Top 25 Gemma Chan Quotes

As a means to an end, modelling was good, but I had to distance myself from it when I started working as an actress, because even though I wasn’t high-profile, I found in my first write-ups that I’d be referred to as ‘model Gemma Chan.’

From my experience, I would say no: actors of East Asian descent don’t get the opportunities white actors do. I know that’s inherently a problem in a country that produces a lot of period drama, but I have to fight so hard to get parts that don’t have something to do with China.

I hate the idea that people should listen to what actors have to say on certain issues more than anyone else. Actors have no more right to be heard than anyone.

I found a place under a bridge in Goa where you could have fresh crab and beer. It was nothing complicated, but delicious.

I loathe exercise. And I hate gyms. I’ve never had a personal trainer.

I ended up doing a local AmDram musical when I was nine or so. We had to sing and dance and act. It was probably terrible, but I loved it.

Even though I don’t necessarily believe in everything that’s supernatural, I like being scared and I like things that are suspenseful.

As a human, you don’t have to be too conscious of your movement. I think it’s tougher playing a robot than a human, and even tougher playing a robot who begins showing traces of being a human.

My parents thought they were getting an accountant and a lawyer. Instead, they ended up with a PR and an actress.

Growing up, I never saw any Asian faces on TV, so it didn’t feel like a viable option.

I’ve heard about productions where it still happens: yellow face, taping up the eyes. It’s hard to talk about it in a constructive way.

I’ve been fortunate in my career, but, yes, there have been many times when I have been told my audition has been cancelled because they’re only going to see white people.

My parents are wonderful, practical, sensible people, and the expectation was that I would study something academic.

I was given a lot of homework: I had to practise ironing as a synth, practise washing up as a synth, cooking a meal as a synth. It’s definitely the most prep I’ve had to do for a role.

Making a pretty picture, an image, is a completely different thing from acting to camera.

I’ve always admired the work that Save the Children does to improve the lives of children and their families all over the world.

I would have done it happily, but to be a Bond girl isn’t everything I aim for as an actress.

I think ‘Humans’ is more about provoking the idea that there is a class of beings in society that we treat as less than… as subordinates; people who we treat badly and take for granted. Often they are the same people who work hard to keep the city going. We need to think about that.

I do feel a responsibility to try and raise awareness and to help tell the stories of those who may not otherwise have a voice.

I avoid flying Ryanair if I can. I know that everyone gives them a hard time, but there’s a good reason for that.

I’m quite a rational person. I’m not very superstitious, but I really do enjoy horror as a genre.

All of us have a lot of physical tics that we don’t realize that we’re doing subconsciously.

I know we’ve had AI films, but they’ve been quite specific in their scope. The scope of ‘Humans’ is a world set up where this technology is universally accepted. I haven’t seen anything that’s dealt with it in that multi-layered, every-layer-of-society way.

When you think of things like medicine, people who have lost limbs now have a chance to have a limb replaced that is connected to the brain that they can actually control with their mind. That’s amazing.

AI – not so some kind of far-off thing. It’s part of our lives now, from your phone to everything you do. It makes our lives easier in a lot of ways.