Awkwafina says mom’s death turned her into a performer
LOS ANGELES: Crazy Rich Asians star Awkwafina has disclosed that the death of her mother when she was just four had turned her into a performer.
Rapper and actress Awkwafina, who is of Chinese-Korean parentage, became a performer to cope with the trauma of losing her mother at four years old.
Figured Awkwafina: “I really do, looking back now, attribute whatever comedic sensibility I have to that traumatic event. I think I developed and used humour very early as a defence mechanism, to make people around me feel joy instead of sorrow. That was when I started to perform.”
Before breaking into Hollywood, the Ocean’s 8 star, born Nora Lum, shot to fame on the underground hip-hop scene under her stage name Awkwafina.
Her initial venture as a professional entertainer was also a traumatic experience, because she was fired from her day job following the release of her graphic video for 2012 hit My Vag.
“I felt disgraced, shamed, and I never got over it,” she recalled, before revealing a recent victory over the matter. “Recently my old boss wrote me this email congratulating me. I still carry that sadness (about being fired), so it (the email) gave me a level of closure.”
Awkwafina, 29, confesses she is often haunted by her future following her meteoric rise to international fame in the wake of her history-making box office smash Crazy Rich Asians, which featured an all-Asian cast.
“I always expect it to end tomorrow,” she says. “I always expect that all the money I’ve made - not a lot - will disappear and (news outlet) Buzzfeed will write a ‘Whatever happened to...’ article about me... But if it does go away, I won’t be mad. Because it happened, you know, and that’s a privilege.”
In Crazy Rich Asians, Awkwafina had uttered many of the movie’s most uproarious lines — some of which she improved — such as telling Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) her future mother-in-law thinks of her as an “unrefined banana” or referring to Rachel’s boyfriend as the “Asian Bachelor.”
Awkwafina said her father actually wanted her to be an air traffic controller.
Wisecracked Awkwafina, who is also known for helming an online comedy show: “Maybe when I open my phone there’s a couple more followers and a couple hateful comments, but my regular life is still the same. I’m Target pants and things like that. I love Target pants.”
Added Awkwafina: “As an Asian-American kid, growing up I was looking for that movie. It was very emotional. We were having fun, but there was this lingering collective idea that we were there doing something big. I don’t think we knew how big at the time.”
I really do, looking back now, attribute whatever comedic sensibility I have to that traumatic event. I think I developed and used humour very early as a defence mechanism, to make people around me feel joy instead of sorrow.That was when I started to perform. Awkwafina, rapper and actress