Kelly Marie Tran’s Career Soars Beyond Star Wars

Rose Tico was a springboard that the Vietnamese American gay actress used to execute her spectacular Hollywood star turn.

Kelly Marie Tran has had a busy 2025 with starring roles in the Hulu horror film Control Freak, the dramedy Forge, and a remake of Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet.

Promoting the latter LGBTQ film gave Tran a perfect opportunity to come out as a queer person.

Tran’s career continues its steep ascent with leading roles in the upcoming Rock Springs and Kodak SuperXX.

Tran became the first Asian American woman regular in Star Wars films in 2017 with her role as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in 2019.  The two films grossed over $2.4 billion.

Rose Tico’s character also appeared on three animated series produced by Lucasfilm Animation from 2018 to 2022.

Tran’s Star Wars role earned her a spot with co-stars John Boyega and Oscar Isaac on the summer 2017 cover of Vanity Fair, making her the first woman of Asian descent to be featured on its cover.

Tran continued making history by voicing Disney’s first Southeast Asian princess, Raya, in the 2021 animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon.

Tran’s voice roles extend beyond major franchise roles to the 2020 animated film The Croods: A New Age and to 18 episodes as a series regular in the Facebook Watch series Sorry for Your Loss.

Now 36, Tran began her acting career in 2011 after graduating from UCLA with a communications degree.  Her first roles were in short films, television, and CollegeHumor’s web skits.  She was born and raised in San Diego, California to parents who fled Vietnam following the Vietnam War.