SUN's striking beauty Kelly Hu combines traditional values with a '90s attitude
Like her character, SUN's Kelly Hu (Rae) is a modern woman with traditional values -- although sometimes Hu's real-life values
seem to be diametrically opposed. "Maybe that comes from being of Chinese background, living in a Western society," muses hu,
who is Chinese-Hawaiian-English. "East meets with West in my life often. I was born and raised a Roman Catholic, yet we had
statues of Quan Yin all over the house. We leave slips of paper around the house with words that are supposed to guard against evil,
but we have a cross hanging over the doorway."
Like Rae, who is pretending to be married to Casey to avoid a prearranged marriage set up by her traditional Chinese parents, Hu
would not be too pleased if her family expected her to go through with such an arrangement. But she recognizes that prearranged
marriages do have some positive aspects. Friends her own age, from Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia, have successful marriages
arranged by their parents. "The idea of 'arranged' is a bit more flexible these days," says the former Miss Teen USA. "It's not
arranged from birth, but there is a particular small group of potential partners from which to choose.
"There is a certain respect for the other person and their family, too," Hu explains. "There's an understanding of each other based on
growing up in the same culture, social status and beliefs. Married partners spend time discovering each other rather than having
unrealistic expectations. There's a clear idea of what's expected. Male and female roles are pretty well defined.
"In modern society, with roles so less clearly defined, sometimes it's hard for either party to know were to stand," she adds. "Many
people like the comfort of knowing where they belong. I think that's important for children, to see what Mom does and Dad does,
and how it differs and where it's similar."
But failure in such marriages is not an option. "I think those marriages survive because they have to," Hu observes. "There is no
divorce."
Although Hu's parents haven't picked a soul mate for their daughter, their own marriage has influenced her views on matrimony. Her
parents divorced when she was quite young, which left Hu "always afraid of marriage," she remembers. "Many of my friends have
divorced parents, too," Hu says. "I just think people tend to jump into marriage too quickly. I take it very seriously."
Hu marveled that a member of the NBC production crew married a woman he knew for only two months. "That's something I could
never, ever, imagine myself doing," she says. "It would just be too scary! I'd rather stay single and live with a person for 15 years
rather than get married for the sake of being married."
Hu had a five-year, long-distance relationship with a beau who lived in London. They talked about getting married, but the situation
became convoluted. "I realized this was just way too serious. We'd be married!"
Presently, Hu is dating an Iranian Moslem, Ali Moussavi, an investment banker whom she met through mutual friends over a year
ago. "We're both very self-sufficient and independent people," she says.
And maybe that's because Hu's been exposed to so many different cultures in her young life. "In Hawaii, we're in the crosscurrent of
many cultures," she observes. "Although I'm Chinese, and so is my character, I can't speak Chinese. I do know some Japanese,
though, because it was taught in school and I have a Japanese godfather. We talk in broken Japanese. But I can't speak in Chinese
to my grandmother."
Hu hasn't though about when -- or if -- she'll marry. She does muse about having children, however, perhaps adopting a child one
day "But I don't see it happening any time soon," she says. "It's a huge responsibility. I can't even keep a pet, much less think about
raising a child."
