I didn't know there was this sort of immediate camaraderie that's very intense when you make a movie because you're all in this together. You tend to get really close to people really fast.
— Kelly Marie Tran
When you're really young, you tend to fall in love with characters. If you start seeing the same type of character everywhere and realize that they don't look like you, or they don't speak like you, you start wanting to change who you are. That's something that I did when I was a young kid.
I was a food tour guide - I took people on a tour to different restaurants in the area.
I was not on social media for a really long time because I was afraid of being seen.
You search for images and stories and movies and music from people that look like you and sound like you and speak like you because you want to feel like, 'Oh, if they can do it, so can I.' There's a little bit of that need for validation, especially when you're younger and trying to look to someone to look up to.
My mom works in funerals, and my dad works at Burger King.
I'm totally pro-porg! I would not eat a porg. They're so cute; you can't eat them. They're friends!
I do feel like my improv training has helped me throughout my entire audition process only because the idea of 'yes and-ing' applies to everything.
You know who I was most nervous to meet, probably? Andy Serkis. I am such a huge fan.
My parents didn't get to have a dream. Their dream was to live in a country where their kids would have choice.
I have a great family and great friends, and I think that they'll keep me grounded.
I'm one of those people where, if I get a piece of advice from someone I look up to and respect, I'll really listen to it.
My parents are not of this world. I've had to work multiple jobs, been in a position where I cannot pay off student loans.
When I'm driving past the place I used to work, or when I'm driving past the comedy studio where I used to take photos in exchange for classes, or when I'm driving past the yoga studio I used to clean on the weekends - it's not that far removed from me yet. I get very sentimental over things like that.
Even if someone doesn't like it, or just likes it for me, storytelling has been the one true love story of my entire life.
I never want to forget that I'm doing an impossible thing. How rare is it that you get to be part of something people love? It's really special. It's a very out-of-body experience to be a part of something so huge.
I think there are many ways to be brave and that being brave and vulnerable in terms of a romantic situation is one of the hardest things to do in real life.
I wish that all different types of people of all races and all upbringings were all equally represented in this industry that influences so many people.
I want to work with amazing filmmakers and tell important stories, and if I have to audition to do that, I will.
I want to work with great directors and tell great stories - storytelling is the one great love of my life, and it means so much, and we have the ability to change the world by telling stories, and I want to keep doing that.
In terms of the timeline, 'The Force Awakens' came out in December of 2015. I got the role in November of 2015. I was auditioning and waiting to hear back when their marketing machine was everywhere. It's like you're going for something that's so high stakes, and you try to remind yourself, 'Okay, stop thinking about it,' and it's everywhere.
I think a lot of times, in a lot of modern-day movies, a lot of things are CGI, but so much of the stuff in 'Star Wars' is built and created by these artists.
So much of me is because of what my parents experienced in this country. So much of me is because of the things my parents overcame so that I could have the luxury of having a dream.
I actually read 'The Last Jedi' before 'The Force Awakens' came out. It totally helped me, though! The idea of this franchise that I already knew was such a big cultural thing, I was sort of given this freedom to be honest with that character and not have this pressure of making her something else that we had already seen in this universe.
I feel like I'm always talking about myself, and I love not talking about myself.
If I am just, like, on a run by myself, I've never been stopped. Even if I'm at Target buying my own action figure, people would not believe that it's me. I actually was like, 'This is me!'
My dad was a street kid for seven years - he was homeless.
It never felt like we were making a 'Star Wars' movie. It didn't feel like it was serious. It just felt like we were allowed to be creative and kind of goof off.
I feel like 'The Last Jedi' is a lot of things that people aren't going to expect, which I think is a good thing.
I knew what it was like growing up in a world where I never saw myself in anything.
I worked in an office. I was like an assistant. So, I would just answer phone calls, coordinate events. It was a great day job. I worked with amazing people, but obviously, whenever you are doing something that's not your dream, you kind of feel like, 'Oh, I'm on this grind.'
I believe if you can have an open dialogue about anything, whether it's a book or a movie or TV show, it's this door that suddenly opens your mind to new ideas.
I think, as an actor, you create things for your character that you think will make it more personal to you, because on the day, you want to make sure that you're truly there in the moment.
Even though 'Star Wars' takes place in another galaxy, a lot of the themes and things that characters deal with in terms of lessons that they're learning are things that are completely relatable to real life.
A lot of 'Star Wars' fans who are specifically Asian never had a character they could dress up like, or they would, and people would always call them 'Asian Rey' or 'Asian fill-in-the-blank.'
'Star Wars' is so much bigger than any single person involved, so you feel like you want to do that justice and also feel like you want to do justice to that little girl inside me that never saw anyone who looked like her, that person who's starving for representation - it's a lot.
So many people don't realise you need to be on a certain level of Maslow's hierarchy to have a dream: you have to have food and be safe from danger, all these things my parents didn't have at the get go, so I, from the very beginning, believe I have been living for multiple generations, for my parents and grandparents.
I was working a full-time job but not having anything in my savings account at the end of the month because of my bills and because acting in the beginning costs money.
You find little ways to keep your mind at peace so that you can, at the end of the day, do the most important thing, which is do a good job.
Growing up, I've always felt I was from two different worlds. I was born in the U.S., but my parents were born in Vietnam, and they raised my sisters and I with the parenting methods of the Vietnamese culture.
I think that Carrie is such an icon, not just as someone who played Princess Leia, but someone who was groundbreaking in that she was OK with being honest - brutally so, unapologetically so.
Seeing someone dressed up as your character is incredible.
I truly did feel that I owed it to my parents, my grandparents, to do whatever it was that I wanted, because if I wasn't happy, if I wasn't being true to myself, then I wasn't living fully. They had given up so much so that I could live at the level that so many people are just automatically born into.
I think anytime you go into anything that's different and new, there's a bit of fear.
I eventually want to write and direct and produce my own stuff.
Carrie Fisher will always be an icon as Leia, but also as Carrie. She will live on forever.
I still just sort of live my life the way that I was before. I don't know when I will feel that it's different.
There are so few times in life where you are passionate about anything. And I think that if you can find that, you should just hold on to it and protect it at all costs and just follow it, because it's so rare.
My parents are refugees from Vietnam, so they didn't grow up with 'Star Wars.' I don't think they know what's going on in the movie at any given time.
You get the initial script, and then things sort of change here and there, but the whole thing is this sort of mushy collaboration, which I love.
