Chloé Wang (; born April 18, 1992),
known professionally as Chloe Bennet, is an American actress and singer. She starred as
Daisy Johnson/Quake in the
ABC superhero drama series ''
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
''Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' is an American television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and L ...
'' (2013–2020).
Early life
Chloe Bennet was born Chloé Wang on April 18, 1992, in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...
.
She is the daughter of Bennet Wang,
an investment banker
and Stephanie Crane, an
internist.
Bennet's mother is
Anglo-American
Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...
and her father is
Chinese.
She has seven brothers: four biological, two foster and one adopted; two are of
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
ancestry and one is of Mexican and Filipino descent.
She attended
St. Ignatius College Prep
Saint Ignatius College Prep is a selective private, coeducational Jesuit college-preparatory school located in the Near West Side neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The school was founded in Chicago in 1869 by Fr. Arnold Damen, S.J., a Dutch ...
.
Career
2007–2011: Music debut and acting beginnings
In 2007, at age 15, Bennet moved to China to pursue a singing career,
under her birth name, Chloé Wang (). While in China, Bennet lived with her paternal grandmother and studied
Mandarin
Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to:
Language
* Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country
** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China
** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
.
Back in the US, she released two singles, both in 2011: "Uh Oh" and "Every Day in Between".

In 2010 she moved to
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wo ...
.
Her first on-screen appearance was as a host for the short-lived
TeenNick summer dance series ''
The Nightlife''. She appeared in the 2011 music video for
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n band
BIGBANG's "
Tonight". While pursuing an acting career in Hollywood, she changed her name to "Chloe Bennet," after having trouble booking gigs with her last name. According to Bennet, using her father's first name, rather than his last name avoids difficulties being cast as an ethnic
Asian American
Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...
while respecting her father.
2012–present: Breakthrough
From 2012 to 2013, she had a recurring supporting role in the
ABC drama series ''
Nashville'' as Hailey.
In December 2012, she was cast as a series regular on the ABC series ''
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'',
which premiered on September 24, 2013. Bennet portrayed a hacker known as Skye, who was revealed to be
Daisy Johnson / Quake in the second season. Bennet was awarded the "Visionary Award" by
East West Players, the longest-running professional theater of color in the United States, on April 21, 2017, at their annual gala. She dedicated her award "to all the little girls who want to be a superhero; I'm just a half Chinese girl from the southside of Chicago."
In 2019, Bennet was cast in the lead role as Yi in the animated film ''
Abominable''. She appeared in the 2020 film ''
Valley Girl'', a
jukebox musical remake of the
1983 film of the same name, as Karen, the "Queen Bee". The film was originally scheduled for release in June 2018, but was postponed due to controversy around one of its cast members,
Logan Paul.
In March 2021, she was cast as
Blossom Utonium in the upcoming CW live-action pilot ''Powerpuff'', alongside
Dove Cameron as Bubbles and Yana Perrault as Buttercup. However, after a decision to reshoot the
pilot episode
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other dist ...
and subsequent scheduling conflicts, Bennet left the project in August 2021.
Personal life
In 2018, she revealed that she has had
anxiety
Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil
Turmoil may refer to:
* ''Turmoil'' (1984 video game), a 1984 video game released by Bug-Byte
* ''Turmoil'' (2016 video game), a 2016 indie oil tycoon video ...
and
ADHD since childhood.
Bennet has described the American film and television industry as racist against Asian Americans and other people of Asian descent. In a 2016 interview, she noted, "Oh, the first audition I went on after I changed my name
rom Wang to Bennet
Rom, or ROM may refer to:
Biomechanics and medicine
* Risk of mortality, a medical classification to estimate the likelihood of death for a patient
* Rupture of membranes, a term used during pregnancy to describe a rupture of the amniotic sac
* ...
I got booked. So that's a pretty clear little snippet of how Hollywood works."
In September 2017, after actor
Ed Skrein stepped down from his role as Major
Ben Daimio in the then-in production film ''
Hellboy
Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a t ...
'' following backlash over the fact that Skrein, a white actor, was playing Daimio, a character who is
Japanese-American in the ''
Hellboy
Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a t ...
'' comics, Bennet wrote a since-deleted post on
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
in which she applauded Skrein's decision, and addressed her own experiences as an actress of Asian descent in Hollywood, saying, "Changing my last name doesn't change the fact that my BLOOD is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese. It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn't cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable."
Filmography
Film
Television
Music videos
Discography
Singles
See also
*
History of the Chinese Americans in Chicago
The Chicago metropolitan area has an ethnic Chinese population. As of 2010, there are 43,228 Chinese Americans who live in Chicago, 1.6% of the city's population. This population includes native-born Chinese as well as immigrants from Mainland Ch ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennet, Chloe
1992 births
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
Actresses from Chicago
Models from Chicago
American actresses of Chinese descent
American film actresses
American soap opera actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
American models
American musicians of Chinese descent
Living people
St. Ignatius College Prep alumni