Hate Crime Charges for Pepper Spraying Two Men
In Sonoma County, California, a man faces hate crime charges after pepper spraying two men. 43-year-old Anthony Pelfrey reportedly sprayed two men -- one Asian and one Latino -- with a "bear deterrant" after attending an outdoor yoga class. Witnesses took photos of him and his white Honda Civic, and identified him as having been part of their yoga class. Pelfrey, who was investigated in connection with two similar incidents earlier in the week, was arrested and charged on suspicion of a hate crime, a felon in possession of pepper spray, and illegal use of pepper spray. I blame the yoga.
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East of La Brea
Taking place in Koreatown, Little Bangladesh, and South LA in the dead heat of summer, East of La Brea chronicles the lives of two Muslim woman and highlights the vibrant stories of different communities where folks are broke, rent is high, and it’s less of a melting pot than people just melting. Created by Sameer Gardezi, the mini-series started as an out-of-the-box idea: to create a writers room that was POC-centered, broke the hierarchy of creative development, and used a community-based methodology to ideate true, authentic characters and stories. East of La Brea is the result, premiering this week from Powderkeg, with new episodes dropping every day.
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NASA Explains How They'll Return to the Moon
In this animated short, narrated by Kelly Marie Tran, NASA explains all of the things that they need to do to make it possible to return to the moon -- and this next time they go up, they are planning to stay.
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2020 APAICS Virtual-National Leadership Academy
The APAICS National Leadership Academy is a leadership training event for current AAPI elected officials, individuals seeking to run for public office, and community stakeholders. The program consists of interactive political training with topics ranging from developing your campaign plan, communications, digital organizing, power mapping, and fundraising. This year, the training will be conducted virtually Apply by June 19 to reserve your slot. Visit the APAICS website for full dates, details, and how to apply.
'Parasite' Makes History With Best Cast Win at SAG Awards Parasite won the SAG Award for best performance by a cast in a motion picture on Sunday night, making history as the first foreign-language film to win in the category. Park So-dam, Lee Sun-kyun, Choi Woo-shik, Lee Jung-eun and Song Kang-ho were among the castmembers that took the stage to accept the award. The honor furthers the possibility of Parasite -- which earned South Korea its first-ever Academy Award nomination -- making a very serious run at becoming the first non-English-language film to ever win the best picture Oscar.
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ICE deported 25 Cambodian immigrants, most of whom arrived in the U.S. as refugees
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement quietly deported an estimated 25 Cambodian immigrants last week. The group largely consisted of individuals who arrived in the country legally as refugees after the Vietnam War but have been convicted of crimes. While this was the first round of repatriations this year, it's just the latest in an increased wave of deportations in the Southeast Asian community under the Trump administration.
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Body Found in Alhambra Identified as Missing San Gabriel Woman With Dementia
Coroner's officials on Saturday identified a woman whose body was discovered in a drainage ditch near an Alhambra golf course Friday afternoon as a 71-year-old woman with "severe dementia" and other medical problems who went missing from her San Gabriel home earlier this week.
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Train Like An Astronaut: Kelly Marie Tran and Naomi Ackie
Kelly Marie Tran and Naomi Ackie recently spent the day at NASA's Johnson Space Center training like astronauts and learning about NASA's plans to explore the Moon with the new Artemis program, which includes landing the first woman and next man on the lunar surface by 2024. See Tran and Ackie training with NASA astronauts Meghan McArthur and Jessica Watkins on a gravity offload system, in the Orion crew capsule, an exploration rover and more. Literally more action than they saw in The Rise of Skywalker.
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16th Annual Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience in Park City
If you're headed to the film festivities in Park City, Utah this week, join the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience -- now in its 16th year -- in celebration of the wide range of films and creative projects by Asian Pacific filmmakers at the 2020 Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals. There will be multiple events to attend from Friday, January 24th to Sunday, January 26th. Learn more here.
Passenger List will tell the story of Atlantic Flight 702, which has disappeared mid-flight between London and New York with 256 passengers on board. Tran plays Kaitlin Le, a college student whose brother vanished on the flight, who takes it upon herself to uncover the truth.
Rose will be back. It was pretty much assumed, but it is confirmed that Kelly Marie Tran will indeed be back in the next installment of the Star Wars saga. Lucasfilm officially unveiled the new and returning cast for Episode IX, which will include Tran reprising her role as fearless Resistance tech Rose Tico.
