Brenda Song might not be the biggest of household names but the 31-year-old actress has already taken up several major roles in popular films such as “Changeland”, “College Road Trip” and “The Social Network”. Her most notable portrayal is probably London Tipton in the “Sweat Life Of Zack And Cody” series.
So with a resume that extensive, you’s assumed that she would be a shoo-in for a place in the 2018 hit “Crazy Rich Asians”. Sadly, that is not the case at all.
According to the interview she did with Teen Vogue, the “Wendy Wu” actress revealed that she was denied a place in the flick due to her looks that was not Asian enough. The Disney star, being a fan of the original novel, was taken aback. “Their reasoning behind that, what they said was that my image was basically not Asian enough, in not so many words. It broke my heart,” said Californian.
She would later add, “I said, ‘This character is in her late to mid-20s, an Asian American, and I can’t even audition for it? I’ve auditioned for Caucasian roles my entire career, but this specific role, you’re not going to let me do it? You’re going to fault me for having worked my whole life?’ I was like, ‘Where do I fit?’”
Song’s comment spread like wild fire, and it didn’t take long before the director of the flick, Jon M. Chu, took notice of it. The 40-year-old then quickly took to Twitter to address the situation stating that he felt “horrible” the actress would think that.
“Would these words ever come out of my mouth?” he tweeted. “Nope. Makes no sense. I feel horrible she thinks this is the reason. The fact is I love Brenda Song and am a fan. I didn’t need her to audition because I already knew who she was!”
“I love @BrendaSong and that sucks if anything of that nature was ever communicated. It’s gross actually. The fact is, obviously I know who she is and didn’t need her to audition. I’m a fan of hers! Nothing more nothing less. Bums me out she thought it was anything but,” the director wrote.
No need to feel too bad for her though. The “Pure Genius” actress is actually doing alright for herself, with her getting the main role in Netflix’s “Secret Obsession”, and currently stars in a Hulu series called “Dollface” alongside Kat Dennings and Shay Mitchell.
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