Kelly Hu: Do Your Own Thing
by guest contributor Jennifer Fang, originally published at Reappropriate
While in Las Vegas, this weekend, I had the opportunity to interview actress Kelly Hu. This is that interview. Many thanks to Cate Park, of Asian Pacific Americans for Progress, for setting up this interview, and of course to Hu herself for agreeing to do it.
Whether portraying a deadly mutant assassin or a sensual Egyptian queen, Kelly Hu appears to be a larger-than-life character: the quintessential warrior woman. For those of us who aren’t part of the film industry, it’s easy to blur the line between reality and this entertaining fiction. I admit – when I first heard that I might have the opportunity to meet Hu during my trip to Las Vegas this weekend, part of me wondered whether she would be anything like the intimidating characters we are familiar with on-screen. Would she attempt to canvass in the chilly Nevada weather wearing the scant costume of The Scorpion King fame? Would an inappropriate remark cause her to metamorphose into the terrifying martial artist that had X2’s Wolverine shivering in his overly-tight X-Men britches? Should I be checking for mutant claws?
It only took a few minutes of chatting with Hu for me to put those silly fantasies to rest. In direct contrast to the emotionally severe women she has played in her most well-known roles, Hu is warm, open, and clearly impassioned.
According to her IMDB entry, Hu is a fourth-generation Asian American of Chinese-Filipino-Hawaiian and English identity. Originally from Hawaii, Hu made a name for herself in Hollywood in the late 80’s and early 90’s as one of a limited number of female Asian American actors consistently finding roles. “There weren’t many [Asian American actresses] to choose from,” Hu notes, listing Tamilyn Tomita, Rosalind Chao and Tia Carrere among her competitors at the time. With so few actors competing for the same roles, “it was easier to get noticed.” Hu also cites her “cross-over look” as one of the reasons for her success: “I could [also] go for roles not specifically written for Asian Americans”.
With that success, Hu has ventured into political activism. In 2004, Hu recorded a PSA, still available for download at LeastLikely.com, about Asian American voter participation. And in a recent YouTube clip, Hu (along with several other notable Asian American faces) vocally supports Senator Barack Obama’s candidacy for the presidency.
I asked Hu: why Obama?
“Obama [is] really sincere… it actually sounds like he writes his own speeches.” Hu is energized by Obama’s insistence on a fresh take to politics, and is encouraged by his lack of ties to the existing Washington establishment. Unlike his opposition, Obama “doesn’t owe anyone any favours. He’s more pure and real.”
After spending a great deal of energy trying to get out the Asian American vote in 2004, (and perhaps being disappointed since it’s unclear that 2004 represented a huge change in APIA voter participation) Hu seems to be reinvigorated by Obama’s influence amongst voters, particularly youth voters. “Obama is bringing a new generation” of young people into the political process; indeed, Obama’s early victory in Iowa included a sizable chunk of new and youth voters. And while his influence amongst Asian American voters has yet to be determined (neither Iowa nor New Hampshire have a significant Asian American population), Obama could be the watershed candidate to shatter the myth of the apathetic Asian American (non-)voter. He certainly was for Hu; she was so inspired by Obama’s candidacy that she “felt the need to get the word out” in support of his candidacy, despite her history of shying away from politics during her early career.
Hu also cites her cultural upbringing — both as an Asian American and as a Hawaiian — for her early reluctance to involve herself in politics. “Being born in Hawaii, I was always in the majority so I didn’t see myself as a minority… Like other Asians, my mother told me ‘don’t rock the boat’ and ‘don’t stick out’. I always worried that I would suffer backlash if I became too political.” Like many Asian Americans, Hu chose to avoid politics out of fear of these consequences, until the sociopolitical realities of Asian Americans overwhelmed these concerns. “Studio executives and publicists all told me not to become too political, but why can’t a person really care? I feel like it’s a responsibility.”
Page 1 of 2 | Next page