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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, 06:00:14 PM)
I think I need to get my eyes checked, I'm the only one who thinks she looks more Chinese.
Lilywater, where did you find out she acknowledges her other half? Maybe they have other good tidbits on her.
huu76
Monday, April 15, 2002 at 04:50:59 (PDT)
kristin talks more about her chinese side. "I think that I'm different from other actresses on WB. Partly because of my Asian side -- my look -- I don't think I come across like Katie Holmes does on-screen."
full article:
http://tv.zap2it.com/shows/features/features.html?22590
rushluma237
Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 23:44:31 (PDT)
thanks alot lois lane! u really cleared things up/ evidently kristin isnt much chinese at heart, but i still don't think u can blame her for anything. some whitewashed chinese arent very chinese either. o well. what she said is more important then how she looks. she COULD have been culturally proud, but she isn't. another for the uncultured. at least she's patriotic. it's not her fault completely.
hershie
Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 23:21:30 (PDT)
my daughter is half chinese(my side) and the other non---and I hope she appreciates both sides--thats what I tried to instill in her--she is the most open person i know--friendly to any person no matter what race--I think being a decent human being is more important than labels we put on each other--I love my background but to appreciate it not by putting down other cultures
milesmanner
ng2u@mac.com
Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 21:31:40 (PDT)
who cares if she doesn't look asian or doesn't have enough asian in her..she is the most beautiful person i've ever seen in my whole life. white and asians looks good together. and plus..i can tell she has asians in her...so stop w/ the race shiet..
dd
Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 20:46:27 (PDT)
Everyone is beautiful in their own way. There are so many beautiful people from different cultures. But like enlightened people have said before me, "Inner beauty is so much more valuable than what we see on the outside." For me, it's like this. I don't care how good-looking a guy is, if he's a sleazy bastard than I'm just not interested. Well, you would have to be a slut too if you like those kind of guys. To be honest with you, I have had crushes on guys from many different countries. And I don't know why people argue over "hapas". It's not weird or bizarre to be a mix of two races. It's pretty cool. And another thing, "hapas" can't be one without the other because that just wouldn't make any sense.
Savannah
Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 13:17:24 (PDT)
Lilywater47:
"yes, alot of showbiz is owned by jews, but it doesn't mean u should blame them for what their shows feature."
Uh, so I suppose we should blame people entirely unrelated to the scriptwriting and production, then? I'll go start writing letters of complaint to Ace Hardware and the Hungarian embassy immediately.
"her mother's chinese, so she is"
Rarely how it works in the real world, as one could see from the example of plenty of kids with both mother and father Chinese who certainly aren't Chinese themselves. Also if loislane's quote below is accurate:
"But I haven't looked into my past much. My mom was born in Indonesia. She doesn't speak a word of Chinese."
Then, it doesn't do much to elevate her as a role model for Asians in North America, or as a representative of the community. Sad, and her lack of knowledge of her heritage isn't entirely her fault (her mother presumably coming of age in 1960s/1970s Indonesia, which wasn't exactly a great environment for the preservation of Chinese identity in the first place). It seems she's trying to take more responsibility to learn about her heritage, which is certainly respectable. But for now she's just a successful, pretty girl who happens to have Chinese ancestry.
T.H. Lien
Sunday, April 14, 2002 at 09:48:17 (PDT)
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