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ASIAN AMERICAN ISSUES
Kristin Kreuk: Next Asian American Beauty?
t isn't a question of droolworthiness. Her looks are dazzling enough to have locked up a lead role in each of her first three auditions, including the title role in an upcoming TV movie. It's more a question of whether most of us would identify hazel-eyed Smallville heartthrob Lana Lang as a fellow Asian.
Kristin Laura Kreuk was born to a Chinese mother and a Dutch father on December 30, 1982. She grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Kreuk, 5-4, had decided to go to college to study forensic pathology until, in her senior year, her drama teacher suggested she go to an audition for a new Fox Family series called Edgement. She was promptly plucked out of the open audition to play a Chinese Canadian high scool student named Laurel Yeung. Even as she won fans in the role, she landed the Lana Lang role for WB's dramatization of Superboy's life as Clark Kent, then the role of Snow White in the ABC TV movie set for release in 2002. Kreuk's star-quality was obvious to all who tuned in for Smallville's premiere last October. Some even proclaimed her the show's main attraction.
But many Asian American viewers didn't even suspect Kreuk's Asian ancestry. Even those who learned of her mother's nationality questioned whether she can be claimed by Asian Americans. Without an Asian surname or obvious Asian facial features, they argue, Kreuk's success would do nothing for the image of Asians in the American media. Others might argue that most African American stars are, in fact, only fractionally of African descent.
Should we claim Kristin Kreuk and other hapas like her as Asian American celebrities? Or should that designation be reserved for those with a more obviously Asian identity?
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WHAT YOU SAY
[This page is closed to new input. --Ed.]
(Updated
Tuesday, Apr 1, 2008, 06:00:21 PM)
No, she won't do anything to the Asian community, just like the other famous half-Asian stars Keanu Reeve and Dean Cain. It's all about the look. If you look white, you are white, even if you're 99.99% Asian. Got it!! The only exeption is, I hope, if she keeps playing an Asian role in the film and regularly enforces her Asian identity. That would help. The best way to decide whether we can claim her as an Asian American star or not is simply by asking her if she would identify herself as an Asian American (or Asian Canadian). If she said yes, then she is an Asian American star we'd like to support. If she said no, then fuggedaboutit.
Dumpling
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 10:19:34 (PST)
Exactly how can she be considered Asian American when:
1) She is only half Chinese
2) Doesn't even look Asian
Unless you subscribe to the old Jim Crow notion that if white blood should be contaminated by so much as a drop of non-white blood they they are not white, calling her an Asian is laughable.
The reality is she is neither white nor Asian nor Chinese. She's a mix, a hapa, a mutt, a halfling, a half-breed, etc. She's doesn't belong to either group. Nothing wrong with that. Most Americans are mutts. Most whites and blacks in the US don't come anywhere close to being "pure".
If AA really want role models that give positive exposure of asians, they shouldn't need to ride on the coat tails of whites.
GDS KA
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 09:18:01 (PST)
Isn't that question really up to Ms. Kristin Kruek. If she wishes to claim her asian ancestery, I don't think the asian community in American should push her away from it. If the Asain community pushes her away because of her looks, aren't we doing her a greater disservice.
In any event, since she has been relegated to just meat with a label, don't the Dutch and the Canadian have a claim on her also.
AC Dropout
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 07:44:35 (PST)
We certainly need to claim Kristin as an Asian American celebrity. Asian Americans have been in this country for a couple of hundred years now and yet we still are not represented in the celebrity circle. The exposure and notoriety of being a celebrity can help bring attention and recognition to the rest of the Asian American community, i.e. politicians. My point is simple... just get the word out...the more exposure and attention Asian Americans get, the better. In this case, positive exposure.
RuffRuff
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 06:11:33 (PST)
It's all in the looks. She looks like any brunette and will be seen as "white." Even when her asian ancestry is revealed, people (white and asian) would still mostly think it's her white ancestry that makes her pretty.
She's not asian american because then she would also be white american, and one cannot be categorized as both at the same time.
Chinaman
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 04:59:15 (PST)
She looks white, and obviously is accepted by her white facial features. She has a white last name and hazel eyes...where is the asian identity in her? Sure, she is half chinese, but she doesn't really look it. Evidently, she is a good-looking girl.
She looks white
Monday, February 25, 2002 at 00:22:45 (PST)
she's kinda bad looking... except for the fact that her eyes are still chinese (not colour) but it doesn't sink to the forehead. And her mouth is small enough so there is another form of chinese beauty. dutch father probably darkened her alot
chaichaipor
Sunday, February 24, 2002 at 23:38:23 (PST)
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