A Law Degree and Acting do not usually go hand in hand, but Gemma Chan does not think so. The Crazy Rich Asians star has since skipped practicing law for the sake of acting.

The Law Degree

The actress, who played Astrid Leong in 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians revealed in the March issue of Modern Luxury magazine that although she does not practice her Oxford Law degree, it has actually been useful in her current profession as an actress.

Due to her Law Degree, she has been able to learn scripts quickly.

Chan told the Modern Luxury,

“It is quite helpful with the memorization, I had to learn about 2,000 cases by heart, so I am fairly good at learning scripts quickly. On the whole, it is quite a different part of the brain: Law is very analytical, and acting is more instinctive and emotionally driven. But, it does come in handy with learning lines and reading my own contract.”

She added that while she enjoyed the “challenge” of earning her degree, she would have been a “pretty miserable lawyer” had she followed down the path.

Family disapproved

Gemma Chan had previously revealed that she had been involved in drama and music since childhood but had not viewed acting as a viable career.

She was also aware of the lack of Asian representation in Hollywood but eventually dropped everything and joined drama school in secret. And when she came forward to her father, he was furious. Her father did not speak to her for the whole three months!

Eventually, Chan’s dad came around supporting the sudden change in career. Chan recalled to The Los Angeles Times,

“[My] dad said to me, ‘It doesn’t matter how good you are or how talented you are — how many faces do you see on the screen that look like ours? You won’t get enough work.’ I said, ‘Dad, I just want to be part of a change.’ ”

Grateful for the change

After being part of the most influential movie for Asian Americans, she told Modern Luxury,

“I have never been part of a project where people had such personal reactions to it. People come up to me on the streets or at the airport just to say thank you. I think it has to do with people feeling seen for the first time. It feels amazing to be a part of it, and, hopefully, it is just the start.”  

Chan who recently portrayed Kree geneticist Dr. Minerva in Marvel’s Captain Marvel also added,

“History is written by the winners, but I’m interested in history’s losers, finding those stories and helping to tell them.”

Short Bio

Gemma Chan was born on 29 November 1982 in Southwark, London, England to Chinese parents. Although her parents' names are not known, a few details of her parents are... Full Bio