The Beautiful Kelly Marie Tran’s Thoughts on Star Wars The Last Jedi

Disney provided me with hotel and transportation to the Star Wars Press Junket.

I really feel like Star Wars has always worked to bring diversity to the screen even in a time when most didn’t. Now that it seems to be so important to the world, the diversity in the cast is shining through. The newest addition to the Star Wars team is Kelly Marie Tran who has fought tooth and nail to even get into acting. She radiates an innocence and graciousness like no other. You can tell she is loving every second of being part of Star Wars. From her actions on the Star Wars Red Carpet to her interview with us, she’s been full of tears and laughter through it all.

During our interview she told us that she’s been trying to get into acting for seven years. She described her process as being long and hard and that she never expected to be cast as this part. The audition process took five months with the final part being a call back in full hair and makeup in London. It was only her second or third movie audition that she was “allowed” to go audition for. I find her story to be so inspirational because she never gave up and look where she is now. And she knows it. She’s decided to not take anything for granted and she’s going to be present in every moment. Then as she was telling us about how she found out that she got the role tears started rolling down her face.

“I’m, like, gonna cry right now. I had imagined this moment for so long. And… Oh my god! This is crazy. I’m sorry. I had imagined this moment for so long, and I thought that I would be, like, so ecstatic, and I’d be jumping up and down. And when it happened, I was so scared. I just was silent for a full minute. Like, I was just staring at the floor, like, oh my god! Like… I was treading water for so long, I never thought I would get to the end of the pond. Or the lake.”

Kelly Marie Tran’s character Rose is now a role model to young female Asians and she’s done so much for the diversity and changing things for future generations of Star Wars fans and Kelly Marie Tran said she has thought about this a lot and feels the pressure. She said that she grew up in a world where she never saw herself in anything. She hopes that people will see her character as such an example.

She’s “someone who doesn’t necessarily belong in this world. She works in maintenance. She works behind pipes all day. She’s not a star pilot. She doesn’t have magical powers. She’s not a princess. She’s someone who is just an every woman. And, and these people that… You don’t necessarily see in these stories, but that are so crucial to… the idea of the resistance. Without these people that are fixing the ships, like, Po couldn’t go fight the First Order! So of course they’re important. But no one ever really sees them, or talks about them. They’re always just running around in the background. And if… If this character could mean anything, I really hope that… I really hope that she portrays the idea that even if you are someone who’s kind of in the background who’s not in the spotlight, who’s not a princess… you can still make a difference, and… You can still rise up to any challenge that comes to you.”

Watching her enjoy every moment of this journey from our interview to the interviews on the red carpet have been so endearing. I hope that this is just the beginning for her and that she’s cast in many more movies to come. I also can’t wait to see her in Star Wars The Last Jedi. My husband went and saw the movie last night with a friend and he said it is his favorite Star Wars to date. He said we will love it. Now I told him he has to take us ASPA. So after everyone gets some work done we’ll probably be going to see it. That is if it’s not sold out everywhere until Monday.