Jessica Henwick of 'Glass Onion' talks diversity, East Asian representation

(22 Dec 2022) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4412072 ASSOCIATED PRESS Los Angeles, 8 December 2022 1. Jessica Henwick posing for photos in studio 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jessica Henwick, actor: "I had to leave LA because I couldn't afford to live there anymore. I ran out of money, so I went back and moved back in with my parents. I did 'Spirit Warriors' and then I kicked around in England for a year. Didn't get anything. Thought, 'oh, okay. Maybe I'll have better luck in America' because America was the promised land, you know, especially for ethnic minorities. There just weren’t roles for me in England in anything. And so I moved to America. I did a year of working crew, couldn't book, and then I ran out of money, moved back to England. And as soon as I moved back to England, I started booking American shows like 'Game of Thrones' and 'Star Wars' and then 'Iron Fist' and ended up moving all the way back." ++PARTIALLY COVERED++ ASSOCIATED PRESS Los Angeles, 17 November 2022 3. Henwick posing on red carpet for photos ASSOCIATED PRESS Los Angeles, 8 December 2022 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jessica Henwick, actor: "England's main export, in terms of entertainment, is period dramas. We do it better than anyone else in the world. Shakespeare, Austen, even at the time, the biggest show was 'Downton Abbey.' That was what everyone was talking about. And in what do they have? Nine seasons. We could probably count the ethnic minorities on my hands. Yeah, there just wasn't, there wasn't the push for East Asian characters definitely wasn't the push for East Asian stories. It was a different time. It's still not great. But I will say credit to 'Crazy Rich Asians.'" 5. SOUNDBITE (English) Jessica Henwick, actor: "I mean, I think 'Bridgerton' is doing something really interesting because they, I love period dramas. You know, I grew up on that. I used to, I used to want to be in one of those so bad, like the costumes, the language, it's poetry. So, yeah, a lot of respect to Shonda (Rhimes) for making 'Bridgerton' and going, okay let's take that and modernize it. In terms of what is the answer? I think. Well, one of it is the sort of the gatekeeping and the fact that people from different backgrounds and different classes in England aren't going through the system. Like we need more creatives, we need more storytellers from different communities." STORYLINE: =========================================================== Clients are reminded to adhere to all listed restrictions and to check the terms of their licence agreements. For further assistance, please contact the AP Archive on: Tel +44(0)2074827482 Email: [email protected]. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...