If you’ve seen The Last Jedi, then you already know that Kelly Marie Tran‘s Rose Tico is one of the most delightful creatures to ever enter the Star Wars universe (second only – maybe – to Porgs).
But the actress in real life is equally as great, perhaps even more so. The Last Jedi is her first major role and it’s catapulted her into the limelight, meaning that now the entire world is able to bask in her angel face.
2017 might have been a dumpster fire, but it gave us The Last Jedi AND Kelly Marie Tran, and is therefore Not All bad™ (officially).
‘Scuse the gushing, but here’s 14 times we fell in love with her this year.
Minor spoilers below.
1. When she was asked if she’d rather date Finn or Poe and she flipped the friggin’ question on its head.
An interviewer asked if she’d rather date John Boyega‘s character Finn, or Oscar Isaac‘s character Poe Dameron, and she said neither, because she’d rather they go on a date with each other.
2. When she left thirst comments all over Instagram pics of Boyega and Isaac together.
‘Stormpilot‘ is the official relationship moniker of Poe and Finn. It’s a portmanteau of X-Wing pilot (i.e. Poe) and Stormtrooper (i.e. Finn) that was born out of this obvious burgeoning relationship in The Force Awakens.
No, YOU’VE spent too much time headcanoning Stormpilot.
3. When she missed the glam memo and rocked up to film Jimmy Kimmel in her trackies.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BcMOM1-F9CT/?taken-by=kellymarietran
Same, tbh, if there was ever a universe where I’d be asked to go on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
4. When she took a year off after filming The Last Jedi to go work on an endangered wildlife reserve in South Africa and then with orphans in Vietnam.
She told BuzzFeed News that she “ran away” to “centre myself and remember who I was. My life had just changed so much, and I needed time to reflect.”
She also used her time in Vietnam to revisit her roots; her parents had grown up in the country before fleeing to the United States during the Vietnam War.
“My dad was a street kid for seven years — he was homeless,” she said. “I could have had this life, and now I have this one, and it’s purely because my parents dropped everything and moved to a country where they didn’t know the language [and] didn’t have any opportunities. I very much have felt this whole time that I’ve been living for multiple generations of life.”
5. When she goddamn inspired director Rian Johnson, because of course she’s a perfect angel.
Speaking to Vulture, Johnson said:
“She jumped into it like it was a sandbox for her to play in. She was poking her head into all the different departments, just wandering around the studio. Even I didn’t feel the gumption to do that! She’d go around the creature department and help them feather the Porgs with goose feathers, or go to the costume department and ask, ‘What are you guys doing?’ She treated it like a big episode of Mr. Rogers’ Neighbourhood, basically. And I saw that and thought, This is how we should all be treating this. This is a once-in-a-lifetime playdate, and we should be soaking this up.”
Bless her sweet cotton socks.
6. When she overheard strangers talking about Rose Tico in a pub and went over and said hello.
Not only does Kelly admit to eavesdropping on people talking about The Last Jedi in public, but she goes over and says hi to those people, and then LOOKS THEM UP ON INSTAGRAM AND ASKS PERMISSION TO POST THEIR CONTENT.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc2ZG0enIQk/?taken-by=kellymarietran
Please do yourself a favour and watch the video. Or if you can’t (for whatever reason), just check out Kelly’s face when she realises they’re saying nice things about Rose.
7. When she kept it insanely real on Instagram, reminding us that what we’re seeing on a red carpet isn’t real 99 percent of the time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ66ztNFzdD/?taken-by=kellymarietran
8. When she had the exact same reaction to Kylo Ren’s shirtless scene as the rest of you.
https://twitter.com/kylebuchanan/status/943195207301963777
She also told Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan: “I loved everything Rian did with Rey and Kylo. I love that they had these awkward, funny moments but they also were dealing with so many interesting themes, like the idea that they both have the Force in such a strong way, and what does that mean? But that shirtless scene was hilarious and awesome and so surprising and different. [Laughs.] I loved it. I loved it!”
9. When she said that her proudest moment was successfully pranking Johnson into thinking there was a Pikachu (on Pokémon Go) outside.
http://rosefinnrey.tumblr.com/post/168023941369/kelly-marie-trans-the-last-jedi-prank-a-lot-of
10. When she fan-girled about being part of the Star Wars universe.
Kelly basically never left the set. Even if she wasn’t in a scene, she’d hang around and watch, and when she couldn’t do that, she’d wander around the different departments.
In that same Vulture interview from earlier, she said:
“Pretty much every scene they would let me go to, I would go. I just wanted to watch people work! I had no scenes with Andy Serkis, but you bet your ass I was there watching Andy Serkis, and same with Laura Dern. It was like someone gave me this golden ticket and I got to the chocolate factory and was never leaving …. People were like, “Don’t you have things to do?” But I would go on set and watch every day and walk into different departments unannounced, like, “Hey, what are you guys doing?” I went to the costume department, and there’s just a huge room with hundreds and hundreds of costumes, and every single one was so detailed — it was incredible! I don’t know how to explain this experience other than to say it was like someone had told me Hogwarts was real.”
11. When she freaked out over someone dressed as Rose Tico – a character they hadn’t even seen on screen yet – at The Last Jedi premiere.
KELLY MARIE TRAN HAD THIS REACTION WHEN SHE SAW SOMEONE DRESSED AS ROSE TICO AT THE LAST JEDI PREMIERE I’M CRYING THIS IS THE PUREST THING pic.twitter.com/qBzwEA5jgu
— laura ✨ (@admsamys) December 13, 2017
12. When she bombed Daisy Ridley’s interview to tell her she loved her.
13. And really, her entire red carpet experience.
http://romanova.tumblr.com/post/168502982754/kelly-marie-tran-during-the-star-wars-the-last
Beautiful moment at #TheLastJedi premiere! Breakout star Kelly Marie Tran thanks producer Ram Bergman for this opportunity pic.twitter.com/vCw7ottrPN
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) December 10, 2017
Kelly Marie Tran is how all of us would be if we were cast in a star wars film pic.twitter.com/9s0LTT4TQT
— Dani Fernandez (@msdanifernandez) December 10, 2017
14. And finally, when she absolutely slayed in the cast shoot with British Vogue.
Shout-out to the Star Wars Instagram account for this pic.
May your 2018 bring so much more Kelly Marie Tran to your life.
