The 100 star Shannon Kook has opened up about Asian and mixed-race representation in TV and movies, sharing that he has turned down problematic roles in his career.

The actor plays Monty and Harper's son Jordan Green in The 100, which returns for its sixth season later this month. The CW drama is credited for having a diverse group of characters, and when asked by Digital Spy, Kook said that the topic of representation is something that's often on his mind, both in the industry and in his life.

Kook's father is from Mauritius and is Chinese, while his South African mother is mixed.

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"I think about it every day, just interacting with people," he said.

"I'm sad to say it's constantly on my mind, but… having grown up a certain way and experiencing certain racism from non-ethnic and ethnic people alike – from my own race and from people outside of my own race, stereotypes from the industry, patterns and sorts from friends, sometimes people say things out of line that you just think is not very enlightened – it's something that's always been with me.

"So I've definitely carried it forward into every role I approach. You get caught in a corner a lot of the time. I have been expected to be a certain stereotype of what an Asian man is. For years. And I've turned down many roles or I've played roles differently.

"You also want your foot in the industry to be able to have a voice."

Related: The 100's Shannon Kook teases season 6 will be a "turbulent ride"

Kook added that it's not just about Asian stereotypes, and that mixed-race people are often overlooked by the industry as well. "I find a lot of the time that the industry is expecting me to be a diluted version of myself to fit what they have portrayed as what Asian men are," he explained.

"And not even just Asian men, also mixed people. I think mixed people have a very muted voice at the moment, because there's such a pressure to be ethnic or not ethnic that it's so easy for mixed people to have no identity.

"It's like you're suddenly stamped, branded – for a lack of a better term – with the identity of a race, which is frustrating. I've wanted to be able to take it beyond a race or a gender or a sexual orientation or a nation.

"People will never be the same, and I think that's the beauty of who we are. It comes down to having the breadth to have an open ear and to try to understand something that is not you. Even though you may not feel or breathe the same way, as long as there is a will to understand."

Photography: MK McGehee | Lighting & Digital: Alexander Fenyves | Location: Concrete Studios LA | Grooming: Jessie Maranda | Styling: Eric Owes | Production Assistant: Sarah Portillo

Kook, who has also featured in The Conjuring, Dark Places, and Shadowhunters, said that he draws from his own personal experiences to play his characters on TV and film. In addition to being mixed-race, the actor was raised in South Africa before moving to Canada.

"I've tried in my roles to portray a certain strength or depth as someone of ethnicity and someone who is mixed and someone who struggles with identity, being from South Africa," he shared. "I have Asian blood, I have black blood, I have white blood.

"And I'm an immigrant in Canada and I've lived in Montreal and now Vancouver, so I try to bring a depth of scope, because I know I had no role models as a child on TV and I could feel just the way boys and girls treated me in school, on sports fields or in many situations.

"I see South Africa as a mother and Canada as a father. As a person, I'm grateful for both. They've both formed me into the person that I am.

Sanja Bucko Warner Bros.

"Ethnicity is often a large presence in my mind, but I try not to make it about that because I don't just want it to be about my ethnicity. But it is a reality.

"I'm definitely seeing some wonderful progress with Crazy Rich Asians, and I just saw Captain Marvel and I love Gemma Chan. I'd love to work with her. I've loved her performance in everything I've seen her in so far.



"And now they're making an Asian superhero at Marvel. He's martial arts-based of course, but it's still a step that Marvel's taking, bringing an Asian superhero into the universe."

The 100 season 6 premieres on The CW in the US on Tuesday, April 30. E4 airs the show in the UK.



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