Yuna Quotes

Sometimes my ethnicity is relevant, other times not. I definitely get the best of both worlds.

I get that question almost more than any other. Once people feel a little comfortable, they're always like, 'So, what, uh, uh, what, um, what's your ethnicity?'

Wherever I go, people ask: 'What is she? What is she?' There has always been an agenda - they're excluding me or including me in something with that question. It is the first thing agents in Los Angeles ask me. And then I'd hear: 'You're not black enough, you're too black, you're Italian - no, you're Spanish.'

I say I have Spanish in me, but I'm not just Spanish. I'm proud of my ethnicities, and I will always be proud of being a Filipino.

I do not want my name to be presented to the public as an Indian, but as a pitcher.

I feel more Jewish than I do Iranian.

I really didn't grow up religious, and I didn't grow up acknowledging my Muslim identity. For me, I was a British Pakistani.

I feel more Scottish than Norman.

I look like I'm Chinese or Thai or Japanese - very different.

I was the only black girl at my junior high school. I had an afro, a Jamaican accent, I looked really old.

All of us are so mixed. My great-grandfather was white.

My dad's family is part British and Austrian, and my mother's family is from Goa, which is in the south of India. I looked different from everyone else, which now is such a blessing. It was harder at the beginning of my career.

I've known where my heritage is from all along.

The Africans know I'm not an African. I'm an American.

I'm Irish and always will be, but America has taught me so much. Maybe it's here in the U.S. that we find a healing, for in the broader melting pot we get to look at some of these self-destructive attributes that we bring to bear upon our own quarrels and begin to solve them in ways other than just splitting apart.

The way I see it is that all the ol' guff about being Irish is a kind of nonsense. I mean, I couldn't be anything else no matter what I tried to be. I couldn't be Chinese or Japanese.

I discovered that there is Indian blood in my ancestry on my father's side - a fact that had not been talked about in my family. No wonder I've often been cast in exotic roles - Indian princesses, Russian revolutionaries, Algerians, Gypsies and Greeks.

I struggled with being a Latino growing up in Los Angeles. I felt very American. I still do. I went to 35 bar mitzvahs before I went to a single quinceanera. I could talk all day about my culture and what it means to me.

There's a big difference between race and culture. Because racially, I'm an Indian man. Culturally, not at all.

Sure, I've listed myself as Cuban-American. That's my heritage and my background.

I've grown up in a very diverse background.

Ah, the Wrecking Crew! They played on everything that came out of L.A. Oh, that was a good band. You really enjoyed going to work. You played for everyone; it didn't matter what it was.

My mom is African-American, Native-American, Irish, and Creole, and my father is of Jewish, Russian, and Polish descent. It's made me who I am. Because of my diverse background, I think I can relate to many different people, different stories, and different communities.

I remember going to Taiwan for the first time and... I didn't realize that everyone looked like me here and what that'd feel like.

The experience of being a mixed person is all over the place - one of my best friends is Chinese and Italian; my other best friend is Lebanese and Trinidadian. The mix of heritage, culture or identity is something that our country is built on.