19 Fun Facts About "Raya And The Last Dragon" Star Kelly Marie Tran

Say hello to this rising young star.

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1. To start, Kelly Marie Tran is currently starring in the animated flick Raya and the Last Dragon. She portrays the lead character of Raya, the adventurous explorer in search of the mysterious water dragon Sisu.

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2. She was born Jan. 17, 1989, and just turned 32 this year.

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3. Kelly has West Coast roots and hails from San Diego.

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4. Before her big break, she had a number of odd jobs, including a food tour guide, assistant, and flyer distributor.

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5. In 2011, Kelly got her start onscreen with a role in a TV series titled Vincent Kosmos: The Time-Thief.

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6. The actor's parents are originally from Vietnam.

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“My parents came over to America after the Vietnam War in the late ’70s. They worked from nothing just to give me the opportunity to have a dream,” she revealed in a 2017 interview. “I’m not from an entertainment family at all. My mom works in funerals, and my dad works at Burger King.”

7. She became the first Asian American woman to be featured in the Stars Wars franchise after landing the role of Rose Tico.

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8. She has spoken out against the racist and sexist harassment she received online and is an advocate of logging off, which she says has been helpful to her mental health.

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She spoke about it to the Hollywood Reporter, saying, "Anytime that happens, I have to close up shop and go away for a while and really interact in the real world — read books and journal and go on hikes and look at a tree and remind myself that there was a fire that burned inside of me before Star Wars, before any of this. And I needed to find that again. I've truly just been so much happier without being on the internet."

9. Prior to receiving the script for The Last Jedi, she had never seen a Star Wars film in her life.

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10. Kelly actually auditioned five times before landing her role in Star Wars.

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She told BuzzFeed News that it was quite a process, saying, "All these other girls were in tight black and I was like, ‘Oh no! I’ve done this wrong! I’ve done this wrong!’"

11. The actor hid the fact that she was shooting The Last Jedi from her parents and said she was on set for an indie film in Canada.

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She told People magazine, "I’m pretty sure I told some people Toronto and some people Vancouver, and then I had to wrap around my lie. I even bought maple syrup to give to people to convince them I’d really been to Canada."

12. Before her costar Carrie Fisher died in December 2016, she gave Kelly some valuable advice during their time together on the Star Wars set.

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"She told me that this was an amazing experience and to enjoy everything because it’s fleeting and it’ll go away," Kelly revealed to Rolling Stone. "But if there’s anything else that you want to do — if you want to write, want to produce, whatever — start now because there’s going to be a time when you aren’t looked at the same way."

13. After filming wrapped on Star Wars, she spent the year traveling the globe, doing everything from working at an endangered-wildlife reserve in South Africa to revisiting her family's roots in Vietnam.

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14. She's also had notable roles in projects including Sorry for Your Loss and The Croods: A New Age.

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15. Kelly served as an executive producer on a 2021 documentary called Lily Topples the World. This is her only producer credit so far.

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16. She's a UCLA grad with a degree in communications.

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17. Kelly's parents originally questioned her decision to pursue a career in acting.

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"Oh, they hated it," she revealed in 2017. "They were like, ‘You need to do something real.’ I think there was a lot of fear in the beginning, as it is with any parent."

18. She's been a member of an all-female Asian improv group, Number One Son.

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19. She's a huge Harry Potter fan and a self-declared Gryffindor.

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20. Finally, the young star has aspirations to become a director one day, and we can't wait to see what she does next!

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