KELLY MARIE TRAN

My mom works in funerals, and my dad works at Burger King.

It never felt like we were making a 'Star Wars' movie. It didn't feel like it was serious. It just felt like we were allowed to be creative and kind of goof off.

When I'm driving past the place I used to work, or when I'm driving past the comedy studio where I used to take photos in exchange for classes, or when I'm driving past the yoga studio I used to clean on the weekends - it's not that far removed from me yet. I get very sentimental over things like that.

Seeing someone dressed up as your character is incredible.

So much of me is because of what my parents experienced in this country. So much of me is because of the things my parents overcame so that I could have the luxury of having a dream.

I want to work with great directors and tell great stories - storytelling is the one great love of my life, and it means so much, and we have the ability to change the world by telling stories, and I want to keep doing that.

I'm totally pro-porg! I would not eat a porg. They're so cute; you can't eat them. They're friends!

I feel like 'The Last Jedi' is a lot of things that people aren't going to expect, which I think is a good thing.

I feel like I'm always talking about myself, and I love not talking about myself.

Even if someone doesn't like it, or just likes it for me, storytelling has been the one true love story of my entire life.

I was not on social media for a really long time because I was afraid of being seen.

I do feel like my improv training has helped me throughout my entire audition process only because the idea of 'yes and-ing' applies to everything.

You find little ways to keep your mind at peace so that you can, at the end of the day, do the most important thing, which is do a good job.

In terms of the timeline, 'The Force Awakens' came out in December of 2015. I got the role in November of 2015. I was auditioning and waiting to hear back when their marketing machine was everywhere. It's like you're going for something that's so high stakes, and you try to remind yourself, 'Okay, stop thinking about it,' and it's everywhere.

I was working a full-time job but not having anything in my savings account at the end of the month because of my bills and because acting in the beginning costs money.

Growing up, I've always felt I was from two different worlds. I was born in the U.S., but my parents were born in Vietnam, and they raised my sisters and I with the parenting methods of the Vietnamese culture.

I think, as an actor, you create things for your character that you think will make it more personal to you, because on the day, you want to make sure that you're truly there in the moment.

I think a lot of times, in a lot of modern-day movies, a lot of things are CGI, but so much of the stuff in 'Star Wars' is built and created by these artists.

I think that Carrie is such an icon, not just as someone who played Princess Leia, but someone who was groundbreaking in that she was OK with being honest - brutally so, unapologetically so.

I worked in an office. I was like an assistant. So, I would just answer phone calls, coordinate events. It was a great day job. I worked with amazing people, but obviously, whenever you are doing something that's not your dream, you kind of feel like, 'Oh, I'm on this grind.'

I actually read 'The Last Jedi' before 'The Force Awakens' came out. It totally helped me, though! The idea of this franchise that I already knew was such a big cultural thing, I was sort of given this freedom to be honest with that character and not have this pressure of making her something else that we had already seen in this universe.

My dad was a street kid for seven years - he was homeless.

I believe if you can have an open dialogue about anything, whether it's a book or a movie or TV show, it's this door that suddenly opens your mind to new ideas.

When you're really young, you tend to fall in love with characters. If you start seeing the same type of character everywhere and realize that they don't look like you, or they don't speak like you, you start wanting to change who you are. That's something that I did when I was a young kid.

I never want to forget that I'm doing an impossible thing. How rare is it that you get to be part of something people love? It's really special. It's a very out-of-body experience to be a part of something so huge.