Gran Torino family

  Whitney (Ahney) Her

Ahney Her, who grew up as Whitney, is the same kind of self-possessed young woman in life as she plays on camera. The sixteen-year-old from Lansing, Michigan plays Sue, Tao’s bossy older sister and Walt’s guide into the Hmong family.

Ahney has been a performer for years. Mostly she did hip hop dance with a group of friends and cousins. One day in her teens she watched a video of herself that had been taped when she was 4 or 5 years old. She suddenly realized that she’d been acting all her life. She enrolled in drama classes at a local talent school and put in three years of training.

But she never thought the unimaginable would happen to her. She happened to be at a soccer tournament in Detroit when she heard about the Gran Torino auditions. One of the last to audition, she never expected a thing. “Who would think that some random girl like me would get it? With all the Hmong that auditioned in Minnesota…?”

On set, she stepped up to the plate effortlessly. “It’s really fun. Amazing!” She loves meeting all the new people. “I feel at home with the script. And with being a different character.”

“Clint Eastwood is the most humble person I’ve ever worked with,” she exclaims. “The whole set is really calm. He makes you feel comfortable, gives you that vibe that you’ll be OK.”

Like so many of the actors, this experience might be life-changing. Ahney is serious about school and wants to go to university for interior design and photography. After Gran Torino she’s thinking she might apply to performing arts schools.

She also never thought about Hmong movies until now. “They’re pretty corny. I wouldn’t have acted in them. But I probably would now…”.

Ahney recalls that some people questioned whether she could handle a lead role in a Clint Eastwood movie. She brims with self-confidence: “I said I was pretty sure I could – and look!” She loves the improvisation on set, even when she has to do translation between Hmong and English. “It’s fun and very natural, too. I’m learning to be open-minded with the script. You just have to have faith in yourself.”

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