Making a Scene

by Constance Wu

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Through raw, hilarious, and relatable stories, Constance fearlessly shares her experiences of growing up in suburban Virginia, scraping by as a struggling actor, falling in love again and again, and confronting her identity and self-worth. This charming and candid memoir with have you laughing and crying and holding your breath.

“Illuminating.” —The Washington Post * “Candid and relatable.” —Time *“Riveting and personal.” —Mindy Kaling * “Captivatingly immediate.” —The Skimm *

A “poignant, frank, and intimate” (The New York Times) memoir by actress Constance Wu about family, love, sex, shame, trauma, and how she found her voice.

Growing up in the friendly suburbs of Richmond, Virginia, Constance Wu was often scolded for having big feelings or strong reactions. “Good girls don’t make scenes,” people warned her. And while she spent most of her childhood suppressing her bold, emotional nature, she found an early outlet in community theater—it was the one place where big feelings were okay—were good, even. Acting became her refuge, and eventually her vocation. At eighteen she moved to New York, where she’d spend the next ten years of her life auditioning, waiting tables, and struggling to make rent before her two big breaks: the TV sitcom Fresh Off the Boat and the hit film Crazy Rich Asians.

Here Constance shares private memories of childhood, young love and heartbreak, sexual assault and harassment, and how she “made it” in Hollywood. Raw, relatable, and enthralling, Making a Scene is an intimate portrait of the pressures and pleasures of existing in today’s world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781982188566
Publisher:	Scribner
Publication date:	10/04/2022
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	636,095
File size:	16 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Constance Wu is the Golden Globe Award–nominated star of Crazy Rich Asians and Hustlers. Her breakthrough role was starring as Jessica Huang in the television comedy Fresh Off the Boat (2015–2020). She has been nominated for the Screen Actors Guild award, two Television Critics Association awards, and four Critics Choice awards. Time has honored her as one of the 100 Most Influential People of the Year. She lives on the east side of Los Angeles with her partner, Ryan Kattner, their daughter, and their pet bunny rabbit, Lida-Rose.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Lucky Bucks 7

Montana Gold 33

Snap and Whistle 49

Impeach the President 67

Of Course She Did 77

Exploring an Orange 93

Welcome to Jurassic Park 115

Betty and Syd 125

Making a Scene 131

Little Cassandra 149

Poor Shark 157

Real Love 169

You Do What I Say 179

The Utmost Sincerity 221

Dressing Wounds 239

An Apology 261

Pisha, Masha, and Me 265

Unfinished Mansions 281

Acknowledgments 319

Editorial Reviews

06/13/2022

Wu, star of Crazy Rich Asians, dazzles in this essay collection about love, family, and her hard-won path to Hollywood success. The daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Wu was discouraged from calling attention to herself while growing up in 1980s Richmond, Va., but found an outlet in acting. Despite “assimilating very well” in her predominantly white hometown (doing “all the normal American stuff like cheerleading and... sleepover parties”), Wu couldn’t ignore the discomfort she felt when watching Asian characters on screen. As she writes in “Welcome to Jurassic Park”: “My face always burned with shame, especially if that character spoke with an Asian accent.” It wasn’t until 2015, when Wu took a starring role in the sitcom Fresh off the Boat as Jessica, a Taiwanese immigrant and mother to three Asian American children, that her mindset changed: “Off the Boat wasn’t race-neutral. It was race-relevant.” While the show was groundbreaking—centering an Asian American family’s story on American television for the first time in more than 20 years—Wu reveals in “You Do What I Say” that it didn’t protect her from the harassment of a producer, or from later having to fight for filming dates that worked for her with Crazy Rich Asians. Even still, Wu remained undeterred, and it’s that dogged determination that radiates from every page. Fans will feel lucky to be in on the action. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"Brilliant... achieves a vividness that most celebrity writers can only aspire to... Wu’s range as a writer is titanic." —Jezebel

"Vulnerable and audacious." —NPR

"Dazzling... Her depth of emotion makes her memoir both captivating and tender... Wu writes with unsparing honesty... bursting with revelation and reckoning." —Rajpreet Heir, The New York Times Book Review

"Illuminating... enthralling... her willingness to not just address her faults but grapple with them makes Wu’s memoir all the richer. Throw in her talent for vivid scene setting, plus an understanding that reflections are nothing without introspection, and the ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ star delivers a page-turner that amounts to much more than its headline-grabbing revelations." —The Washington Post

"A portrait of a young woman's life and of a young artist, struggling to find her way... poignant... frank and intimate." —The New York Times

"Candid and relatable... Her voice is forthright and clear." —Time

"A frank, powerful story told with a strong voice—but would you expect any less from a performer as bold as Wu?" —Town & Country

“So captivatingly immediate. It has something to say about both the inner life of an artist and the perils of public attention that I’ve never seen expressed before, and it’s adorably funny.” —Lena Dunham, The Skimm

