Mean Girls actress Jo Chim on hiding her Chinese side, and being remembered for more than her day job
- Hong Kong-born actress and filmmaker Jo Chim talks about hiding her Chinese side from school friends, being mean in Mean Girls and why she got invited to Nasa
My father worked for China Dyeing Works in Hong Kong. I was just a few months old when he was posted to Ghana in 1969 and I moved there with my parents. When my mother got pregnant with my brother, she came back to Hong Kong to give birth and returned to Africa with him.
In the 1970s, we emigrated to Vancouver, Canada. In those days, it was a beachcomber town, very small. Dad was a chemical engineer and a smart guy, but he found it hard to get work and was painting suspension bridges. So we moved to Toronto so he could start his own knitting factory.
Burgers and fries
Growing up in suburban white Canada, I didn’t want to stand out, so I hid the fact that I was Chinese, even though it’s very apparent I am Chinese.
We spoke Chinese at home, but out on the streets I’d only speak English. I was ashamed of being Chinese. We ate Chinese food at home, but when kids would ask what we ate, I’d say, “Burgers and fries”.
When new immigrants came in, they were fresh off the boat, but I was one of the cool kids. There was a little bit of self-loathing in terms of my Chinese side.
Bearing Witnesses
I think Dad realised he wasn’t cut out for the stress of being an entrepreneur, so he went back to work in Africa. For four or five years, we only saw him at Christmas and in the summer. My mum was effectively raising us as a single mother.
