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Ahney Her

Ahney Her is an American film actor whose screen career began with a major studio drama while she was still in high school. Born and raised in Lansing, Michigan, Her attended Sexton High School and studied drama at a local talent school for three years before landing her first film role. That debut came in Clint Eastwood’s 2008 film Gran Torino. Her was cast after responding to an open-call sign-up at a soccer tournament, where the production was specifically seeking potential Hmong actors. She later recalled her disbelief at seeing a sign advertising a Clint Eastwood movie looking for Hmong performers—a chance that seemed too unlikely to be real. In Gran Torino, Eastwood plays a Korean War veteran who becomes involved with a Hmong American family in his Detroit neighborhood. Her plays Sue Lor, the intelligent and witty older sister of Thao Vang Lor, portrayed by Bee Vang. The part gave Her a substantial character to play in her first movie, and she was only 16 when the film opened in wide release on January 9, 2009. She was also in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the film’s first local screening at Celebration! Cinemas North that same day. Her returned to film in 2011 with the action comedy Night Club, playing Nikki alongside Zachary Abel, Natasha Lyonne, Ernest Borgnine and Mickey Rooney. Moving from the neighborhood drama of Gran Torino to an ensemble action comedy gave her early film work a notable change of pace. Although her screen credits represented here are limited, her path into movies remains distinctive: local drama training, an open casting call and a first role that placed her opposite Eastwood in a widely released feature.