Orphaned Vietnamese Stars: Prestigious American Family and Leading Role in Hollywood

WithCrazy Rich Asians,To All the Boys I've Loved Beforeis one of two films that created an "Asian phenomenon" in Hollywood this August. IfCrazy Rich AsiansTells about the love of Asian Americans growing upTo All the Boys I've Loved Beforeexploit the minds of teenagers.

In the film, Lana Condor plays the main role, a 16-year-old Korean-American girl named Lara Jean. At 21 years old, the actress has the advantage of being young and petite, so she can play a high school girl. Condor's leading role in an American film (shown through Netflix) is considered another step forward for Asian actors in Hollywood.

On this occasion, Condor became a popular topic in many American newspapers. If inCrazy Rich Asiansis the whole cast of Asian origin is strong then inTo All the Boys I've Loved Before, Condor alone "carries the film" with the white cast. Therefore, her role is considered more special and requires more effort to get.

Condor is adopted. An orphan born in Can Tho, she was adopted by her Irish mother and Hungarian father. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was young and she was raised in a multinational environment. She didn’t really experience life in an Asian family, but her adoptive parents always wanted her to remember her Vietnamese roots, including feeding her Vietnamese food.

Condor's adoptive father is Bob Condor, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and former Vice PresidentYahoo! Sports.

Because her adoptive parents were well-off, Condor had the opportunity to study many arts before becoming an actress. Condor said her mother, Mary Carol, had read the book by "Tiger Mom" ​​Amy Chua - an Asian mother who harshly raised her child to become a genius, and also wanted her to study ballet, dance and drama.

As a child, Condor received a good education and artistic training at prestigious schools such as the Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, joined the Los Angeles Ballet, studied acting at the New York Film Academy and summer school at Yale, the School of Professional Arts in New York and is currently attending Loyola Marymount University.

Speaking of her family, Condor is also very proud that her parents raised her in a racially healthy atmosphere. It was not until the 7th grade that she learned about racism when she was called a derogatory term for Asians. But her life was still quite comfortable because of her family's well-off conditions.

It was only when she reached adulthood that Condor experienced the profound feeling of being Asian in America: she was judged by her skin color and Asian appearance.

Reply sheetThe Cut, Condor nodded in confirmation that getting the role was very difficult for her. "I've never had the opportunity to play the lead in a romantic comedy, for a bunch of reasons, but the most important is my appearance," the actress said. "Romantic comedies in Hollywood have always had white leads."

According to Condor, casting directors say they are open to all skin colors and races, but the reality is, casting rooms are filled with blonde, blue-eyed actors.

And she got the chance to play the main role becauseTo All the Boys I've Loved Beforeis adapted from the original novel by Korean-American writer Jenny Han, and Han was adamant about casting an Asian actor rather than "whitewashing" the character (casting a white actor instead).

One response Condor often gets from casting directors is, “She’s not right for the role.” Then, when she sees the film she failed to audition for, the cast is all white. To her, that’s proof that “doors aren’t really open to us,” unlike what Hollywood claims.

"It hurt me. I had never been more aware of my Asian heritage and my female sexuality than when I was working in Hollywood," Condor confided.

And the actress thinks it should be consideredTo All the Boys I've Loved Beforeis a Hollywood romantic comedy that happens to have an Asian protagonist, rather than an "Asian romantic comedy" as many people call it.

"I think it's important that people see women of color as human beings," Condor said, "writer Jenny Han is right: For some reason, many people think that Asians don't know how to love. In fact, that's not true. We Asians experience love like everyone else."

One of the problems thatTo All the Boys I've Loved Beforefaced negative public opinion, even calls for boycott, because among the boys that Lara Jean (played by Condor) has feelings for, none of them are Asian.

Condor was upset by the backlash. "People who are against the film are unconsciously racist," she said. "They're putting Asians in boxes and saying they should just love each other. That's unfair and insulting. Shouldn't Asians be allowed to love whoever they want?"

Condor revealed that in real life she has a Cuban boyfriend and he also has white skin.

She thinks Hollywood has made mistakes in the past by turning Asians into objects of laughter or outlandish characters, when in reality, they are normal people, loving and working normally in American society.

“There are so many stories we need to tell. I'm proud of those stories. We're all proud. I'm not going to let anyone destroy it,” Condor said.

Lana Condor - Tran Dong Lan was born in 1997 in Can Tho and grew up in Chicago, USA. Her family in the US lived in many places such as Whidbey Island, Washington and New York, before settling in Santa Monica, California since she was 15 years old.

Condor has acted in the following films:X-Men: Apocalypse, Patriots Day, To All the Boys I've Loved BeforeComing up, she has 2 movies:Alita: Battle AngelandSummer Night.The movieTo All the Boys I've Loved Beforeis causing a fever in America.