Through her passion for acting, Rosalie Chiang is bringing Asian American coming-of-age stories to the screen.

The second-year communication student is best known for voicing the lead role of Meilin Lee in Pixar’s 2022 animated film, “Turning Red,” as well as the voice of Chika Amabe in the Japanese fantasy adventure film “Suzume” and Suzy Nakamura in the Disney+ series “American Born Chinese.” At UCLA, Chiang continues to pursue acting alongside her studies in communication.

Chiang spoke with the Daily Bruin’s Sydney Gaw about her journey navigating the film industry from a young age and balancing her academic and career aspirations.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Daily Bruin: What inspired you to pursue acting and voice acting?

Rosalie Chiang: I was allowed to watch a lot of TV as a kid. Watching Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, I thought, “Wow, that looks so fun.” I was 8 and 9. I didn’t know what a career was. And so I told my parents, “I want to do acting.” And they were really confused, because they are not in the business whatsoever. They have no knowledge of how to get in, and they just thought, “We can send you to classes and see what happens.” So they sent me to this summer camp for acting in the Bay Area, and from there, I fell in love with it. My teacher was super great. She taught me the whole process. She encouraged my parents to continue letting me do acting. I got an agent and a manager, and the rest is history for regular acting.

For voice acting, I didn’t know what voice acting was. As far as I was concerned, the cartoon characters were all real in my head. What got me into voice acting was around three years into my acting career, when my mom found this voiceover coach online. She genuinely just googled people and then found this person and thought, “Do you want to try, Rosalie?” and I was like, “Sure, I’ll try it. I’m down for anything.” So I tried the voiceover coach, and he was great. He honestly helped me so much in my career and taught me the whole world of voice acting, and it opened this whole new dimension to me. Around six months later, I got my audition for “Turning Red,” and it continued since then.

DB: Your previous works highlight coming-of-age experiences. What was it like to play characters that were going through the same or similar experiences to what you were experiencing in real life?

RC: I was around 12 years old when I booked “Turning Red,” and Mei (Meilin) is 13 years old, too. Throughout this movie, she goes through this whole phase of growing up. I feel like “Turning Red” was almost my guide to growing up and through that weird stage of being in middle school and trying to find out who you are. I feel like throughout this whole acting process – not just “Turning Red,” but even with roles like in “American Born Chinese” and “Suzume” – everything about that gave me encouragement and gave me this idea that you can be your own person. You don’t have to try to conform to anyone. You can just continue who you want to be. That’s really defined who I am today, and I’m super grateful for all those experiences.

DB: “Turning Red” was unique in its portrayal of an Asian American teenage girl coming of age. What was it like witnessing the film’s overwhelmingly positive reception among the Asian American community?

RC: It’s been incredible. I never really fathomed how big “Turning Red” was outside of my little circle. My family really liked it. That’s all I need. It was only when I started going to conventions or randomly meeting people, and they’re like, “Hey, that movie meant so much to me.” I never realized how much movies can make an impact until people are directly thanking me. The fact that people really cared about that and that it meant a lot to them – as much as it meant to me – it’s crazy, and it really shows how much representation matters.

DB: What are your hopes for the future of Asian American cinema?

RC: I see how many platforms are out there amplifying Asian voices, and that makes me really excited, because I love this community so much. To have such a close, tight-knit community who are just constantly elevating and supporting each other – that makes me really hopeful, and I’m really excited to see what new content Asian storytellers can create.

DB: At UCLA, are there any creative outlets on campus that you’re currently involved in or planning to pursue that allow you to channel your passion for acting?

RC: I joined the Film and Photography Society in winter quarter, and essentially, every quarter we make three short films, we do some photo shoots (and) some media shorts. That gave me the opportunity to sound mix for the first time. I got to cast a film for the first time, which is something I’ve always wanted to do. And this coming year, I’m going to be on the executive board of FPS as director of external affairs. I’m really glad that I could be very involved with them, and I’m super excited for this next year. I feel like this club is so great in the fact that they give a lot of freedom to people in the club to write their own stories and come up with their own things. There’s so many different opportunities.

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DB: What can you tell us about any upcoming projects and the direction of your career?

RC: I’ve learned to go with the flow and to see what opportunities come by. There is this little show that I’m working on – the name is untitled right now – and I’m really excited to see where that goes, because it’s a really great story. I feel like it combines so many different genres, and it’s exactly up my wheelhouse. I’m excited for when people get to see that.

DB: What do you hope to gain from your acting career as a whole and from your time at UCLA? Is there any message you want people to take away from your experiences?

RC: With UCLA and my acting career, I’m so ready for whatever comes my way. So many different things are going to happen – that I know for sure. Either way, I’m going to be so happy and I’m so excited for whatever there is to come in the future. I would like to tell everyone to be excited for whatever happens, and until that opportunity comes, keep working for it. UCLA does provide so much of that (opportunities), and that’s why I’m really grateful to be here. We’ll see what happens. I’m excited for what happens.