Beyond Crazy Rich Asians: Gemma Chan on fame, family and her memories of Hong Kong
The actress, who also starred in Captain Marvel and Mary Queen of Scots, is passionate about building on her success to open the door for others – and finding stories that don’t pigeonhole Asians in Asia
Being the first guest of the St Regis Hong Kong has been a homecoming of sorts for Crazy Rich Asians actress Gemma Chan – after all, her Macau-born father grew up here and her mainland Chinese mother spent some time here before emigrating to Greenock, in Scotland.
Despite the filming and publicity work for the runaway success movie taking her around the world, Hong Kong never came up on the agenda for the London-born Chan. “I haven’t been here since my childhood and it’s very special for me to be here,” she says as we sit down in her St Regis suite.
If I’m going to have to do this press tour and wear lots of outfits, I thought wouldn’t it be great if I could shine a light on these Asian designers and give them a bit of a boost?
“My mum and my dad are here with me as well so I’m really excited to be back. We’re planning to visit the places my dad used to go to. My memories of Hong Kong are so vivid. I remember we took a boat ride in the 1990s and we took a ferry ride around the island and just the sights and the smells. There’s nothing like it.”
It’d be quite safe to say that since Crazy Rich Asians opened in theatres last August, life hasn’t been quite the same for Chan. The law graduate has hit a new momentum in her career which until now has been interesting albeit hardly visible; her biggest claims to fame being guest parts on television, including Dr Who and detective series Sherlock, another small role in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them , and the longest one playing the part of a robot in the Channel 4 sci-fi series Humans.
I don’t want to be the only successful Asian actress or British Asian actress. Especially when we’ve established there’s so much talent out there
Since she glided elegantly onscreen as the rich and posh Astrid Leong-Teo in Crazy Rich Asians, however, her face has graced international magazine covers and she has already followed up with a role as Bess of Hardwick in Mary Queen of Scots and then, as the blue-faced alien sharpshooter Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel.
“I just feel very, very grateful to have those opportunities and seeing how much Crazy Rich Asians has meant to people and to my own family. I took my mum and dad to the London premiere and it was a really emotional experience for us, watching a film made in Hollywood where people looked like us,” says Chan, who was originally asked to read for the lead role of Rachel but requested to read for Astrid because she “felt more of a connection”.
Chan, a one-time teen national swimmer and budding violinist, recalls her father trying to dissuade her from abandoning a promising legal career for the uncertainty of acting and her telling him that she “just wanted to make a change”.
“I felt really passionate about it. Sometimes you just have to take a risk. Sometimes you have to risk failing to have the chance of being part of a change,” Chan says. “I feel very fortunate that things have panned out the way they have, that Kevin Kwan wrote those books, and that Jon Chu did something so brilliant with them, and Warner Brothers was willing to take a chance on it. Everything just came together.
“And now I just hope it’s going to open the door for others. I don’t want to be the only successful Asian actress or British Asian actress. Especially when we’ve established there’s so much talent out there.”