Kelly Marie Tran facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kelly Marie Tran
Tran in 2017
Born	Loan Tran (1989-01-17) January 17, 1989 (age 36) San Diego, California, U.S.
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles (BA)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2011–present

Kelly Marie Tran (born Loan Tran, January 17, 1989) is an American actress. She started acting in 2011. Many of her early roles were in short films and TV shows. She became famous for playing Rose Tico in the Star Wars movies. These included The Last Jedi (2017) and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). She also voiced Raya in the Disney film Raya and the Last Dragon (2021). Another voice role was Dawn Betterman in the DreamWorks Animation movie The Croods: A New Age (2020).

Early life and education

Kelly Marie Tran was born in San Diego, California, on January 17, 1989. Her parents were refugees from Vietnam. They left their home after the Vietnam War. Her father, Tony Tran, worked at Burger King. Her mother, Kay Nguyen, worked at a funeral home. They worked hard to support their family.

Tran went to Westview High School in San Diego. She worked at a yogurt shop to pay for acting photos. Later, she studied at the University of California, Los Angeles. She earned a degree in communications.

Acting career highlights

Starting out in acting (2011–2014)

Tran's first acting jobs included videos for CollegeHumor. She also had small roles on TV. In 2011, she found an agent for commercials. This agent encouraged her to take improv classes. Improv is a type of acting where you make things up on the spot. She joined an all-female, Asian-American improv group called Number One Son.

In 2013, she was in a web series called Ladies Like Us. By 2015, Tran was working as an assistant. She was helping a company that found creative people for jobs.

Becoming a Star Wars star (2015–2019)

In 2015, Tran got a big role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. She played Rose Tico. Rose is a mechanic who helps the main character, Finn. Rose joins the fight after her older sister, Paige Tico, makes a brave sacrifice.

Tran had to keep her role a secret. When she went to England to film in 2016, she told her family she was making an independent film in Canada. The Last Jedi was a huge step. It made Tran the first Asian-American woman to have a major role in a Star Wars movie. In 2017, she also made history. She was the first woman of Asian descent to be on the cover of Vanity Fair magazine. She appeared with her co-stars John Boyega and Oscar Isaac.

Tran also played the main role of Kaitlin Le. This was in a mystery podcast called Passenger List. She was also a regular on the TV series Sorry for Your Loss.

New projects and voice roles (2020–present)

Tran voiced Raya in the Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon. She took over the role from another actress. She also voiced Dawn in the film The Croods: A New Age.

Tran is also a producer. She was an executive producer for the 2021 documentary Lily Topples the World. This film is about a young artist who creates amazing domino displays. The documentary won a big award at a film festival.

She also helped produce a poetry film called Summertime. In 2022, Tran and director Carlos López Estrada started a new company. It's called Antigravity Academy. They want to create entertainment that features people from different backgrounds. In 2023, Tran starred in two films. These were The Young Wife and Me, Myself & The Void.

Future projects to look forward to

Tran will star in a movie called Rock Springs. She is also working on a movie about civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen.

Personal journey and impact

After Star Wars: The Last Jedi came out in 2017, Kelly Marie Tran faced some negativity online. She bravely shared her experience. In June 2018, she removed her posts from Instagram. She changed her profile message to "Afraid, but doing it anyway." She also sought therapy to help her through this time.

Many people supported her. The director of The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson, spoke out. Actors like John Boyega and Mark Hamill also showed their support. Other famous people and fans joined in. Fans even held a "Rally for Rose" at a big comic convention. They wore "Rose for Hope" T-shirts.

In August 2018, Tran wrote an essay for The New York Times. It was called "Kelly Marie Tran: I Won't Be Marginalized by Online Harassment." She wrote about how the negativity made her feel. She explained that it made her doubt herself. But she ended her essay with a powerful message. She wrote, "You might know me as Kelly. I am the first woman of color to have a leading role in a Star Wars movie. I am the first Asian woman to appear on the cover of Vanity Fair. My real name is Loan. And I am just getting started." Tran later said writing this essay was one of her proudest moments.

Filmography

Film roles

Television roles

Awards and nominations

See also

In Spanish: Kelly Marie Tran para niños