Turning Red 's Rosalie Chiang, 16, Reveals How Movie Changed Relationship with Her Parents
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Rosalie Chiang and family
Rosalie Chiang is reflecting on how her work in Turning Red affected her relationship with her own parents.
In the newest Disney/Pixar film, streaming now on Disney+, Rosalie voices Mei Lee, a 13-year-old from Toronto who suddenly starts turning into a giant red panda whenever her emotions get the best of her.
The movie touches on plenty of adolescence-related topics that might make a typical teen wary. For Rosalie, 16, Turning Red had a positive side effect in her own household because the family dynamic portrayed was "oddly similar" to her own.
When asked whether her relationship with her own mother and father changed between the time before the movie came out and now, she tells PEOPLE, "I'd say maybe slightly because we're more aware."
But "the beauty" of Turning Red, according to Rosalie, "is that there's no villain. The mom's not the villain, Mei is not the villain. There's no bad person. They have conflict, but they all have their flaws and their high points and anyone can relate to it."
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Disney/Pixar Turning Red (2022)
The actress's parents have been super supportive about her voice role, congratulating her for a job well done after they saw it, telling Rosalie how "proud" they were of her.
"They've supported me in my acting career for so long. And to finally see their work pay off was such a rewarding experience," she tells PEOPLE.
Rosalie has known she wanted to be an actor since she was 8 or 9 years old, explaining, "My parents let me watch a lot of TV, especially Disney Channel. And I would watch it and I'd think I want to do the same thing as well."
But when she told her parents about her career ambition, "At first, my mom, she's like, 'What do you mean?' She said, 'I'll just print out a picture and you can tape it onto the TV,' " Rosalie recalls.
Eventually, though, her parents realized she was serious about acting — and while her mom "was a little hesitant because it's a risky business," Rosalie says, "my dad was like, 'Just take acting classes and we'll go from there.' And then here we are."
Today, the young star's biggest hope for anyone seeing Turning Red is that they soak up the film's big message that "change is okay."
"I think the red panda encompasses anything. I've talked to a lot of reporters and they've picked up their own message from the film," she tells PEOPLE. "I think that's really interesting, that it's so universal that anyone can take anything from this film. Because it's all these different genres combined — coming-of-age, it's comedy. It's all that."
Turning Red is streaming now on Disney+.
