Latest news with #mixedrace
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chase Sui Wonders used to have ‘all the shame around' being mixed race. Now it's her ‘superpower.'
For Chase Sui Wonders, being mixed race hasn't always been easy. Wonders, who is half Chinese, used to struggle with her identity — and as a young Asian actress in Hollywood, self-acceptance felt unattainable. 'I had all the shame around it. I would try so hard and I would put myself on tape, but it never felt quite right,' she told Vanity Fair in June. 'It always felt like it was written for a white girl, or it was written for a full Chinese girl, or a Japanese girl who has to play a geisha during World War II or something.' This isn't the first time Wonders has opened up about being mixed race. The 29-year-old actress is outspoken about the complexities of navigating adolescence, adulthood, and now, Hollywood as someone who is biracial. As a kid growing up in suburban Michigan, Wonders quickly recognized that she didn't look like everyone else. Her arrival in Hollywood seemed to reinforce the feeling that she didn't belong. 'As far as I'm concerned, being Asian, the community I grew up in was really 'white', and I grew up with a single mom, who is white, so I felt like I was a white person, and it took me a while to accept or just come to terms with the fact that I don't look like everyone else and that's not bad. That was a journey of my youth,' she told Italian Reve in 2024. Eventually, Wonders began to land roles that felt more true to herself. She nabbed her breakthrough role on HBO Max's coming-of-age drama series Generation in 2021, before starring in A24's black horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies in 2022. Wonders, a Harvard graduate, currently stars on Apple TV+'s The Studio as Quinn Hackett, a junior executive at a fictional film studio in Hollywood. Hackett, Wonders told Vanity Fair, wasn't initially written as a biracial character. It was only after she landed the role that creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg decided to work that in. (On The Studio, white executives often look to Hackett for guidance regarding diversity.) A special screening of The Studio presented an opportunity for Wonders to celebrate her Chinese heritage offscreen too. For the event, Wonders opted for an archival Prada gown from the fashion house's spring 1997 collection. More than just a charming cherry red dress with a 'dreamy design,' as she told Marie Claire in March, it had elements that reminded her of a qipao, a traditional Chinese dress. 'My grandmother is going to love this dress when she sees these photos,' she said. Next up, Wonders will star in the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot as Ava Brucks, a role that she told Vanity Fair she was initially drawn to because of how 'all-American' she is. 'You just don't see that many people who look like me who are playing these kind of leading ingenue roles,' she said. 'It felt exciting to step into that and also give her some unique flair.' Where there was once shame in being mixed race, Wonders now feels a sense of pride, telling the magazine, 'The thing that I originally felt very complicated about has now become sort of my superpower.'
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Chase Sui Wonders used to have ‘all the shame around' being mixed race. Now it's her ‘superpower.'
For Chase Sui Wonders, being mixed race hasn't always been easy. Wonders, who is half Chinese, used to struggle with her identity — and as a young Asian actress in Hollywood, self-acceptance felt unattainable. 'I had all the shame around it. I would try so hard and I would put myself on tape, but it never felt quite right,' she told Vanity Fair in June. 'It always felt like it was written for a white girl, or it was written for a full Chinese girl, or a Japanese girl who has to play a geisha during World War II or something.' This isn't the first time Wonders has opened up about being mixed race. The 29-year-old actress is outspoken about the complexities of navigating adolescence, adulthood, and now, Hollywood as someone who is biracial. As a kid growing up in suburban Michigan, Wonders quickly recognized that she didn't look like everyone else. Her arrival in Hollywood seemed to reinforce the feeling that she didn't belong. 'As far as I'm concerned, being Asian, the community I grew up in was really 'white', and I grew up with a single mom, who is white, so I felt like I was a white person, and it took me a while to accept or just come to terms with the fact that I don't look like everyone else and that's not bad. That was a journey of my youth,' she told Italian Reve in 2024. Eventually, Wonders began to land roles that felt more true to herself. She nabbed her breakthrough role on HBO Max's coming-of-age drama series Generation in 2021, before starring in A24's black horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies in 2022. Wonders, a Harvard graduate, currently stars on Apple TV+'s The Studio as Quinn Hackett, a junior executive at a fictional film studio in Hollywood. Hackett, Wonders told Vanity Fair, wasn't initially written as a biracial character. It was only after she landed the role that creators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg decided to work that in. (On The Studio, white executives often look to Hackett for guidance regarding diversity.) A special screening of The Studio presented an opportunity for Wonders to celebrate her Chinese heritage offscreen too. For the event, Wonders opted for an archival Prada gown from the fashion house's spring 1997 collection. More than just a charming cherry red dress with a 'dreamy design,' as she told Marie Claire in March, it had elements that reminded her of a qipao, a traditional Chinese dress. 'My grandmother is going to love this dress when she sees these photos,' she said. Next up, Wonders will star in the I Know What You Did Last Summer reboot as Ava Brucks, a role that she told Vanity Fair she was initially drawn to because of how 'all-American' she is. 'You just don't see that many people who look like me who are playing these kind of leading ingenue roles,' she said. 'It felt exciting to step into that and also give her some unique flair.' Where there was once shame in being mixed race, Wonders now feels a sense of pride, telling the magazine, 'The thing that I originally felt very complicated about has now become sort of my superpower.'
