Hers isn’t a household name yet, but actress Chantal Thuy’s growing body of artistic work will undoubtedly win her many more fans soon. Among her various projects, she has a recurring role on The CW’s Black Lightning, DC Comics’ first ever TV show centered on an African American superhero.
Chantal plays bartender, bookstore staffer, and comic book geek Grace Choi, a bisexual Asian American woman who has a budding romance with one of the title character’s two daughters, a medical student named Anissa Pierce (played by Nafessa Williams). Grace’s special powers have yet to manifest on the show, but her back story is laid out in the DC Comics source material; she’s half-Amazonian, giving her a common ancestry with Wonder Woman. Thus, in the comics, she possesses superhuman strength, endurance, and self-healing. Hopefully, we’ll see her powers at work on the TV version of Black Lightning this season!
FEMINIST ASIAN DAD: You’ve gotten quite a response from viewers who identify as LGBTQ. What’s that been like?
Chantal: I’m moved by the support and love from Black Lightning fans in the LGBTQ community. They are my favorite people in the world, and I want to give them so much love! I’m super proud and honored to play Grace Choi and to do my part to give them voice and visibility, especially young LGBTQ women of color.
What is one bit of fan feedback about Grace being bisexual that has been particularly meaningful for you?
I understand how identifying as bisexual is still confusing for society, and that some people don’t think it’s a legit thing. But it is! I remember years ago reading an article arguing that we all fall somewhere on the sexual orientation spectrum. It’s important to me that I am neither straight nor a lesbian; I am bisexual, and that is its own thing. I’ve loved hearing from fans how much it’s meant to them to hear that proudly and unequivocally spoken.
Grace is one of only four Asian sheroes on TV with superpowers in their storylines, along with Daisy Johnson on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Clarice Fong on The Gifted, and Nico Minoru on Runaways. What’s that felt like for you, to be in such a select group repping Asian North American women?
That statistic is shocking! For real, are there that few Asian American female superheroes on network TV? Hopefully the success of Crazy Rich Asians, Searching, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before shows networks that Asians can be television leads, have a voice, and kick ass.
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You’ve put in quite a few air miles in the service of your profession. Black Lightning takes you to Atlanta, all the way across the country. It all exemplifies how acting takes a lot of commitment! What advice would you give to someone who wants to be an actor? (In particular, I’m thinking about the two girls, ages 12 and 9, who live in my household.)
Yes, the air miles! I am so grateful to Black Lightning for my air miles.
But seriously, I think with any craft, you need persistence, discipline, commitment, and the willingness to bring yourself to your work. I always remember the Malcolm Gladwell quote that it takes 10,000 hours to master any art or craft. I believe that.
Stella Adler helped to really shape my expectations – that the goal of an artist is to be a working actor. It’s not about accumulating wealth, or likes, or being famous. The path of the artist is a marathon, with plenty of ups and downs. But as long as we keep growing, and giving ourselves to our art form, there is some satisfaction and a sense of purpose.
“Growth as an actor and as a human being are synonymous.” I’ll never forget that. Our primary skill and duty as an actor involves caring, understanding, and awareness – to be a human being to others in this world.
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