Tran further expands the galaxy
“Rose represents this person who’s in the background. It’s really cool to see someone (like that) be forced into the forefront of the action and how she deals with it.”
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens opened two years ago, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega became instant stars. Kelly Marie Tran, in contrast, probably was on the radar of only Web-comedy connoisseurs and those who might have caught episodes of NBC’s About A Boy.
But Star Wars vehicles have a tendency to launch unknown actors into the stratosphere. (Mark Hamill, anyone?) So her role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
(in theaters now) has made Tran a hit on the promotional tour.
“I do feel like I’ve been talking about myself for a crazy long time,” says the 28-year-old San Diego native, who has been photographed adorably freaking out on red carpets and who wrote emotionally about the experience for her Instagram fans. “I’m probably going to go into a cave and not talk to people for a couple days after all this.”
She already has made history as the first Asian-American actress to star in a
Star Wars movie. Her character, Rose Tico, breaks the mold a little, too, going from a girl low in the Resistance ranks to full-fledged galactic heroine.
“We always hear these stories about people who are born into a specific position, like you’re the chosen one or you have a power or you are a hotshot,” Tran says. “Rose represents this person who’s in the background. It’s really cool to see someone (like that) be forced into the forefront of the action and how she deals with it.”
Rose is a mechanic in the Resistance’s Cobalt Squadron, where her sister, Paige (Veronica Ngo), is a gunner on a bomber that flies alongside X-wing jockey Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac). After the events of The Force Awakens, Poe, Rey and Finn (John Boyega) have become heroes for the rest of the Resistance.
Rose is a total Finn fangirl, but when she gets the call to go on an important mission with him, “I don’t know that she’s ready,” Tran says. “She knows that it’s bigger than her. She knows the Resistance is a thing she fights for above ego, above anything, even above fear.”
Her role is “definitely a breath of fresh air” in the Star Wars universe, says Boyega, whose Finn character develops a close bond with Rose. “She reminds Finn of that optimism to keep on fight- ing, to believe in something. But at the same time, she’s a rude little bugger! She doesn’t care what anybody thinks.” A veteran of the Web series Ladies
Like Us and CollegeHumor videos, Tran trained in improv comedy. “She understands the light tones that we need to see in ( The Last Jedi), despite the seriousness of the narrative,” Boyega says.
Star Wars is, not surprisingly, Tran’s biggest role — she had one line in the 2016 Netflix drama XOXO as “Butterfly Rave Girl.” So she used The Last Jedi set as an acting school of sorts, watching co-stars even on days off. Carrie Fisher became a role model: “She led by example,” Tran says. “Obviously, she would speak her mind, but she was just honest and authentic, no matter what.”
Being part of a Star Wars film is enough to rock anybody’s world, and one of the ways she got through it was by keeping journals: “I knew I couldn’t tell anyone and I had to get my emotions out some way.”
When asked if she’ll ever release The Rose Journalist like Fisher published
The Princess Diarist, Tran giggles. “I guard these things with my life. I don’t know if I’ll ever let those get out.”