Take that, haters. From the official announcement:
It goes without saying that we are hugefans of Rose Tico and Kelly Marie Tran here at The Nerds of Color. Unfortunately, there’s a significant portion of Star Wars fandom that doesn't agree. Even worse, they’ve taken their disdain for a fictional character and used it to harass the actress so much that she had to delete her Instagram.
Online harassment in the Star Wars community -- and fandom, writ large -- is nothing new. Recently, Phantom Menace actor Ahmed Best revealed he contemplated suicide as a result of the fan backlash to his portrayal of Jar Jar Binks. Just the other day, a cadre of angry fanboys cried foul and singled out StarWars.com personality Andi Gutierrez over a mug she owns. But as Rose Tico famously said at the end of The Last Jedi:
Leaked 'Last Jedi' deleted scene leaves Rose Tico with a bad taste in her mouth.
If you were dying to see more of Kelly Marie Tran as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, here you go. In this deleted scene from the upcoming DVD release, leaked from what appears to be a Korean subtitled version, we see Rose and Finn on their knees, captured by the First Order. What we didn't see in the theatrical cut: Rose taking a big ol' bite out of General Hux's gloved finger when he gets a little too close.
Getty Images apparently can't distinguish between two totally different Asian ladies in blue-ish dresses.
On Sunday night, Star Wars: The Last Jedi star Kelly Marie Tran made her debut on the Oscars red carpet, looking hot as hell in a stunning blue Jenny Packham gown. Looking awesome... then promptly misidentified as another Asian American woman on the red carpet, Olympic figure skater Mirai Nagasu. Oops.
All Look Same strikes again. It seems that whoever was on caption-writing duty at Getty Images, one of the world's leading photo agencies, had some trouble distinguishing between two totally different Asian ladies in blue-ish dresses, misidentifying Tran as Nagasu, and vice versa, in a number of their captions.
One lucky reader will win a pair of Hasbro 3.75-inch Last Jedi action figures.
UPDATE: The giveaway is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered!
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A month after the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and I'm still pretty crazy about Kelly Marie Tran as Resistance tech hero Rose Tico. And I'm not afraid to admit that I've amassed a fairly substantial collection of Rose-related action figures, books and other merchandise. Yeah, I'm fanatical like that.
Each figure, produced by Hasbro, is detailed with movie-inspired design and includes character-inspired accessories. They can be paired with Hasbro's Force Link gear (sold separately) to activate authentic figure phrases, lights and sounds. Recommended for kids ages 4 and up, and you know, grown-ass adults too.
One lucky reader will receive both figures. Here's how to enter for your chance to win:
'The Last Jedi' star was eavesdropping on their review.
At long last, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has hit theaters, and those of us who were hyped for our girl Kelly Marie Tran as Rose finally got to see her get her Resistance on and join the fight in a galaxy far, far away.
So what's the verdict on The Last Jedi? What are people saying? Sure, you can go read some critics' reviews, log on to some message boards or jump in on a discussion thread on your Facebook wall. Or you can listen in on people talking about it at the next table. That's what Kelly Marie Tran did.
A few days ago, while in Europe to promote The Last Jedi, Kelly was eating at a pub with a friend when a group of friends came in, at down at the next table and started discussing The Last Jedi in great detail. Naturally, Kelly started eavesdropping, and her friend recorded her reaction as they discussed Rose.
Kelly's reaction is adorably priceless, as one of the diners says, "I looooooooove Rose."
"Kelly Marie Tran is how all of us would be if we were cast in a Star Wars film."
Over the weekend, at long last, Star Wars: The Last Jedi held its world premiere in Los Angeles. Fans lined the red carpet to get a glimpse of the saga's stars, and reactions to the long-awaited sequel are apparently good (I've been avoiding all of it -- really trying to stay spoiler-free). But hands down, the highlight of the premiere was the mega-franchise's newest star, Kelly Marie Tran, having the best damn time.
Tran plays Rose Tico, a behind-the-scenes Resistance nobody who gets thrust into the action when she goes on a mission with Finn. Up until recently, Tran -- much like Rose -- was also kind of a nobody, a struggling actress with a comedy background trying to break into Hollywood and working odd jobs to make ends meet. Until the biggest movie franchise of all time plucked her from obscurity to play a role that will most certainly make her a household name. And from the looks of it, she is not taking any of this shit for granted.
