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Ahney Her

Ahney Her had little idea that a soccer game would change her life. In her sophomore year, at a school soccer match in Lansing, Michigan, the 16 year-old Her impulsively answered an open call sign-up for an acting job. Having studied drama for three years, Her was dubious about the call for Hmong (an ethnic group comprised of Chinese, Vietnamese, Laos and Thai) for work in a Hollywood feature film, but nevertheless took the chance and was later asked to an audition. Shortly afterward, she learned that she had been selected for a feature role in actor-director Clint Eastwood's production of "Gran Torino." Although Eastwood had tried to hire professional Hmong actors, because so few were registered with the Screen Actors Guild, he was forced to go into Hmong communities in search of his supporting cast. Along with several other first-time actors, Her assisted in creating a Detroit Hmong neighborhood where Eastwood's disgruntled and prejudiced Korean War veteran lives, playing the older sister of a character played by another novice, Bee Vang. Despite the extraordinary success of the film, Her's head was not turned and she completed her high school studies. In 2011, at the age of nineteen, Her co-starred with long-time actor Ernest Borgnine in "Night Club," about three students who start a club in a retirement home in order to put themselves through college.