Meet the British-Chinese Actress Who Was Just Cast in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’

“Humans” star Gemma Chan is the latest addition to the cast of “Crazy Rich Asians”, alongside Constance Wu, Michelle Yeoh and Henry Golding.

The English actress, whose parents are from Hong Kong, will play Astrid Leong in the Warner Bros adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s best-selling novel of the same name, according to Variety.

The studio acquired movie rights to “Crazy Rich Asians” in October and is currently in pre-production with plans for an all-Asian cast.

Directed by Jon M. Chu from a screenplay written by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, “Crazy Rich Asians” follows a Chinese-American economics professor (Wu) and her boyfriend (Golding) — the heir to an extremely wealthy family living in Singapore.

Besides playing a highly developed AI called a Synth on AMC’s “Humans”, which is currently in its second season, Chan can also be seen in “Transformers: The Last Knight” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

Here are some other things you should know about the woman behind Astrid:

1. Chan’s dad is an engineer and her mom worked as a pharmacist at Guy’s Hospital in London, where she was born in November 29, 1982.

2. She was raised near Sevenoaks, Kent, where she took part in national swimming competitions, learned ballet and played piano and violin.

3. She decided to pursue acting, enrolling in Drama Centre London, after graduating from the University of Oxford with a law degree.

Unfortunately, her parents were not too thrilled about this decision, and her dad didn’t speak to her for three months.

“My parents were worried,” she said, according to The Sun.

4. Chan has been to Lebanon where she worked closely with Save the Children to help those forced to flee from their homes due to the conflict in Syria, according to Vogue.

“Nobody chooses to be a refugee. Nobody chooses to flee their home leaving everything behind. And nobody, especially a child, chooses to be bombed,” she told the magazine in an interview.

5. Chan posts a ton of photos of her BFF, actor Douglas Booth, and we’re not even angry about that.

6. She has been in a relationship with actor and comedian Jack Whitehall since 2011 after meeting on the set of the British comedy-drama, “Fresh Meat”.

7. Did we mention Douglas Booth?

Share this Article