Star Wars: The Last Jedi Actress Kelly Marie Tran Comes Out As Queer While Promoting New Film

The 35-year-old star, who made her Star Wars sequel series debut as Rose Tico in The Last Jedi, came out while promoting her forthcoming rom-com The Wedding Banquet.

via: EW

Speaking to Vanity Fair about her upcoming remake of Ang Lee's queer rom-com The Wedding Banquet, the Star Wars actress felt emboldened to step into her truth on the record for the first time. "I haven’t said this publicly yet, but I’m a queer person,” shared Tran.

She added of her involvement in queer filmmaker Andrew Ahn's remake, "The thing that really excited me about it was I got to play a person that I felt like I knew. I don’t feel like I’m acting at all in this movie."

"I’m here doing this amazing movie with these amazing people," said Tran. "I’ve never been in a queer space before. I’ve never truly felt this accepted before.”

Ahn's reimagining stars Tran as Angela, a woman trying to have a baby through IVF with her girlfriend Lee (played by Academy Award-nominated actress Lily Gladstone). Residing in their guest home are their best pals Chris (Bowen Yang) and his partner Min (Han Gi-chan).

Min, under pressure to return to his native Korea to take over the family business, hatches a plan with Angela: a fake wedding, so he could secure a green card and Angela could raise funds for IVF treatment — all while pleasing Min's old-fashioned family back home.

The star-studded cast also includes Minari Oscar winner Yuh-Jung Youn as Min's grandmother and Joan Chen as Angela's mother. Of her own coming out journey, Tran told VF, “I came out to my mom in a very specific experience. The scenes that I have with Joan Chen in this movie are very similar to the experience that I had.”

Tran has long been a champion of LGBTQ+ inclusion, previously stating that she believes her character in Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon is queer and that she would be "overjoyed" to do a queer sequel. “I think if you’re a person watching this movie and you see representation in a way that feels really real and authentic to you, then it is real and authentic,” Tran told VF back in 2021. “I think it might get me in trouble for saying that, but whatever.”