In case you somehow missed the hype over Crazy Rich Asians, Constance Wu is a true movie star. The Fresh Off the Boat actress instantly reached romantic comedy icon status with her portrayal of feisty game theory professor Rachel Chu, and, given that the Crazy Rich Asians book by Kevin Kwan boasts two equally delicious sequels — we'll need two more movies, stat.
Yet, Wu wasn't always a bona fide superstar. Like many Hollywood actresses, she struggled before catching her big break. One person who "knew her when" was Across the Universe star, Jim Sturgess, who shared a sweet story about Wu before she was the Constance Wu.
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On Friday, Sturgess took to Instagram to share his experience with the actress, who, back in 2013, was his driver on an independent film. Here's what Sturgess wrote:
"Quick story... Back in 2013 I shot an independent film called Electric Slide in Los Angeles.
My first day at work I was picked up in a car by a lovely girl who was working in the production office and who was to be my driver for the duration of the shoot. We got along great and spent many early mornings driving to different locations around Los Angeles. We discussed many things whilst sitting in LA traffic..music, films, boy troubles, girl problems, family backgrounds, extra terrestrial life forms, why you never see baby pigeons and why people wash their hands after they go to the toilet instead of before. We also talked about how she was an actress struggling to make ends meet in the Hollywood scene and whether I had any advice on how to get a foot into the industry...to which I had none."
My first day at work I was picked up in a car by a lovely girl who was working in the production office and who was to be my driver for the duration of the shoot. We got along great and spent many early mornings driving to different locations around Los Angeles. We discussed many things whilst sitting in LA traffic..music, films, boy troubles, girl problems, family backgrounds, extra terrestrial life forms, why you never see baby pigeons and why people wash their hands after they go to the toilet instead of before. We also talked about how she was an actress struggling to make ends meet in the Hollywood scene and whether I had any advice on how to get a foot into the industry...to which I had none."
According to the IMDb page for Electric Slide, Wu actually had a role in the film as well — she played a character named Mika Oh. Around this time, Wu also appeared in the series Eastsiders.
Sturgess continued:
"The film came to an end and after a hug and a final greasy Taco me and my lovely driver said our goodbyes..I wished her good luck and I came back home to London. Years later on a trip back to LA I'm perusing a Magazine in my hotel room and I come across this fierce and brilliant article about an up and coming actress and her frustrations about the misrepresentation of Asian men and woman in Hollywood. I look to see the name of this exciting new actress and I read that her name is Constance Wu....? Wasn't that the name of that lovely driver I had all those years ago? Constance Wu? There can only be one Constance Wu?... And there is!!.
And her new movie @crazyrichasians opens this weekend so go check it!! @constancewu"
And her new movie @crazyrichasians opens this weekend so go check it!! @constancewu"
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There may be only one Constance Wu, but there should certainly be more stories like Crazy Rich Asians — the first Hollywood movie to have an all-Asian cast since 1993's The Joy Luck Club in — on the big screen. In fact, Wu herself decreed as much on Instagram.
"Thank you for showing up at theaters last night for #crazyrichasians. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope to see your story up there next," Wu wrote on Thursday.
Maybe, one day, Sturgess and Wu will reunite — onscreen, this time. Wu's days as a struggling actress-slash-driver are officially in her rearview mirror.
Crazy Rich Asians is in theaters now.