Filipina American Elizabeth Frances is in her biggest role yet.
She plays Prairie Flower on the AMC series, Son.
Frances was born to a Filipino American mother and White-Cherokee father and has been a frequent visitor to the Philippines since she’s been young.
“Being mixed in the States [is] growing up really feeling American, but knowing that I’m identified in a certain way because of how I look – but then wanting to also be responsible to the cultures that I come from,” she said to the Inquirer.
On Son, Frances channels the Native American side of her family. She is adopted by the Comanches after her parents were killed by White settlers.
It’s a role she can identify with as family is a big part of her life.
“I remember, at an early age, thinking, ‘I need to get to a place where, when my parents get old, I can take care of them’” – something that people in the US don’t usually think about, she said.
In an interview with Preen, she said her classmates encouraged her to be an actress as far back as grade school when she decided to act out her school report, rather than just read it.
At age 12, she walked into a theater on her own and asked them to teach her Shakespeare. Nonetheless, her rise in the profession has been a struggle.
It was hard and it was really competitive. I remember when I graduated college, we had a big writer’s strike in LA and the economy tanked that year so there were no jobs. I did jobs in theater instead. I was able to thrive that way. I always loved it…I got a little obsessive. I studied everything, I saw every play that I could. I would watch movies and plays and read books. It doesn’t feel like work when you love especially when you’re not getting paid at first.
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