Jessie Mei Li will become the rising star of Netflix shadow and bone following its release on April 23, 2021. Mei stars as Alina Starkov in the highly anticipated series, which is based on the best-selling Grishaverse novels by Leigh Bardugo. Alina is an orphan who possesses an extraordinary power that could free the country from her.
Li made her acting debut as a stage actress at Britain’s National Youth Theatre. She made her debut in the 2019 production of all about eve and is set to play a supporting role in Edgar Wright’s movie last night in soho.
This piece will look at Jessie’s parents and heritage, her acting career, and her recent ADHD diagnosis.
Contents
- 1 Jessie was bullied in her youth due to her English and Chinese heritage.
- 2 Mei connected with her character in shadow and bone as she too is facing an identity crisis
- 3 Jessie describes her job as an educator as the best job she’s ever had.
- 4 Mei took a year off from acting and found out she had ADHD
Jessie was bullied in her youth due to her English and Chinese heritage.
Jessie Mei Li’s father and older brother
Jessie Mei Li was born on 27 August 1995 in Brighton, East Sussex, England to a Chinese-born, Hong Kong-raised father and an English mother. Growing up in Redhill, Surrey, with her older brother, was not easy, as she suffered bullying due to her mixed heritage. Mei said vanity fair that people were openly racist and made fun of her using goofy accents and ‘eye rolls’.
“I grew up in a predominantly white area in the south of England,” Jessie explained. “Racism towards Asians in the UK in general, I think more than in the US, is very bizarre and not taken seriously.” The inadequacy and misrepresentation of Asian characters on TV made matters worse. “They were laughing at the Asian characters,” she added. “Asian men are emasculated and Asian women are sexualized.”
Li has learned to accept her identity and strives to connect with her father’s side of the family, who now lives in Vancouver, Canada. She visited them once in Hong Kong, but as she said South China Morning Post that trip did not go very well:
“I went once when I was about 19 years old. And I was very sick the whole time! I managed to get very sick. And then I spent most of the time in the hotel, and my aunts and uncles and my family would come back and bring me food and things. It was a shame to miss it!”
Mei connected with her character in shadow and bone as she too is facing an identity crisis
Jessie’s background became an issue when she joined Britain’s National Youth Theater. She would audition for mixed-race roles, only to see the roles go to either an all-Asian or an all-white person. Mei claims that she understood the casting decisions, but they deepened her identity crisis. “But at the same time, I often felt like ‘Okay, what am I? Where do I fit in?’” she said. South China Morning Post.
Mei resonated with her character in shadow and bone because they are both misfits trying to find an identity in society. Alina Starkov finds herself in the middle of a war between Ravka and Shu. She grew up in Ravka and is indebted to the land and its people, but she is also a part of Shu. jessie told him Seventeen that Alina’s mixed identity adds a unique dimension to the series:
“But when you add the layer of her being mixed race and sitting with a lot of people, whether you’re biracial or a first generation immigrant or you’re the only person of color in a white area, the experience never really clicked, it adds a lot and I It gave me a lot to play with in terms of how I was going to interact with other characters.”
Throughout the experience, Jessie has come across as a more comfortable person with herself. “Taping the show taught me a lot about myself and I really learned a lot about who I am,” she said. Seventeen. “The more diverse people around you, the more you see in yourself.”
Jessie describes her job as an educator as the best job she’s ever had.
After graduating from high school, Jessie enrolled at the University of Sussex to study French and Spanish. She describes the move as a mistake. “I didn’t have a good time in college,” she said. The Guardian. “It was very detrimental to my well-being.” Mei left after a year and a half of unhappiness and became a teaching assistant for children with special needs.
“I was a teaching assistant for almost two years and I loved it,” she added. Li auditioned for the great British acting schools, but never made the cut. Determined to keep her dream of acting alive, Mei enrolled in a part-time program at the Identity School of Acting. She spent the day with the children and, twice a week, at night, she traveled by train to London to take acting classes.
“It was my favorite job,” Jessie said of her job as a teacher. However, she changed her statement after the interviewer narrowed her eyes in doubt. “Other than this job!” Jessie exclaimed. “But it was a close second.” The job she talks about is acting, a career she first experienced on stage alongside Lily James and Gillian Anderson in all about eve at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Jessie found out about her casting in shadow and bone one day before your scheduled game date last night in soho. “That was a really good little boost,” Jessie said. South China Morning Post. “It was good to get my head in the right frame of mind, as well as thinking, ‘Okay, I’m here to learn. When I’m going to do Shadow and Bone and I have a lot more pressure and responsibility, I want to carry myself in a way that I can be proud of.”
Fans found out about Jessie’s casting long before the official announcement. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, how did they find us?'” Li said. The Guardian. The cast had accounts of Stan long before the casting announcements. “It was pretty much zero to 60.” Jessie cares little what people say about her on the internet, since they don’t know her. She said the hollywood reporter:
“I don’t want to be famous. I don’t want to be a celebrity. Regardless of what people say about me on the internet, good or bad, you have to take it with a grain of salt and think, ‘This is their interpretation of who I am.'”
Mei took a year off from acting and found out she had ADHD
DANNY KASIRYE/NETFLIX
Jessie’s experience in shadow and bone he did more than he bargained for when he found out he had ADHD. She had struggled her whole life with forgetfulness and delays and couldn’t understand why. During his time on set, young people diagnosed with ADHD identified the signs of it and advised him to seek a diagnosis. After filming, a doctor confirmed that he had ADHD. jessie told him Seventeen:
“I came back from filming and was formally diagnosed with ADHD. All my life, I’ve been like, ‘What’s going on?’ Being in that environment and then having the lockdown to think and think about things was really cool. And I don’t think I would have come to that conclusion without this series.”
Li uses both she/they pronouns. “I’m pretty flexible, her, them, whatever your preference is,” she said. Seventeen. “I am both.”
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn