What’s Sydney Agudong’s Ethnicity? How the Lilo & Stitch Star’s Background Raised Questions for Native Hawaiians
Lilo & Stitch has been a beloved and classic Disney film ever since it came out in theaters in the early 2000s. The story about a little Hawaiian girl Lilo and her alien pet Stitch resonated with many families out there. Now that the animated movie has a live-action remake, people are taking a closer look at the casting
Disney casted young newcomer Maia Kealoha as Lilo and Sydney Agudong as her bold older sister Nani. The two developed a special bond backstage and embraced their closeness. “Throughout the making of this film, it allowed me to kind of really take into account how much of the Hawaiian community puts an emphasis on kuleana and family and ohana in that sort of way,” Agudong told Good Morning America. Kuleana is a Hawaiian term that means a responsibility to care for one’s land and community. Ohana is central to the film’s message—meaning family but with the strong emphasis that “nobody gets left behind or forgotten.”
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However, Agudong’s background raised eyebrows ever since she was cast for the role.
What is Sydney Agudong’s ethnicity?
Sydney Agudong is of Filipino, white, and Polynesian descent. She was born and raised in Kauai, Hawaii, alongside her sister Siena Agudong, who is also an actress.
When she was announced as the role of Nani, people criticized the fact that she was not a Native Hawaiian with dark features. Native Hawaiians are people who have Indigenous Hawaiian ancestry, and non-Indigenous Hawaiian residents who were born and raised in Hawaii are not considered Native. “Not being Indigenous or from a PoC community, it may not be easy to see a problem with this casting, but within our communities this is a big issue,” one person wrote on X. “No offense to Sydney, but Nani is Indigenous Hawaiian with strong features and dark skin, this casting is blatant colorism.”
Other fans pointed out that Nani’s skin color and life as a Native Hawaiians are very crucial to the themes of the animated film. “nani is meant to portray the experience of natives who visibly are ethnically native, and the struggle of keeping family together with the looming threat of tourist settlers and increase of housing prices. the movie portrays the life of local hawaiians,” one person wrote. Another person shared the same sentiments, “The conflict occurring in Lilo and Stitch being about the colonialist state attempting to pull this tiny ‘broken’ native Hawaiian family apart is made more apparent by their both being darker skinned girls Casting a lighter skinned Hawaiian to play Nani interferes with that.”
Tia Carrere, who voices Nani in the animated film and is also of Filipino descent and raised in Hawaii, played Nani and Lilo’s social worker in the live-action film. Agudong looked up to her as inspiration while filming “really wanted to have a conversation” with Carrere before she was even cast in the remake.
“She did create such an iconic version of Nani that I wanted to make sure I was doing my due diligence on that end,” Agudong explained to ScreenRant. “And getting to speak with her was such a blessing, and she instantly made me feel comfortable and free, and gave me that passing of the generations, and that blessing to kind of explore my own avenue as an artist. That was really, really meaningful to me.”
