Kristen Cui
Who Is Kristen Cui?
Kristen Cui is a Chinese-American child actress who is well known for her performance in Knock at the Cabin (2023) and CaliStar: Don’t Give Up (2022).
She is natural. She is fearless. She is the kind of young performer who makes seasoned directors stop and take notice.
Knock at the Cabin was 9-year-old Kristen Cui’s first movie. It was also the first movie for which she auditioned.
Furthermore, Kristen Cui is known for Knock at the Cabin (2023), Slanted (2025), and CaliStar: Don’t Give Up (2022).
Kristen told UPI in an interview: “I’ve always had this interest because I wanted to see myself on a billboard and on a TV screen.”
At just 12 years old, Kristen Cui has already appeared in a major Universal Pictures horror thriller, a SXSW award-winning body horror comedy, and a widely viewed music video. She has walked red carpets, appeared on IMDb on the Scene — Interviews, and shown the world that her extraordinary maturity as a performer is not just promise — it is already reality.
Early Life: A New York Childhood With Deep Chinese Roots
Born in New York, Raised With Asian Values
Kristen Cui was born on 6 August 2013 in New York, United States. Her nationality is American and her zodiac sign is Leo. Her ethnicity is Asian — of Chinese-Korean descent.
Kristen Cui is not only of Chinese but also of Chinese-Korean descent, reportedly from New York. Her parents have made sure that their daughter learns to be proud of their Asian culture and values as she grows up.
New York — the city that never sleeps, the city that launches careers and forges character — is the backdrop of Kristen Cui’s childhood. Growing up there, surrounded by the energy of one of the world’s most creative cities, gave her early exposure to performance, diversity, and ambition.
She was born under the Leo zodiac sign. Leo is traditionally associated with creative confidence, natural charisma, and a desire to be seen. These qualities describe Kristen Cui’s on-screen presence perfectly — even at the age of nine.
A Family That Believed Before the World Did
Kristen Cui’s father is Tyler Cui, who owns a metal scrap shop named Kkc Utica Inc.
Her mother played a vital role in her acting career — training and supporting her from a very young age.
Her mother recognized her daughter’s talent for acting and began teaching her the basics at home.
She is a talented child and her parents tried their best to show all the colors of her life.
This is one of the most important chapters of Kristen Cui’s story. Before any audition tape. Before any director. Before any camera. It was her mother — sitting with her at home, teaching her how to feel and express — who built the foundation of everything Kristen has since achieved.
Social Media: Managed by Mom, Loved by Fans
Kristen is active on social media platforms such as Instagram. Her IG profile is managed by her parents. Her Instagram handle is @kristencui_acts.
On Instagram, in her bio, it was mentioned that she loves golf, ice-skating, piano, drawing, and horror flicks.
She celebrated the Lunar New Year and wished her fans as well.
The parental management of her social media reflects a family that is serious about protecting their daughter’s childhood while allowing her public profile to grow organically and safely.
Education: School Comes First
Kristen said that until her next role, she is attending fourth grade. “I’m excited to see what’s next. When I’m not shooting, I’m just in school.”
Kristen attends a private school in her regional city.
This grounded, matter-of-fact approach to education — treating school not as an obstacle to her career but as simply what she does when she is not working — reflects the balanced and healthy upbringing her parents have provided. Furthermore, it reveals a young person with clear priorities and a genuine understanding that talent alone is not enough.
Early Modeling Career: Building Confidence Before the Camera
USA ROOKIE Fashion Show (2021)
In 2021, she participated in the USA ROOKIE fashion show event.
This early modeling experience — stepping onto a runway at just seven or eight years old — gave Kristen her first taste of professional performance before an audience. It built the poise, the physical confidence, and the comfort with being watched that would later translate so powerfully to her film work.
100 Days Fashion Show (2019)
In June 2019, she modeled at the 100 Days Fashion Show.
At just six years old, Kristen Cui was already modeling professionally. Therefore, by the time she stepped in front of a film camera for the first time, she was already a seasoned presence in front of an audience — comfortable, composed, and confident.
Career: Three Major Screen Credits Before Her Twelfth Birthday
Music Video Debut: CaliStar: Don’t Give Up (2022)
In 2022, she made her music video debut in CaliStar: Don’t Give Up, directed by Ron Yuan.
Her first appearance was in the music video titled CaliStar: Don’t Give Up, where she was seen as Young Cali.
Her mother had gushed on a social media post at the time: “This one is a special one for me.”
Playing Young Cali in this music video was not simply a modelling job. It was a fully committed acting performance — embodying a younger version of the song’s protagonist with emotional authenticity and physical ease. This performance caught the attention of people in the industry. Additionally, it demonstrated that Kristen Cui could inhabit a character, not simply stand in front of a camera.
Knock at the Cabin (2023): A Dream Come True in a Nightmare Film
Then came the moment that changed everything.
Knock at the Cabin was 9-year-old Kristen Cui’s first movie. It was also the first movie for which she auditioned.