In addition to looking drop dread gorgeous in red, Tran was seen spending a good portion of the festivities adorably freaking out, getting visibly emotional, hugging everyone in sight and overall looking like she was genuinely totally stoked just to be there. As Dani Fernandez observed, via Twitter, "Kelly Marie Tran is how all of us would be if we were cast in a Star Wars film."
From unknown office assistant to a starring role galaxy far, far away.
From Entertainment Weekly: In her first official Star Wars performance, she had to keep playing the role of Kelly Marie Tran, office assistant.
"The day I found out, [director Rian Johnson] was like, 'Oh we want you in this movie,' I had just left work on my lunch break to go to this meeting," she recalls. "Afterward, he told me that I couldn't tell anyone, so I went back to work and answered phones and answered emails, like nothing happened. It was the most bizarre experience. Inside I was like, Ugh! Crazy!"
Then came the announcement. Then came the production. Then came a whole cascade of happy-happy, joy-joy that struggling actors are unaccustomed to dealing with. "I still just sort of live my life the way that I was before," she says. "I don’t know when I will feel that it's different. Definitely, when I saw the action figures, I was like, 'This is insane,' but it still hasn't sunk in or registered on me."
Kelly Marie Tran drops hints about her 'Last Jedi' character.
As you know, we are hyped as hell for Kelly Marie Tran's role as Rose Tico in the upcoming new Star Wars movie. So we're pouncing on every little Rose-related morsel of story details, marketing and merchandising in the run up to The Last Jedi's release next month. The latest visual clue: space jewelry.
Entertainment Weekly's Holiday Movie Preview has dropped some more information about Rose, including the above image of Tran and John Boyega's Finn piloting a craft to the interstellar casino city of Canto Bight.
We already know that Rose is no-nonsense maintenance tech who usually works in the background of the Resistance, but finds herself caught up in a dangerous adventure with Finn. Tran offers some more details about her character, her background and what she brings to their mission in a galaxy far, far away.
"The journey that she and Finn go seems pretty impossible, you can tell in this moment that she's very much aware of the dangers that they are about to face, but she's also logically in her mind problem-solving on the way," Tran says. She knows exactly, probably, how many things can go wrong in a situation."
As you know, we are enormously excited to see Kelly Marie Tran in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
We don't know much, but we know her character, a Resistance maintenance worker named Rose, has the biggest new role in a galaxy far, far away. We know that she'll be paired up with Finn, their mission will take them to a casino city called Canto Bight, and at some point, they'll go undercover as First Order officers.
Also: they will ride space horses.
Some new Last Jedi promotional art gives us a closer look at creatures called fathiers -- aka "space horses." According to Star Wars News Net, they are extremely fast creatures that are exploited for racing and gambling on Canto Bight. And as depicted (in extremely small detail) on this theatrical standee, it appears that Rose and Finn will saddle up and make a run for it on the back of one of these majestic space steeds.
It's not secret that we're waaaaay hyped to see Kelly Marie Tran as Rose in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and thus gobbling up all Rose-related merchandise. The latest: Funko just announced that one of its upcoming Specialty Series exclusives will be a Pop! Star Wars: The Last Jedi Rose in Disguise.
Hey, superfans. I just thought everyone would want to know that right now on Amazon, you can order a life-sized cardboard standup of Kelly Marie Tran as Rose from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. If that's your thing.
Rose Tico is described as "a gearhead, a greasemonkey, a behind-the-scenes jack-of-all-trades" in the Resistance who gets pulled into an adventure with Finn. Based on all the information and marketing that's been released so far, she's apparently Episode VIII's biggest new character -- and worthy of a cardboard cutout.
More details on Kelly Marie Tran's character in 'Star Wars: Episode VIII'
As you know, we're pretty darn excited about newcomer Kelly Marie Tran as Rose in the upcoming new Star Wars movie, and have been gobbling up every scant little detail about the character in the lead up to Episode VIII. The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly has rolled out a multi-part cover story on The Last Jedi, and gives us some more info on Rose and her role in a galaxy far, far away.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Rose Tico is "a gearhead, a greasemonkey, a behind-the-scenes jack-of-all-trades," while her sister Paige, a Resistance gunner who fights on the front lines, is the dynamic one.
When we pick up with the saga in Episode VIII, Finn (John Boyega) wants out of the fight, but reluctantly finds himself celebrated as a "big deal" by many in the Resistance -- including Rose, the low-profile nobody who is "starstruck" by the former Stormtrooper who helped destroy Starkiller base.
This heroic ideal she sees in him helps him stay in the fight.