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fans Reassure Tia Mowry Of The Impact Her Representation Had, After She Revealed She "Didn't Feel Black Enough"
If you're a millennial like me, then there's a big chance Tia Mowry played a part in your childhood. From shows like Sister, Sister and The Game to movies like Seventeen Again and Twitches, she and her twin sister Tamera were everywhere. And if you knew them, then there's an even higher chance you knew their younger brother, Smart Guy's Tahj Mowry, as well. Nowadays, Tia is widely known for sharing bits and pieces of her personal life online and connecting with fans on a deep and fun level. So, over the weekend, she posted a vulnerable message to Instagram to celebrate Juneteenth, where she opened up about her experience as a mixed-race woman, and why she's proud to call herself Black. She wrote her reflections on her Notes app and accompanied them with photos of herself and her family. "There were moments I questioned where I belonged. Even as a mixed kid, I knew I was Black. But growing up, the world around me didn't always reflect that back to me. I had to go on a journey to fully understand who I was and what it meant to walk through this world as a Black woman." "As a kid, I noticed the difference. When I was with my mom, who's Black, she was treated with suspicion. Not receiving an application for our dream home. Questions in first class. But with my white dad, people were welcoming. That's when I realized how much the color of your skin shapes how the world treats you." Tia said it "took time" for her to find her "place" in the world. She felt like everyone was in a clique in school, whether they were separated by interests or by race. Although she didn't always know where she fit in, she did always know where she stood. "It made me want to be loud about my pride," Tia continued. "To be Black and proud. To celebrate where I come from. And to use my voice and platform to make sure my community is seen, heard, and celebrated." "Representation matters. I'll never forget the messages I got: 'I never saw someone who looked like me on TV until you.' Moments like that helped me fully land in who I am and who I stand for." The mother of two revealed she looked into her ancestry. While she already knew her grandmother came from Eleuthera, an island in the Bahamas, she would later learn that her family lineage traces all the way back to Ghana and Nigeria. Related: Shia LaBeouf Just Shared A Screenshot Of His Private Email Exchange With Timothée Chalamet, And It's Certainly Interesting "We were taken, displaced, and yet survived. There is strength in that. And I carry that strength with me every day." Motherhood has also given Tia a new perspective on Blackness and how she wants to teach her kids to be proud of who they are and where they come from. But it hasn't come without obstacles. "My children are already feeling the weight of the world. At five, my son was called a monkey. He was told his skin was 'ugly.' And that's why I speak up, so they know they are loved, valued, and protected." "Juneteenth is a celebration of freedom. But it's also a reminder that we're still pushing, still fighting, still rising. I carry that with me in my work, my purpose, and my motherhood." Related: This 17-Question IQ Test Will Reveal How Much Celebrity Knowledge You Have "I am Black. I am proud. I am loud with my love for this community. And I'll keep using my voice to create space for others to be proud too." What a beautiful message to commemorate the holiday and celebrate the culture. Fans absolutely loved it too: You can read her full post below: Also in Celebrity: Chrissy Teigen Posted The Results Of Her Hairline Lowering Surgery, And Ouch Also in Celebrity: 17 Weird Celebrity Red Carpet Moments That'll Make You Say "Wow, I Can't Believe That Actually Happened" Also in Celebrity: 22 Absolutely Bonkers Things I've Learned About Old Hollywood Celebs That Made My Jaw Hit The Floor
The Guardian
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘Each shot feels like a private performance': Rene Matić, the Turner shortlist's only photographer