She said she had a Zoom call with director M. Night Shyamalan after he saw her audition tape — telling her that her dream was about to come true. “I just can’t believe I’m here sitting in this very chair talking to you right now,” Kristen said. “It’s hard to believe.”
The Character: Wen — The Emotional Core of the Film
In the movie, Kristen Cui plays Wen — the seven-year-old adopted daughter of Andrew (actor Ben Aldridge) and Eric (actor Jonathan Groff). As the story begins, Wen and her parents are vacationing at a remote cabin when they are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse.
The four armed assailants — played by Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint — instruct the family to sacrifice one of their members in order to stop the end of the world.
Playing Wen required Kristen to portray fear, confusion, love, and grief — all at nine years old, in scenes alongside some of Hollywood’s most accomplished adult performers. She did so with a poise and emotional intelligence that stunned critics and audiences alike.
The Scar: 13 Minutes of Preparation Every Day
The film flashes back to when Eric and Andrew adopted Wen from an orphanage. She still has a scar from cleft lip surgery — which Kristen said was quick to place on her face every day before filming. “I think it took like 13 minutes or something,” Kristen said.
This small, physical detail — 13 minutes of prosthetic makeup applied every single morning to embody Wen’s backstory — reveals the extraordinary commitment to craft that Kristen Cui brought to her first-ever film role.
Filming in Pennsylvania: Close to Home
Knock at the Cabin’s filming location in Pennsylvania wasn’t too far from Kristen’s home in Queens, New York.
Therefore, even in her very first film — navigating an intense psychological thriller with one of cinema’s most celebrated genre directors — Kristen had the comfort of knowing home was nearby.
Dave Bautista and Rupert Grint: Legends on Set
She worked with Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy fame in the film Knock at the Cabin.
One of Leonard’s gang is played by Rupert Grint. Kristen said she had not begun the Harry Potter series before filming Knock at the Cabin, so she did not get a chance to talk to Grint about his role in the films as Ron Weasley.
This charming detail — a nine-year-old who had not yet watched Harry Potter working alongside Ron Weasley himself — captures the wonderfully ordinary nature of Kristen Cui’s extraordinary career. She was nine. She was excited. She was working alongside Hollywood legends.
IMDb on the Scene — Interviews (2023)
She was featured in an episode of IMDb on the Scene in 2023, appearing as herself.
IMDb on the Scene — Interviews is one of Hollywood’s most prestigious celebrity interview series. Appearing on it — as a nine-year-old making her film debut — placed Kristen alongside the most celebrated names in contemporary cinema.
Slanted (2025): SXSW Award-Winning Body Horror at the South by Southwest Film Festival
Slanted is a 2025 American body horror-comedy film written and directed by Amy Wang. The film stars Shirley Chen as a Chinese-American teenager who undergoes an experimental ethnic modification surgery to try and fit in at school, with Mckenna Grace playing her new identity.
Slanted starts in 2015 with young Joan (Kristen Cui) arriving in America with her family and feeling humiliated on her first day of school. After kids make fun of her eyes and mock her lunch, Joan sees assimilation as her only path to survival. She realizes she can achieve this by becoming prom queen.
The film premiered at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 8, 2025, as part of the Narrative Feature Competition. It was released in the United States on March 13, 2026, by Bleecker Street and Fox Entertainment Studios.
Kristen Cui’s role as young Joan — the foundational version of the film’s protagonist — is deeply personal and culturally resonant. She plays a young Chinese-American girl experiencing the painful reality of racial othering in America. Furthermore, given her own Chinese-Korean heritage, the role carries authentic emotional weight that transcends mere performance.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 68% of 72 critics’ reviews are positive.
Slanted confirmed what Knock at the Cabin had suggested. Kristen Cui is not a one-film child actress. She is a performer with a growing, serious, and increasingly celebrated body of work.
Management and Professional Representation
She is represented by Edge Entertainment Management and Jill Fritzo Public Relations — a New York-based firm that helps build the careers of celebrities, brands, and businesses across the globe in the entertainment industry.
This professional infrastructure — a dedicated talent management company and one of New York’s most respected entertainment PR firms — gives Kristen Cui the industry support needed to build a long-term, sustainable career in Hollywood.
Hobbies and Personal Interests
Kristen is interested in activities such as piano, drawing, and horror films. She also loves to play golf and ice skate. She also practices gymnastics to balance her strength and flexibility. Her favorite place is LEGOLAND, New York.
Kristen Cui loves to eat pizza, ice cream, waffles, and more junk food. She said in an interview that she wants to see herself on a billboard in the future. The famous child actress doesn’t like to watch horror movies.
She has also been practicing ice skating with a coach. She might as well also pursue a career as an ice skater in the future. She has also worked as a runway model and fashion model over the years.
This rich variety of interests — piano, drawing, gymnastics, golf, ice skating, and LEGO — reflects a childhood that is joyful, active, and full of creative exploration. Furthermore, the contrast between her love of horror films professionally and her dislike of watching them personally is one of the most charming details of her public persona.
