Awkwafina taps into Asian roots for ‘The Farewell’
LOS ANGELES – Awkwafina is getting serious. ❚ A summer after she stole scenes in “Crazy Rich Asians” playing the gut-busting, obscenely wealthy best friend Peik Lin, the actress/rapper pulls a 360-degree turn in “The Farewell” (in theaters Friday in New York and Los Angeles; adds cities through Aug. 2).
In the quiet family dramedy, Awkwafina (born Nora Lum) plays Billi, a Chinese-American woman facing the impending death of her treasured grandmother, who lives across the globe. Billi flies from New York to China, where her family has hastily thrown together a cousin’s wedding as an excuse to get together one last time. Controversially – at least for Billi – her relatives have made the decision not to tell their matriarch she has terminal cancer, in accordance with Chinese tradition.
“I was really insecure at first about carrying a movie and dramatic acting and also (speaking) Chinese,” says Awkwafina, 31, who learned Mandarin for the film, which is based on director Lulu Wang’s experience with her ailing grandmother. “But at the end of the day, the thing I was scared about the most was being vulnerable. This is a
very personal story for me.”
Awkwafina, who is Korean and Chinese, has suffered her own losses. Her mother died when she was just 4, and she was raised by her father and grandmother in Queens.
Today, she and her grandmother are still close. “She tells me that ‘My Vag’ was the best video I’ll ever make,” she grins, referencing the viral 2012 YouTube rap video that launched her career. “She saw ‘The Farewell’ and said my Chinese wasn’t bad, so that was the best.”
Wang says she knew from Awkwafina’s audition tape that she could deliver a natural performance as Billi. “We all know her as the girl from Queens who makes everyone laugh. And oftentimes the person who is making everyone laugh – when they get quiet, when they break down, it’s that much more