It wasn’t until Aug. 17, 2018, when “To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before” premiered in Netflix and sent our hearts into frenzy, that an actor of Asian descent starred as the lead in a romantic-comedy film.
Vietnamese-born American actor Lana Condor plays Lara Jean Song Covey, a love letter-writing, daydreaming Korean-American high school student. Despite being a suburban teen, her look is evocative of the fashion trends in Tokyo and Seoul. Like most of us Asian kids, Lara Jean loves her Yakult (which they referred to as Korean yogurt).
Until a few years ago, Asian actors were typecast as supporting actors, never the lead. Lana was well aware of this, and she knew that the Asian representation she enjoys today was because of those who blazed the trail before her.
“I know that the women and the men before me, who paved [the way] like Sandra Oh, who paved the way for someone like me to make my life easier. Those are the people that we really need to celebrate. You made all of this possible so that we can have a movie like this where the lead is an Asian-American girl,” Lana added.
It also helped that Jenny Han, the author of “To All The Boys” series, demanded that only an actor of Asian descent be permitted to play the role of Korean-American Lara Jean. Jenny wanted Asian representation on Hollywood for all Asian kids to see. “I wish it would have come sooner but I’ll take [it]. I’ll take on the current climate that we’re in right now and the way that the media and the industry has opened their hearts to us and given us more opportunity and taken taken us a little more seriously than before,” Lana said.
For about 20 minutes, “To All The Boys” costars Lana and Noah Centineo (Peter Kavinsky) answered questions from members of the media via conference call. However, Lana did not need the entire 20 minutes allotted for the interview, nor her stunning physical appearance, to win us over. We were totally charmed.
She did not hold back during the interview. She was the picture of enthusiasm throughout the entire presser, from laughing at Noah’s jokes, cheering “Woohoo!” at the mention of the historic Oscars win of South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” and even confessing that she wished someone had asked her on a date when she was in high school.
Like Lara Jean, Lana said that she loves to read and write (Lana’s father is a Pulitzer-prize nominated journalist) and that she constantly gets lost in her thoughts.
“I see everything, which I think is one of my greatest flaws and one of the greatest things about me. I see everything and I take in everything that’s going on around me,” she added, saying that Lara Jean possesses these qualities as well.
But she also confessed that her personality is much louder and more annoying than her onscreen counterpart. Lana recalled breaking into Noah’s trailer for what she said was a very important reason: to play Beyoncé ’s “Lion King” songs.
“You were in the toilet and I just played Beyoncé,” she told Noah. “I really badly wanted you to understand how great her performance was and [you were] like ‘Lana I’m on the toilet!’ And I’m like, but it’s Beyoncé!”
