Constance Wu
Constance Wu (born March 22, 1982) is an American actress. She starred as Jessica Huang in the ABC television comedy Fresh Off the Boat (2015–2020), which was her breakthrough role and earned her four nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.[2]
Constance Wu
March 22, 1982[1]
Actress
2006–present
Ryan Kattner
2
吴恬敏
Wú Tiánmǐn
Wú Tiánmǐn
Wu2 T'ien2-min3
Gô͘ Tiām-bín
She was further lauded for her role as Rachel Chu in the romantic comedy-drama film Crazy Rich Asians (2018) for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, among others; she became the first actress of Asian descent in over 40 years and the fourth overall to be nominated for the former category.[3] She subsequently starred in the crime drama film Hustlers (2019) and the film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (2022). That same year, following a series of media controversy and mental health issues, she published her memoir, Making a Scene, to critical success.
Wu was included on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2017.[4] She has earned several accolades, including nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and two TCA Awards. She has also received four nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series, tying with Amy Poehler as the second most nominated actress in the category, behind Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Early life[edit]
Constance Wu was born in Richmond, Virginia.[5] Her parents emigrated from Taiwan.[6][7][8] Her father, Fang-Sheng Wu, is a biology and genetics professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, and her mother is a computer programmer.[9][10][11] Wu said that her paternal grandparents were very poor, working as bamboo farmers, and did not have the opportunity to get an education, so they were unable to read and write.[12] She is the third of four daughters.[11]
She graduated from Douglas S. Freeman High School, in Henrico County, Virginia, where she performed in local theater. She participated in a six-month program during high school at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.[10] Wu later graduated from State University of New York at Purchase's Conservatory of Theatre Arts with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting in 2005.[13][14] Wu has cited Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee as an influence.[15] After college, Wu studied psycholinguistics and considered pursuing a graduate degree in speech pathology[16] before deciding on acting and moving to Los Angeles.
Personal life[edit]
Relationships[edit]
Wu lives in Los Angeles.[49][50][51] In December 2011, Wu met actor Ben Hethcoat, whom she dated until February 2018.[52][53][54] In November 2018, Wu spoke out about online harassment and criticism she had received for dating Hethcoat, who is white.[55] In August 2020, Wu gave birth to her first child, a girl, with her boyfriend Ryan Kattner, frontman of the band Man Man.[56][57] On February 21, 2023, Wu announced her second pregnancy in an Instagram story,[58] and on July 20, 2023, she revealed she gave birth to her second child, a son.[59]
Activism and cause work[edit]
Wu is an activist regarding Asian representation in U.S. media, and has expressed her support for bringing more diversity into the film industry. Wu has shared her stories regarding times that she had been denied roles due to her racial background, and stated her hopes that her success would pave more paths for diverse representation in the U.S. film industry.[60] The #StarringConstanceWu hashtag meme, adopted by Asian-American activists, inserts Wu's image into film promotional materials in order to highlight the lack of actors of Asian descent in starring roles.[61][62]
In 2017, Wu worked with Miry's List, an organization that provides essential kits to newly arrived immigrants and refugee families in Southern California, stating in an interview with Teen Vogue that she wants to be active in her care of "people with the courage to make an immigrant journey in search of peace, safety and well-being for their families."[63]
In 2023, she was one of the actors to sign an open letter praising President Biden for his pro-Israel stance. The letter has been seen as pro-Zionist.[64][65]
Mental health and cyberbullying[edit]
In May 2019, after Fresh Off the Boat was renewed for its sixth and final season, Wu made several social media posts expressing her unhappiness with the renewal, including commenting "Dislike" on the show's Instagram post announcing the renewal and tweeting, "So upset right now that I'm literally crying. Ugh. Fuck".[66] Several days later, Wu clarified that she had been angry at the show's renewal because it had forced her to drop out of another project which she was "really passionate about", one that would have been an artistic challenge compared to her role in Fresh Off the Boat. She further stated that she loved her cast mates and harbored no animosity towards them.[67] The posts sparked backlash on social media. In July 2022, Wu revealed that the controversy, and specifically several private messages from "a fellow Chinese actress" who told Wu that she had "become a blight on the Chinese American community", had prompted her to attempt suicide; she was found by a friend and saved. Wu abstained from social media for the subsequent three years and decreased her acting workload to "focus on [her] mental health", which included entering psychotherapy.[68] In September 2022, Wu stated in interviews that she was the target of sexual harassment by an unspecified producer of Fresh off the Boat which had contributed to her initial reaction to the news of the show's renewal.[69]