The Untold Truth Of Constance Wu

Asian-American actress Constance Wu was born in Richmond, Va. to two Taiwanese immigrant parents, and she quickly began acting at the age of 12. In 2015, Wu became a Hollywood star after landing the breakout part of Jessica Huang on the ABC sitcom Fresh Off the Boat. 

In 2018, Wu's fame skyrocketed after the release of the romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, in which she played the leading role of a young woman who meets her rich boyfriend's family for the first time. The movie, which marked the first major studio film starring a cast of primarily Asian-Americans since The Joy Luck Club, became a cultural phenomenon, and Wu became one of Hollywood's "It" girls. Ever since, the actress has showed no signs of slowing down. 

While Wu is at the top of her career, the outspoken star has also faced a bit of controversy for making her voice heard in Hollywood. This is the untold truth of Constance Wu.

Most people are either a cat person or a dog person. Constance Wu, however, is a bunny person. The actress loves her pet rabbit, Lida Rose, so much that she takes her everywhere — including work. In a December 2018 interview with Bon Appetit, Wu stated, "She hops around my trailer all day. It feels like self care to take a moment to care for an animal and spend time with an animal. It's doing something that doesn't have to do with a screen or with your job; it's really just about downtime."

Along with gushing about her beloved pet in interviews, Wu doesn't skimp on sharing cute moments of her bunny on social media. Her Instagram feed is filled with photos and videos of her rabbit. While her bunny is absolutely adorable, anonymous sources alleged to Page Six that the actress let her bunny roam freely in her $6.5 million rented penthouse, reportedly destroying the place by defecating everywhere. At the time of this writing, Wu hasn't confirmed or denied the allegations.

Along with partaking in life-changing social initiatives, Constance Wu continues to spark conversations about the lack of diversity and gender bias in Hollywood. While the industry has slowly been making strides toward inclusion, Wu doesn't think diversity involves people of color "supporting this white person's story," which is something she finds herself explaining to film executives regularly.

The actress, who has been careful about choosing projects, told Marie Claire in a March 2019 interview, "If you want to talk about whether or not an Asian person, or a person of color, or a trans person can open a studio movie, you can't argue, 'That's not going to sell!' because you've never done it before!"

While Wu has landed some history-changing roles alongside an all-Asian cast, the actress hasn't stopped pushing for more Asian representation in Hollywood. She explained, "The only way things get better is to demand that instead of us changing for the sake of how the culture has always been, let's change the culture." She continued, "And the fact that I have this tremendous luck and privilege? I intend to make good use of it."

In 2016, Scarlett Johansson was cast as the heroine Major Motoko Kusanagi in the film adaptation of the Japanese manga Ghost in the Shell. The casting decision was a controversial one, especially because the filmmakers reportedly used CGI to make the actress appear more Asian. This did not sit well with Constance Wu, who compared the move to doing "blackface."

According to The Hollywood Reporter in April 2016, the actress stated at a luncheon, "It was particularly heinous because they ran CGI tests to make her look more Asian." Wu added, "Some people call it 'yellowface,' but I say 'the practice of blackface employed on Asians' because that's more evocative."

Wu went on to explain that the Asian race and culture is "much deeper" than their looks and that she wasn't placing blame on anyone. Instead, she was trying to raise awareness about the issue. She stated, "It's good for artists to think outside the box and stretch their imagination."

Constance Wu played the part of Rachel Chu in Crazy Rich Asians with so much heart, vulnerability, and fierceness that it's hard to imagine any other actress in the role. Surprisingly, Wu nearly missed out on the part that would ultimately change her life.

In October 2018, Wu appeared on Good Morning America to promote her hit ABC series, Fresh Off the Boat, where she discussed the TV show, as well as the huge success of Crazy Rich Asians — and how she almost missed the chance to star in the movie.

She explained, "Yeah, they wanted me for it, and I met, you know, the producers and the director for it, but then my schedule didn't work because of my TV show, Fresh Off the Boat, which I love being on, so I was like, 'Alright. I'll have to let this job go.'" She continued, "And so I did, but then like a couple months later I was like, 'It wouldn't hurt to just, like, write a little email saying how much I wanted it ... so I did, and I guess it was a really good email."

Before Constance Wu was a bonafide star, she had to work her way up through the ranks of Hollywood. Actor Jim Sturgess, who's starred in the likes of Across the Universe and 21, knew Wu before she was a big name, and, in August 2018, he shared a sweet message about Wu on Instagram, reminiscing about Wu driving him to the set of his small independent film in 2013.

In the post, he wrote, "My first day at work I was picked up in a car by a lovely girl who was working in the production office and who was to be my driver for the duration of the shoot. We got along great..." He continued, "We also talked about how she was an actress struggling to make ends meet in the Hollywood scene and whether I had any advice on how to get a foot into the industry...to which I had none."

Sturgess recalled seeing Wu's face splashed across a magazine years later and reading an interview in which she discussed the misrepresentation of Asian actors. Sturgess concluded the post by recommending that his followers see Crazy Rich Asians, which was opening that weekend.  

Constance Wu rose to fame playing a strict, no-nonsense mother of three on Fresh Off the Boat, but the actress is nothing like her onscreen persona. Wu is much more light-hearted than the stern Jessica Huang, and she also doesn't speak with an accent.  

In a September 2015 interview with Refinery29, Wu explained how she learned her character's accent: "I listened to video footage of the real Jessica Huang — she's a real person in Orlando — reading every single one of my lines. And then I break it down phonetically. From a vocal standpoint, you break it down in terms of the placement of the voice, the rhythms, and the cadences."

And while viewers may argue her faux heavy accent is stereotyping, Wu doesn't see it that way, saying, "It's a beautiful part of the story of immigration, so I wanted to make sure that I didn't water it down to quell the fears — the fears that are based on the s***heads who used an accent as a humor tool."

Although it may seem like Constance Wu was born to play comedic roles after starring in Fresh Off the Boat, comedy wasn't always something that Wu excelled at. Prior to her breakout roles, Wu barely had any experience in comedy.

In a September 2015 interview with GQ, Wu explained, "I never did comedy before because I also sucked at it. The problem was I was trying to be funny." Eventually, Wu learned the trick of comedy was to make it feel real and not allow people on set to laugh at her: "Sometimes they're watching in the next room on the monitor and they'll laugh and it'll make me break character and giggle and I'll remember I'm in a comedy. But if I don't hear them laugh, I can stay focused and won't break character."

With Fresh Off the Boat still on the air and already in syndication, it's safe to say that Wu has this comedy thing all figured out.