'Star Wars' Star Kelly Marie Tran Comes Out As Queer In Powerful Interview

Actor Kelly Marie Tran, known for her work in two of the Star Wars sequel trilogy films The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, has officially come out as queer.

The 35-year-old, who played the Star Wars character Rose Tico and voiced the title character in Disney's animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, revealed her sexuality in a powerful interview with Vanity Fair.

“I haven’t said this publicly yet, but I’m a queer person," said Tran, who stars in a new remake of Ang Lee’s 1993 LGBTQ+ rom-com The Wedding Banquet.

She opened up about portraying an authentic character in a safe environment, saying:

"The thing that really excited me about it was I got to play a person that I felt like I knew."

"I don’t feel like I’m acting at all in this movie…. I’m here doing this amazing movie with these amazing people."

"I’ve never been in a queer space before. I’ve never truly felt this accepted before.”

Fans embraced the personal detail Tran was inspired to share on record for the first time.

The Wedding Banquet reimagining centers on Min, a gay man happily living with his gay significant other Chris in Seattle.

Min remains closeted to his conservative parents in Korea, and to placate them, marries his friend Angela—played by Tran—a woman who is trying to raise funds for IVF with her girlfriend, Lee.

Min's parents fly from Korea to the U.S. to throw their son and his bride-to-be a traditional wedding banquet, forcing them to extend their ruse despite having separate same-sex relationships.

Tran explained how portraying her character Angela hit close to home.

“I came out to my mom in a very specific experience," she told the magazine.

"The scenes that I have with [Angela’s mother] Joan Chen in this movie are very similar to the experience that I had.”

The Wedding Banquet remake is directed by Andrew Ahn and stars Lily Gladstone as Angela's girlfriend Lee; South Korean actor Han Gi-chan as Min; Bowen Yang as Min's boyfriend Chris; Joan Chen as Angele's mother, and Minari star Youn Yuh-jung as Min's grandmother.

It is scheduled for a 2025 release.