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Gemma Chan Couldn't Get An Audition For Lead Roles Before Crazy Rich Asians

The success of 'Crazy Rich Asians' has helped open many doors for Gemma Chan in Hollywood.

Gemma Chan Couldn't Get An Audition For Lead Roles Before Crazy Rich Asians

Gemma Chan is grateful for her role in Crazy Rich Asians as it has allowed her to be considered more widely for film parts that she might not have got to audition for before.

Speaking in the February issue of Elle UK magazine, the 38-year-old, Oxford-educated actress from Kent said, "Before Crazy Rich Asians, I was not being considered for lead roles in feature films. There is a very select group of actors and actresses who are in that pool and I wouldn't even get an audition, I was just not even in that conversation. Whereas now … Well, I've been told I am being talked about for certain things and then you may meet the director, or you at least get to have your shot. That feels different."

Welcome to Singapore: Gemma with Samuel L Jackson and Brie Larson and directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck at the 'Captain Marvel' press con at Marina Bay Sands on Feb 14, 2019. "[Because] 'Crazy Rich Asians' did so well internationally, I definitely felt a shift at that time," said Chan in the Elle UK interview. "Like, on the 'Captain Marvel' press tour, not being able to walk through [Singapore] airport. Then again, things have settled and the slight craziness of that time has gone away. I do feel like I can — touch wood — go about my life normally now."


Elsewhere, Gemma is thrilled to see progression in Hollywood on the subject of race, but she only wishes that race and gender wouldn't even need to be discussed.

She said: "I do get moments where I think, 'Oh gosh, I wish we didn't have to talk about race anymore.' In the same way I wish we didn't have to talk about why it's unusual to have a female lead. Why is that still the exception? Why is it still so unusual to have half of the human race being centred in these stories? It seems ridiculous that we're still flagging that up as a talking point."

In the interview, Gemma also mentions how she prefers to keep her life private as much as possible.

She said: "When you start out, you don't even know what is important to keep for yourself — I didn't anyway, at the beginning, whereas now I think there are certain things that I absolutely know, 'That's mine and it's private.' For me, my comfort level is to have a clear distinction between what is for me and what I'm happy to talk about."

— BANG

Photo: TPG News/Click Photos

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