Gemma Chan prefers to "sit back" in social situations.
The 36-year-old actress has revealed she’s a reserved person off-screen, and would much rather take a back seat when she’s around people she doesn’t know at a party, because she likes to "get the measure of people" before speaking to them.
She said: "In a new social situation, I’d much rather sit back and let other people talk first. I prefer to listen and, I suppose, get the measure of people before I necessarily give them all of me."
The ‘Captain Marvel’ actress also spoke about racial inequality in Hollywood, as she slammed critics who took issue with her portraying Bess of Hardwick in recently released movie ‘Mary Queen of Scots’.
Gemma insists skin colour doesn’t matter in film even when it comes to historical roles, and praised ‘Hamilton’ for casting a black actor as George Washington, as she says "our art should reflect life now."
Speaking to Allure magazine, she added: "Why are actors of colour, who have fewer opportunities anyway, only allowed to play their own race? And sometimes they’re not even allowed to play their own race. In the past, the role would be given to a white actor who would tape up their eyes and do the role in yellow face … I feel like Hamilton opened minds a lot. We have a black man playing George Washington. They describe it as ‘America then, told by America now.’ And I think our art should reflect life now."
Meanwhile, Gemma recently spoke about her career and said her law degree – which she obtained when she studied at the prestigious Oxford University – has helped her in her pursuit of stardom, because she knows how to check a contract carefully and can memorise scripts quickly.
She said: "It is quite helpful with the memorisation, I had to learn about 2,000 cases by heart, so I am fairly good at learning scripts quickly. On the whole, it is quite a different part of the brain: Law is very analytical, and acting is more instinctive and emotionally driven.
"But, it does come in handy with learning lines – and reading my own contract."
Gemma Chan likes to ‘sit back’ in social situations