Rene Matić's nomination for the 2025 Turner prize was announced the week this exhibition opened. Only one photographer has ever been awarded the prize – Wolfgang Tillmans. Matić is not a technically masterly photographer, but a quiet observer of things, like Tillmans. Matić riffs on a documentary, diaristic style of photography, with snapshots of everyday moments and poetic juxtapositions, which are then used to create installations, grouping images to surreptitiously bring out buried tensions and paradoxes. Where those tensions have often been urgent and angry in Matić's previous exhibitions, this new show highlights another facet of their work. It is perhaps Matić's most personal exploration yet. Although these installations are evocative slices of life, it's the whiteness of the gallery's walls and ceiling that you notice first. Their sharp, stark white engulfs the contrasting small-scale obsidian pictures, scattered across the wall like dark gems on a pristine beach. The whiteness is overbearing and cold, but it also emphasises the lustrous quality of the black-and-white pictures. This plays symbolically into Matić's concern with the rubric of whiteness in British society, and how blackness lives within, alongside or outside it. Their images describe what many of us mixed-race people in the UK experience as being in-between, something Matić has termed 'rude(ness)'. The simple choice, to make the pictures small and place them sparsely on the white wall, makes you experience this 'rude(ness)' concept visually. Blackness and whiteness are important to Matić's identity. They are also important in making a photograph. These images are the result of Matić's first forays into the darkroom, developing silver gelatin prints. The care this involved was fitting for the pictures, which are all personal – showing the artist's inner circle. They portray a journey inwards and towards those closest, to the people and things that make a person who they are. As the title suggests, there are intimate images of family members, friends, partners, self-portraits. It is all explored with the feeling of being close enough to reach out to one another: in one, Touching Campbell's Face, Matić does just that. The portraits, particularly the one of a heavily pregnant friend, are about how bodies of loved ones can be entire worlds. There are also shadows, hinting at the absent, unknown parts of ourselves, made visible by the light. There are cultural objects that have shaped Matić's understanding of their own identity: a vintage first-edition copy of James Baldwin's Another Country reclining in a luxurious heap of rumpled bedsheets and pillows; a Nina Simone vinyl record; a lineup of Matić's collection of figurines by St Martin de Porres, the 16th-century Peruvian lay brother canonised as the patron saint of mixed-race people and all those seeking racial harmony. By formal standards, the photographs are mostly good. What makes them interesting is the way Matić arranges them, sometimes placed coming towards each other, sometimes heightening the tensions of difference, moving against each other. Some of the sequences are looser. Four images side by side portray a friend and frequent muse, the playwright Travis Alabanza, wrapped in a white towel; and another friend Grace, backstage before a performance at Ugly Duck, a LGBTQIA+ arts organisation in London. The Simone record. We see another friend, Mia, at the kitchen table, a nod to Carrie Mae Weems. Mia is surrounded by empty bottles – the air seems thick with the intimacy of a late-night moment. Each feels like a private performance for Matić's camera. In another image, another kind of implied performance, Matić's blond wig and black platform shoes are cast off, abandoned on the floor. The sensation is of Matić shrugging off the mask, feeling safe. Matić's body throughout remains only half-revealed, though: smoky, soft images of their legs, their shadows. In one image, we see the photographer's reflection in a mirror, holding the camera, an apparition above a clutch of cherished family pictures at their granny's house. A reconciliation of sorts comes in paired mother and father portraits, both shown holding cigarettes. At this point, you realise what else this show is telling you: it all begins with love. At Arcadia Missa, London, until 3 June.
