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ASIAMS.NET |
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, 06:00:14 PM)
to DAN:
OK, i am half-chinese and half-jewish. you are insulting both sides of me. i don't know what u mean by
"that's the interracial trend that the jewish-owned mass U.S. media has always been promoting in decades!"
but it sure sounds offensive to me! yes, alot of showbiz is owned by jews, but it doesn't mean u should blame them for what their shows feature. blame the show's writers or something. you have no proof and are stereotyping jews. you also said interracial dating is stereotyping. that makes no sense. interracial dating is NOT stereotyping. it's just the opposite. get your head out of the sand.
To the guy who said the ideal "chinese beauty" is 5'5 to 5'11 and has a 22 inch waist and a 33 inch bust:
so a 5'3 busty Chinese woman with a normal waist can't be beautiful? grow up and stop perpetuating more stereotypes of beauty. we have enough.
to everyone: stop picking on kristin. just because she doesn't look chinese does NOT mean u should disregard her as asian-american. her mother's chinese, so she is. it's simple as that. she doesn't deny the fact that she's chinese.....so why should YOU?
Lilywater47
Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 23:25:53 (PDT)
i am half-chinese and half-white like kristin. there is no way you should be labeling her "white-washed" or "not asian until she proves it". No one ever asks Jet Li to prove he's asian. Why? because he looks asian. don't criticize or doubt someone for looking a certain way (caucasian). she may be more chinese at heart than some CBCz and ABCs. If u wanna criticize, speak out at all the full-blooded asians who have bleached hair and view asians as inferior to whites. They are traitors, not those of us who look white and are constantly scrutinized. I look all white, but i love chinese people, culture, and i speak cantonese. she is BOTH chinese AND dutch, not one or the other.
Amy
Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 22:07:29 (PDT)
Kristin is so0o0o fione!!!!
I don't kare if she's half asian half dutch she's still my one and only favorite actress!!!!!
V.K. frum kali
Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 14:33:31 (PDT)
Look at Tiger Woods. The media definitely stresses the "black" half since asians aren't associated with gifted athletic ability. In Kristin's case, her ethnicity won't be focused upon because she's so freaking beautiful. No one really cares about her background because her beauty supersedes that. If she proves to be a respectable actress, she'll be a superstar very soon. Unfortunately, asian actors will continually be associated with kung fu (i.e. Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Bruce Lee). The only asian actor I know who isn't really part of that kungfu group is that girl from Ally McBeal (I forgot her name). I think that woman is the "role model" for those asians looking to break into hollywood. As an asian myself, I don't see the importance of having an Asian Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, or Julia Roberts. If they continue making kungfu movies, that's fine because those white actors can't do that shit.
Zof (Cornell student)
eh73@cornell.edu
Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 08:04:52 (PDT)
You know what. I think hapa girls look a lot better than full asians. And all you other full asians know it too. Thats just how it is.
Jman
citycats@juno.com
Saturday, April 13, 2002 at 00:41:44 (PDT)
ASN PRIDE: I'm pretty sure no one's arguing that.
Just focusing on the last paragraph there.
You're right about leaving well enough alone. Until she hits super big time, no one (in the media) will bring up the subject.
huu76
Friday, April 12, 2002 at 17:19:09 (PDT)
Well... I've just stumble across an interview she gave on a website where she does INDEED talk a little about her ethnicity! Here is a excerpt:
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In the multicultural mosiac of Edgemont High, Kreuk was cast to type as a girl who is half Chinese (Kreuk's other half is Dutch). But her good looks were enigmatic enough to land her a part of a Midwestern cheerleader on Smallville.
"Lana is completely all-American and doesn't have a drop of Asian blood in her", says Kreuk. "I don't even know if they knew I was half Chinese when they cast me".
Kreuk isn't so attached to her Chinese heritage that she resents having to subsume it "It's kind of hard for me when people say I'm representing the Asian population. It's great to see a half Chinese girl on TV. But the fact is, I'm not representing anybody. I'm reading a book now about a Chinese woman" glancing down at her copy of Anchee Min's 'Becoming Madame Mao'
"But I haven't looked into my past much. My mom was born in Indonesia. She doesn't speak a word of Chinese. I see myself as a Canadian".
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Well, there it is in a nutshell folks!
loislane
Friday, April 12, 2002 at 16:25:53 (PDT)
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