Actress changed her Chinese name to get Hollywood roles
ACTRESS Chloe Bennet has said she had to change her surname from Wang to make it in ‘racist’ Hollywood.
The 25-year-old, best known for Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., said Hollywood ‘wouldn’t cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable’.
The American star wrote on Instagram after praising British actor Ed Skrein for stepping down from a film role over claims of whitewashing. The term is used to refer to Caucasian actors being chosen to play characters of other ethnicities.
Skrein, 34, was cast in the upcoming reboot of Hellboy as Ben Daimio, who is of Asian heritage in the comics the films are based on.
Miss Bennet replied to a fan, whose comment appears to have been deleted, writing: ‘Changing my last name doesn’t change the fact my BLOOD is half Chinese … It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn’t cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable.
‘I’m doing everything I can, with the platform I have, to make sure no one has to change their name again, just so they can get work.’
Explaining his decision, Skrein wrote on Instagram that he did not realise the character was of Asian heritage when he took the part and was stepping down so the role could be ‘cast appropriately’.
Miss Bennet thanked him for ‘standing up against Hollywood’s continuous insensitivity and flippant behavior towards the Asian American community’.