“If there’s a reason Asian Americans haven’t broken through in entertainment, it’s probably because we haven’t taken advantage of how special our viewpoint is. It’s not something to be ashamed of.”
Constance Wu is an American actress best known for her roles on the TV show Fresh Off the Boat and her starring role in the movie Crazy Rich Asians. She was listed as Time’s Top 100 influential people and has spoken out about the systematic racism woven throughout Hollywood. She also is a founding support of the Time’s Up Movement which aims to battle against sexual harassment that many have women have faced in their lives.
Nationality: American
Industry: Entertainment
Q: What would you tell someone who doesn’t understand why the kind of visibility Fresh Off the Boat offers matters? (TIME)
A: “It’s important to see Asians in those leading roles because it changes what I’m calling the anglo-heteronormative status of TV. [Imagine] that a producer says, ‘Guy and girl meet-cute at an ice skating rink. They fall in love, but then she has to move away.’ If you say that to anyone, including an Asian person, you picture a white person because that’s what’s become normative to us.”
