Actress

I have a great family and great friends, and I think that they'll keep me grounded.

I believe if you can have an open dialogue about anything, whether it's a book or a movie or TV show, it's this door that suddenly opens your mind to new ideas.

Growing up, I've always felt I was from two different worlds. I was born in the U.S., but my parents were born in Vietnam, and they raised my sisters and I with the parenting methods of the Vietnamese culture.

I never want to forget that I'm doing an impossible thing. How rare is it that you get to be part of something people love? It's really special. It's a very out-of-body experience to be a part of something so huge.

'Star Wars' is so much bigger than any single person involved, so you feel like you want to do that justice and also feel like you want to do justice to that little girl inside me that never saw anyone who looked like her, that person who's starving for representation - it's a lot.

When I'm driving past the place I used to work, or when I'm driving past the comedy studio where I used to take photos in exchange for classes, or when I'm driving past the yoga studio I used to clean on the weekends - it's not that far removed from me yet. I get very sentimental over things like that.

I was working a full-time job but not having anything in my savings account at the end of the month because of my bills and because acting in the beginning costs money.

I'm totally pro-porg! I would not eat a porg. They're so cute; you can't eat them. They're friends!

I feel like 'The Last Jedi' is a lot of things that people aren't going to expect, which I think is a good thing.

I think that Carrie is such an icon, not just as someone who played Princess Leia, but someone who was groundbreaking in that she was OK with being honest - brutally so, unapologetically so.

I was a food tour guide - I took people on a tour to different restaurants in the area.

My mom works in funerals, and my dad works at Burger King.

A lot of 'Star Wars' fans who are specifically Asian never had a character they could dress up like, or they would, and people would always call them 'Asian Rey' or 'Asian fill-in-the-blank.'

Seeing someone dressed up as your character is incredible.

My dad was a street kid for seven years - he was homeless.

Even though 'Star Wars' takes place in another galaxy, a lot of the themes and things that characters deal with in terms of lessons that they're learning are things that are completely relatable to real life.

I do feel like my improv training has helped me throughout my entire audition process only because the idea of 'yes and-ing' applies to everything.

My parents are refugees from Vietnam, so they didn't grow up with 'Star Wars.' I don't think they know what's going on in the movie at any given time.

You find little ways to keep your mind at peace so that you can, at the end of the day, do the most important thing, which is do a good job.

So much of me is because of what my parents experienced in this country. So much of me is because of the things my parents overcame so that I could have the luxury of having a dream.