The culture of name changes has been quite old in Hollywood. Numerous actors have changed their names for various reasons, like popularity, uniqueness, and getting work. However, there are a few cases when the actors had to change names due to racism. One of the popular actors who faced racism in the industry is Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD star Chloe Bennet.
The Marvel action hero shared in an interview that she is of part Chinese origin, but had to hide that for getting roles in the industry.
Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD star Chloe Bennet reveals her real last name
Chloe Bennet is a popular actress, model, and singer. She rose to prominence with her role as Daisy Johnson in the ABC superhero drama series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The star cast comprises Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, alongside Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, and Elizabeth Henstridge.
During a social media interaction, the actress revealed about changing her last name because she faced racism in Hollywood.
Bennet wrote,
“Changing my last name doesn’t change the fact that my BLOOD is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin, or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese. It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn’t cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable.”
Bennet shared that her birth name is Chloe Wang. She posted the statement on Instagram in support of Ed Skrein’s stepping down from his role of Hellboy when he was accused of whitewashing. The original character as the original character he was supposed to play, was of mixed Asian heritage.
The actress had earlier also spoken about her name change earlier in a conversation with the Daily Beast,
“Oh, the first audition I went on after I changed my name, I got booked. So that’s a pretty clear little snippet of how Hollywood works.”
Bennet stars as Yi in the television series Abominable and the Invisible City.
Leonardo DiCaprio was once asked to change his name
The Academy Award-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the highest-paid actors in the industry. The star has given numerous classics in his vast career, and his films are critical and commercial hits. The actor once shared that in his early days, his agent asked him to change his name for getting roles.
He shared that he was only 11 when his agent asked him to change his name to Lenny Williams. Talking to Female First he shared,
“Yeah, when I was 11 years old when I first wanted to be an actor professionally. We went to an agent, and they wanted to change my name to Lenny Williams. They felt my name was too ethnic and I wouldn’t get as many jobs. So that thwarted me from being an actor for a number of years. I tried again two years later when I was 13 and got an agent to accept me with my name.”
However, he kept his name and did not pay heed to the agent. The 41-year-old actor shared he never got into acting for fame; he only wanted to produce good films. He shared with ShortList magazine,
“A lot of people may look at what I’ve done career-wise and say that there was a period in which I tried to possibly become a movie star, per se, (and) tried to go for much bigger pictures.”
Leonardo received Academy Award for Best Actor in The Revenant (2015).
Source- Variety
