'Turning Red's Rosalie Chiang on literally growing up with her character, Meilin

Meilin is a confident-but-dorky teenager who “poofs” into a giant red panda at decidedly inconvenient times. – Disney+ Hotstar

In the latest Pixar movie, Turning Red, Meilin Lee is a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian student who wakes up one morning to discover that she has transformed into a giant red panda, courtesy of a family ‘blessing’ passed down from her ancestors. The transformation is triggered whenever she experiences strong emotions, which, for a growing 13-year-old girl torn between staying her mother’s dutiful daughter and the chaos of adolescence (while harbouring an obsession with boyband 4*Town) is pretty much ALL THE TIME.

The movie, directed by Domee Shi and now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar, is a coming-of-age story about the trials and challenges of growing up, with an emphasis on the life-changing experiences of puberty and what it means to be a girl on the cusp of adulthood.