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GENERAL HOSPITAL

GH’s Cassandra James Opens Up About Her “Lonely” Experiences in Hollywood

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The month of May is designated as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, a time to celebrate the history and contributions of the AAPI community in the United States. Earlier in the month, media company DotDash Meredith brought together several prominent AAPI influencers — including GENERAL HOSPITAL star Cassandra James (Terry) — for a roundtable panel to discuss representation in the news and media.

James is a Chinese-American woman born in California and raised in Canada. She is also a trans woman. According to a report on People.com, the actress shared during the panel discussion that she often felt that because of her background, the odds were stacked against her to succeed as a performing artist in Hollywood. “My experience has been pretty lonely and pretty isolated,” James confessed.

The GH star agreed with her fellow panelists that there have definitely been more Asian-Americans visible across various media platforms in recent years — but that there needs to be even more. “Absolutely, I do echo what everyone has said, that representation is really, really shifting,” James pointed out. “But I’m still very used to being the only Asian in the room. I’m certainly the only trans Asian in the room, almost all the time.”

GH Terry Chet
James got a taste of a soapy love story when Terry started dating Chet.ABC/Craig Sjodin

Being a trans woman of Asian heritage working in Hollywood, James shared that she has a huge weight on her shoulders. “I just feel a sense of responsibility and I just want to bring my authentic humanity to what I do,” she said. “I think sometimes when our identities are politicized… for me as an artist, as an actor, it can be kind of daunting. And it’s hard to navigate at times.”

Ever since she joined the cast of GH over three years ago, James has been an outspoken advocate about the visibility of trans people and those of AAPI heritage in Hollywood. She has been the focus of several videos and posts on the soap’s social media channels about Trans Day of Visibility, Pride Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

Stay tuned to watch James continue to raise awareness about AAPI representation and bring visibility to the trans community through her work on GH.

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