Scottish | Hong Kong Chinese
My Mother is from Hong Kong, Dad from Scotland with an Australian mother. I was born in London, then I moved to Texas, then Macau, Hong Kong, Beijing back to Hong Kong. It wasn’t until I started applying for jobs in the UK did being mixed-race feel like something I had to tackle, there were lots of diversity schemes and after the application I was sent an email saying I wasn’t Asian enough to be considered for this scheme. Even though I felt very much more Chinese than British. Also, having worked in film for 4 years, it wasn’t until my last project did I see how casting directors and other actors saw East Asian/mixed-race actors. Working with the casting director to find a mixed-race girl that could speak some Cantonese I was told to get off my high horse as they were going to hire a full Chinese person to play a mixed-race person. I took this as a personal hit against me and what I grew up being. Then to be taken out of conversations because they were taking about how to make a Chinese actress come across more ‘White’, only to be told by the director at a later date for confirmation, that they were going to be highlighting the hair and using eye lids covers. This is the downfall of film when it’s easier to pay for something you know rather than challenge yourself to see the truth. Being mixed-race allows me to experience the best of both worlds in terms of food, culture and family styles. I have a full understanding of the differences and similarities of British and Cantonese culture. That might be because of your accent, the way you look the way you dress but we blend. We are able to fit into whatever world we want to, mold ourselves to other people as they aren’t going to understand where we have come from. Or stand out because of how different we can be. We are anything we want to be. If I had the opportunity to be reborn I would want to return as a mixed-race, international girl. I grew up knowing two cultures and as my family has got bigger. It is the best of both world, eastern and western where things can be so different and yet you learn from so many of your differences.
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