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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, 06:00:07 PM)
"I was just saying that fully Asian American fellows like me should force biracial people like Kristin Kreuk to feel Asian."
Red Red Seashell, you can't force EurAsians or anyone else for that matter to feel anything, anyway, anyhow. Most of us do not tolerate people trying to force us to do or feel anything.
You have a right to think or feel what you feel, but when you start forcing others, you are basically becoming something like a freaking AA Nazi.
Bruce Lee Wayne
Monday, June 24, 2002 at 12:54:10 (PDT)
Once again, why can't we have full blooded Asians taking leading powerful roles to represent all different Asian people? Are we suppose to be led to believe only mixed Asian/Cacausian can represent? This is terrible as I look at the picture she has barely any recognizable Asian features. I would have never known. This shouldn't be the only way to get Asians into more roles, but at the same time if you are of mixed ancestry you shouldn't be put down for that and accepted as you are.
NightRain
lexxlite@netscape.net
Sunday, June 23, 2002 at 17:47:06 (PDT)
to karen: i am only 16 and i fully understand the hapa issue. youth does not = ignorance or immaturity. i dont think her youth is a factor. yeah shes not not very culturally asian. thanks for the info. it always helps to have kristin's input.
to red red seashell:
yes im biracial (chinese-white). yeah no one should be forced into identifying w/ a certain race. yes i do identify w/ the AA community. i speak cantonese and i love the culture. i identify w/ my white side just as much though. i try to keep a balance.
lilywater47
Friday, June 21, 2002 at 20:24:28 (PDT)
I'm not sure Kristin Kreuk is mature enough, at the age of 20, to understand the significance or non-significance of being a hapa. I don't think she even identifies with the Asian acting community. I'm not judging her though...at this point in time, she may be ambivalent about the role or non-role of race in her career. Especially since she doesn't "look" Asian, unlike Keiko Agena, a fellow WBr. Read the following excerpt from an AOL Teen People Chat. (AOL kristinkreuk.com)
AOL Host: Another interesting
AOL LIVE: question.
AOL LIVE: Takoto said --
AOL LIVE: I just wanted to know if you've
AOL LIVE: gotten any special support from
AOL LIVE: the asian community as you've
AOL LIVE: gained fame?
AOL LIVE: AOL Host: The asian community?
AOL LIVE: AOL Host: Mm-hmm.
AOL LIVE: Kristin Kreuk: I think a lot of
AOL LIVE: my fans are asian.
AOL LIVE: That's, I guess, a lot of
AOL LIVE: support from them.
AOL LIVE: Otherwise, you know, I haven't
AOL LIVE: really noticed a particular,
AOL LIVE: like, I can't think of the word
AOL LIVE: -- support area, like support
AOL LIVE: from that group.
AOL LIVE: I don't know how to answer that,
AOL LIVE: really.
AOL LIVE: AOL Host: OK.
AOL LIVE: You answered it just fine.
Karen
rabbitearsga@yahoo.com
Wednesday, June 19, 2002 at 19:47:33 (PDT)
lilywater47,
I didn't know that you are biracial. Suddenly your post to me makes more sense now. I was just saying that fully Asian American fellows like me should force biracial people like Kristin Kreuk to feel Asian. But it's even better if you want to relate to the AA community (sounds like you do). So points to you!
Red Red Seashell
Tuesday, June 18, 2002 at 19:43:08 (PDT)
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