AWKWAFINA

“I want my face to get out there. I want to make Asian Americans proud,” declared Awkwafina in Bad Rap. The 2016 crowdfunded documentary, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, is about four Asian American rappers at varying points in their careers having a similar goal of making it mainstream. At the time, Awkwafina had a popular YouTube rap song, ‘My Vag’, and a debut album titled Yellow Ranger, but only a select group knew who the diminutive rapper, actress and comedian was.

Little did anyone guess that, two years later, Awkwafina would land the role of Goh Peik Lin in the box office hit For the first time since 1993’s the movie featured an all-Asian cast and representation was front and centre in the narrative. In her role as best friend to lead character Rachel Chu (played by Constance Wu), Awkwafina displayed a marvellous combination of wit and intelligence. She was superb in transforming into Goh, fitting