“Lizzie McGuire” star Lalaine Vergara-Paras took to Instagram Wednesday, opening up about masking her ethnicity for the Disney show growing up.
“These days I struggle to find photos where I look as ethnic as possible.”
Vergara-Paras spoke about being out of touch with her Filipino heritage since for “most of my life growing up I was forced to look as ‘white’ as possible.”
She posted a photo of herself in a feather top and floral print skirt, adding how it’s hard to tell her ethnicity.
“Or like in this photo the most East Asian I’ve ever looked,” she captioned the photo. “In order to see, for most people, you have to zoom in on ma face.”
But Vergara-Paras isn’t complaining about her face.
“In case you still don’t understand, I love my face in this photo,” she said.
Throughout her Disney Channel days, Vergara-Paras was referred to by only her first name, Lalaine, as her last name was deemed “too ethnic.”
Vergara-Paras played Miranda Sanchez, a Mexican-American student, in “Lizzie McGuire” from 2001 to 2004. Sanchez was best friends with Hilary Duff’s titular character.