“Wu wisely aligns poignant childhood anecdotes with new adult lessons... Generously sharing experiences of love, family, harassment, discrimination, and growth, Wu writes about others and her past self with the utmost respect. Her memoir is a gorgeously relatable portrait of a life guided by passion and art.” —Booklist, *starred review*

“Constance Wu writes with originality, ferocity, and unsparing honesty that doesn't let anyone — especially herself — off the hook. Making A Scene is as much about acting as it is about heartbreak, forgiveness, and being messily human. It made me laugh and it made my heart hurt; it reminded me of how necessary — and life giving — art is. This is a vital book by a singular talent.” —Rachel Khong, author of Goodbye, Vitamin

“There were times when I was reading Making a Scene that I didn’t realize I was holding my breath; it’s that riveting and personal. Making a Scene is a treasure and so is Constance Wu. I feel so lucky to call this talented and hilarious woman my friend.” —Mindy Kaling

"Constance Wu is a beautiful writer, a hilarious storyteller, and unafraid to tell the truth about her experiences." —Amy Schumer

"One of the most captivating and honest books I’ve read in years. Constance’s sharp and gorgeously observed ability to speak her truth, unforgivingly and often hilariously, gave me goosebumps, tears, gasps, and belly laughs." —Awkwafina

From the Publisher

08/01/2022

Award-winning actress Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) is refreshingly honest in this look back at the most formative moments of her life, with each chapter acting as a stand-alone, deeply personal essay. Wu began participating in community theater as child looking for acceptance and an outlet for her powerful emotions. She struggled with overcoming her continual casting as the ingénue, fighting for more diverse roles and eventually finds sitcom fame as the tiger mom on TV's Fresh off the Boat. Wu takes full responsibility for the more complicated times and relationships in her life—estrangements with her sister and mother, fights with friends, and love affairs that fizzled out. She candidly describes her experiences with date rape and sexual harassment, culminating in her social media meltdown and a backlash that led to her being taken off her balcony and sent to a hospital. Wu's writing shines when she explores the seemingly simple yet meaningful loves of her life—her pet rabbit, her first car, her childhood neighbors, and her first job in a bakery. VERDICT Wu's mea culpa is a moving study in self-acceptance that will win her more fans.—Lisa Henry

Library Journal

Author/narrator Constance Wu, star of CRAZY RICH ASIANS and "Fresh Off the Boat," moves listeners with her raw memoir. Raised to suppress her emotions and avoid making a scene, Wu reflects upon various memorable moments and their impact on her as a person. Each memory is cleverly set up as a scene on set. In the first half of the audiobook Wu struggles to engage the listener with her conversational delivery and lackluster anecdotes, but she hits her stride with both content and performance in the second half. She candidly shares intimate details of her experiences of sexual assault and harassment and of her infamous tweet. She also sheds light on the pressures she’s faced and her mental health struggles. The result is poignant and relatable. V.T.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile

Author/narrator Constance Wu, star of CRAZY RICH ASIANS and "Fresh Off the Boat," moves listeners with her raw memoir. Raised to suppress her emotions and avoid making a scene, Wu reflects upon various memorable moments and their impact on her as a person. Each memory is cleverly set up as a scene on set. In the first half of the audiobook Wu struggles to engage the listener with her conversational delivery and lackluster anecdotes, but she hits her stride with both content and performance in the second half. She candidly shares intimate details of her experiences of sexual assault and harassment and of her infamous tweet. She also sheds light on the pressures she’s faced and her mental health struggles. The result is poignant and relatable. V.T.M. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine

OCTOBER 2022 - AudioFile

2022-07-27
An acclaimed actor “taught not to make scenes” as a young girl explores how “scenes” from her life have made her into the woman she became.

In her first book, Wu, best known for her roles in the TV show Fresh Off the Boat and the film Crazy Rich Asians, reflects on the experiences that transformed her from a shy girl into a self-confident performer able to create meaningful, stereotype-defying characters. The American-born daughter of Taiwanese immigrants, Wu, who dreamed of a professional acting career, assimilated well into the conservative White Virginia suburb where she grew up. Yet the Asian actors she saw often made her want to cringe for the way they brought attention to the “Asian-ness” Wu could not entirely accept in herself. It wasn’t until she began studying drama in college that the author began to dig within herself to find what could truly make her characters come alive. In her personal life, Wu deepened her emotional maturity with lessons in love while also experiencing the turmoil caused by a traumatic sexual experience. “I didn’t feel attacked or assaulted or coerced and I certainly didn’t feel raped,” she writes. “Strange as it sounds, the word ‘rape’ didn’t even occur to me.” After moving to California for her acting career, she began to educate herself on rape culture. Her awakening, however, could not protect her from Hollywood anti-feminism or her own desire to be a “cool girl” who could brush off casual misogyny. As she gained professional visibility and acclaim, Wu found herself at the mercy of an Asian American producer who intimidated and sexually harassed her. Theessays—parts of which she cleverly imagines as stage scenes—are intimate and rich in emotional detail. However, the time shifts and occasional lack of thematic connection sometimes limit the impact of the author’s message.

Disjointed in spots but thoughtful and often inspirational.

Kirkus Reviews