Gemma Chan Quotes
Actress
Italy - I love the late-night culture, hanging around the square at midnight with everyone, catching up and having a drink.
I hate the idea that people should listen to what actors have to say on certain issues more than anyone else. Actors have no more right to be heard than anyone.
I'm quite a rational person. I'm not very superstitious, but I really do enjoy horror as a genre.
Making a pretty picture, an image, is a completely different thing from acting to camera.
My parents are wonderful, practical, sensible people, and the expectation was that I would study something academic.
I've been fortunate in my career, but, yes, there have been many times when I have been told my audition has been cancelled because they're only going to see white people.
When you think of things like medicine, people who have lost limbs now have a chance to have a limb replaced that is connected to the brain that they can actually control with their mind. That's amazing.
I found a place under a bridge in Goa where you could have fresh crab and beer. It was nothing complicated, but delicious.
I ended up doing a local AmDram musical when I was nine or so. We had to sing and dance and act. It was probably terrible, but I loved it.
As a means to an end, modelling was good, but I had to distance myself from it when I started working as an actress, because even though I wasn't high-profile, I found in my first write-ups that I'd be referred to as 'model Gemma Chan.'
I do feel a responsibility to try and raise awareness and to help tell the stories of those who may not otherwise have a voice.
Save the Children is also working to improve accommodation for refugee families living outside settlements. I met a family which had been living in a substandard building without windows, doors or a toilet.
I was given a lot of homework: I had to practise ironing as a synth, practise washing up as a synth, cooking a meal as a synth. It's definitely the most prep I've had to do for a role.
I've always admired the work that Save the Children does to improve the lives of children and their families all over the world.
I visited a Child Friendly Space where children take part in structured play and development activities in a safe environment. These are designed to develop their cognitive ability as well as address their psychosocial needs. As I watched them sing songs and take part in games, it struck me that these kids could be anywhere in the world.
Growing up, I never saw any Asian faces on TV, so it didn't feel like a viable option.
It's really rare in TV not to think, 'Well, I've seen a version of this before.'
As a human, you don't have to be too conscious of your movement. I think it's tougher playing a robot than a human, and even tougher playing a robot who begins showing traces of being a human.
All of us have a lot of physical tics that we don't realize that we're doing subconsciously.
Even though I don't necessarily believe in everything that's supernatural, I like being scared and I like things that are suspenseful.
I've heard about productions where it still happens: yellow face, taping up the eyes. It's hard to talk about it in a constructive way.
Getting stuck in a plane for four hours on the tarmac on the hottest day of summer in Italy - it was like being trapped in a boiling tin can.
From my experience, I would say no: actors of East Asian descent don't get the opportunities white actors do. I know that's inherently a problem in a country that produces a lot of period drama, but I have to fight so hard to get parts that don't have something to do with China.
AI - not so some kind of far-off thing. It's part of our lives now, from your phone to everything you do. It makes our lives easier in a lot of ways.
I know we've had AI films, but they've been quite specific in their scope. The scope of 'Humans' is a world set up where this technology is universally accepted. I haven't seen anything that's dealt with it in that multi-layered, every-layer-of-society way.
I think 'Humans' is more about provoking the idea that there is a class of beings in society that we treat as less than... as subordinates; people who we treat badly and take for granted. Often they are the same people who work hard to keep the city going. We need to think about that.
I avoid flying Ryanair if I can. I know that everyone gives them a hard time, but there's a good reason for that.
I loathe exercise. And I hate gyms. I've never had a personal trainer.
My parents thought they were getting an accountant and a lawyer. Instead, they ended up with a PR and an actress.
I would have done it happily, but to be a Bond girl isn't everything I aim for as an actress.