In the Royal Ballet Company, there was a Japanese principal dancer, and onstage and in ballet, they have colorblind castings - so I did see Asian dancers, and they were always my favorite. When you have someone who looks like you, it's something you can kind of grab onto, and it makes you feel better about your place in the world.

Sonoya Mizuno

Categorized in : You Better Feel World

I feel disheartened when I see stereotypes, because it's untrue and unfair. It just raises the level of inequality.

Sonoya Mizuno

stereotypes feel inequality unfair

My vibe is a bit boyish: rock shirts, trousers.

Sonoya Mizuno

vibe rock trousers boyish

My mom's cooking was all about comfort, flavor, and plenty of butter. It was so hearty.

Sonoya Mizuno

about cooking mom comfort

The entertainment industry has an effect on social consciousness.

Sonoya Mizuno

entertainment industry consciousness

I always want to do work that feels honest and that's harder to find than you imagine.

Sonoya Mizuno

you always want work

I never grew up thinking, 'Why aren't there any Asians?' But then Lucy Liu came on, and I was like, 'Oh my God, she is my favorite.' I was nothing like her, but I just loved her because she was the only Asian I saw.

Sonoya Mizuno

loved never god thinking

My mother's brother, my uncle, was an actor, quite well known in the West End. He used to come over to our house, and he and I would put on performances for my family. From that, this love of performing and acting grew.

Sonoya Mizuno

family brother mother love

Ballet is something for which you need so much control and composure. And there's an element to acting that is the complete opposite. You have to be able to completely let go and reveal everything about yourself. It's about being very vulnerable.

Sonoya Mizuno

control yourself go you

I really liked Glasgow. I really liked living there for a year. It's a very fun city, and it has a lot to offer young people who are interested in music and art. It's a very creative city.

Sonoya Mizuno

city music people art

I wanted to be an actress from when I was very young.

Sonoya Mizuno

actress very young wanted

I used to be a dancer.

Sonoya Mizuno

dancer used

I had classical training at London's Royal Ballet School, and my first job was with the Semperoper Dresden ballet company in Germany.

Sonoya Mizuno

job royal training school

I love Christy Turlington in the '80s and '90s. Classic.

Sonoya Mizuno

christy i-love classic love

I've lived in a lot of places - London, Germany, Tokyo, Scotland, Ireland, Los Angeles, and New York. The fashion capitals I've lived in - Tokyo, London, and New York - have this stamp of coolness about them. But I've noticed that in big cities in general, people are just less afraid to be themselves when it comes to fashion.

Sonoya Mizuno

new fashion new-york people

'Crazy Rich Asians' has been compared to 'Black Panther,' but I feel like that's a false equivalency. The idea that there's only this film for Asians and that film for African Americans - it's so binary. I don't think it's like that at all. There should be and will be many films and many stories. Hopefully this just opens the floodgates.

Sonoya Mizuno

feel rich black crazy

I grew up in Somerset in southwest England.

Sonoya Mizuno

southwest up grew england

If I could throw a dinner party for anyone, I'd invite Lena Dunham, Dave Chappelle, and Gena Rowlands.

Sonoya Mizuno

dinner-party if-i-could dinner party

When I was, like, 10, I cooked a three-course meal for my family.

Sonoya Mizuno

cooked meal like family

I was born in Japan, and I grew up in England, and I wanted to be an actor when I was a child because I had an uncle who was an actor. I wanted to do everything he did, and he told me to learn how to dance first. So then I learned how to dance.

Sonoya Mizuno

uncle child me dance

It's fun to channel a different mood and character through makeup.

Sonoya Mizuno

makeup mood fun character