Kelly Marie Tran has had quite the run in Hollywood thus far - and I’m a firm believer this is only the very beginning for her. After having her star launched into the stratosphere via Star Wars, Tran started to find even more success in the animation realm. Not only has she continued playing Rose Tico in animated form in Lego Star Wars: All-Stars and in the Lego Star Wars Holiday Special, but she also joined the voice cast of The Croods: A New Age and then went on to become a Disney princess with Raya and the Last Dragon. Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess, in fact.
Tran leads that film as Raya, a lone warrior trying to bring the world of Kumandra back together. There was a time when the humans and dragons of Kumandra lived together in harmony, but when an evil entity called The Druun invade, the dragons sacrifice themselves to save humanity. While one might hope that’d bring the human population closer together, it wound up driving them apart, turning Kumandra into five separate lands - Heart, Fang, Talon, Spine and Tail - all focused on doing what’s best for them rather than humanity as a whole. Because of that, the Druun return and now it’s up to Raya to find a way to bring Kumandra back together.
While on Collider Ladies Night celebrating Raya’s at-home release, I opted to ask Tran how she did it; what was the key to breaking into the voice acting end of the industry? Here’s what she said:
“I honestly think my improv background was the best thing because Croods 2 was the first animated project that I got brought on to and I auditioned for it. And I just remember improvising during the entire audition and it was just such a fun experience. And then I auditioned for Raya.”
Tran further emphasized the importance of feeling a “freedom to play” and also the ability to “be honest in the moment” during those auditions. The thing is though, those aren’t skills Tran picked up on the spot. They’re abilities she developed over many years, especially those years before Star Wars changed the game for her.
“This is gonna sound crazy because when you’re a struggling actor in LA, the last thing you want to hear from someone who’s in my position, a very privileged position who’s had this miraculous trajectory, the last thing you want to hear is that your struggling years really teach you what you need to know, but I think that’s absolutely true for me. It took me, I don’t know, I think I started trying to get an agent in high school and no one wanted me. That was probably 2006, is when I started, and I was on set for Jedi in 2016 so it took me about 10 years and all of those years of struggling, of going through acting classes and going to casting director workshops and doing the improv, all of those skills are things that I use now. So I think for me getting into animation is sort of a culmination of a decade of work.”
Want to hear more from Tran on her experience working with Rian Johnson on Star Wars: The Last Jedi and the new project she’s working on with Raya co-director Carlos López Estrada? Be sure to catch our uncut Collider Ladies Night conversation in the podcast below: