SYFY’s Van Helsing is known for its vampires and blood, but it’s also known as a show with stellar representation of several different underrepresented communities. The fantasy/horror drama represents the AAPI, BIPOC, Queer communities, and shows just how strong and important women are. PopWire was able to speak with Jennifer Cheon Garcia, who plays Ivory on the series, and discuss the importance of accurate representation for these communities.
Jennifer was born and raised in British Columbia to immigrant parents from Korea and Mexico, and grew up never really seeing herself represented on TV. “I was watching Sarah Connor and Angelina Jolie… and something that all of those women have in common is they are white, they have light skin,” Garcia tells us. “I was just like, ‘Man, I want to see myself up there.’ I want to be the person that my younger self needed growing up.”
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The actress’s main drive is to be seen by people who feel like her and let them know that they’re here in this world, they do exist, and they are valid. “Yes, I love acting and the craft and all of that great stuff that comes with the film industry, but my main focus is like, ‘I need them to see me!’ Like, ‘we’re not alone!’”
Garcia is thrilled to see that other shows are beginning to step it up in the diversity department as well, pointing out that several of her co-stars are working on other projects outside of Van Helsing. “It’s great to see so many other shows too, that it’s not just Van Helsing. There’s so many other shows coming up. And you’ve seen, Nicole’s [Muñoz] off doing something else. Keeya’s [King] off doing something else. I’m off doing something else. So other shows are still representing everybody.”
It may have taken too long, and there may still be a long way to go in terms of accurate representation for everyone, but Jennifer chooses to remain optimistic about the future. “It’s a little long overdue, I mean this is 2021 guys,” she says. “But at least it’s happening, so I am choosing to be optimistic that it’ll stay this way.”
Jennifer is accomplishing her goals in terms of representing several underrepresented communities and giving them a platform to be seen. “For so long you just kinda just try to live to exist and to be a part of the world. It took some time to get people in the industry to be able to see us and to know how to bring us into their stories, and to be able to be a part of that just means that I’m doing what I set out to do.”
Van Helsing airs Fridays at 10pm on Syfy.