âIlluminating.â âThe Washington Post * âCandid and relatable.â âTime *âRiveting and personal.â âMindy Kaling * âCaptivatingly immediate.â âThe Skimm *
A âpoignant, frank, and intimateâ (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. âGood girls donât make scenes,â people warned her. And while she spent most of her childhood suppressing her bold, emotional nature, she found an early outlet in community theaterâit was the one place where big feelings were okayâwere good, even. Acting became her refuge, and eventually her vocation. At eighteen she moved to New York, where sheâd 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 âmade itâ in Hollywood. Raw, relatable, and enthralling, Making a Scene is an intimate portrait of the pressures and pleasures of existing in todayâs world.