When Jona Xiao joins our call, her energy fills the screen before the audio even settles. It’s early evening in Los Angeles, and she has just wrapped another recording session for Eyes of Wakanda, Marvel Animation’s bold new entry into the studio’s expanding universe. “I see myself as a fighter and a protector of people,” she says with quiet conviction. That line—half mission, half mantra— captures the arc of her entire life.
From Changsha to the Midwest
Xiao was born in Changsha, China, and immigrated to the United States as an infant. Her family first settled in New York before putting down roots in St. Louis, Missouri. She remembers being one of only a handful of Asian students in a graduating class of more than five hundred. “I experienced some racism and really struggled to feel a sense of belonging,” she recalls.
That longing for connection found its first outlet in sports. “The first time I felt a sense of belonging was through sports,” she says. She became an All-State lacrosse player—drawn to what she calls “teamwork and collaboration toward a common goal.” Athletics taught her the mechanics of resilience that she would later translate to acting.
At twelve, she took her first step toward performance. “I had to do Rappin’stiltskin—the rapping version of Rumpelstiltskin—and me rapping is a funny thing indeed,” she laughs. “I realized I love making people laugh and feel. That’s when I got so excited to be an actor someday.”
By the time she graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, Xiao was balancing psychology and business courses with auditions. “I loved watching film and TV growing up,” she says. “It was a haven for me to learn more about myself and the world.”
Breaking In, Breaking Down the System
Los Angeles offered opportunity—and hard lessons. “When I was young, I was scammed,” she says. “I made all the mistakes.” A fraudulent talent agency charged her family thousands and vanished. “I created an organization that I wish I’d had when I was navigating the business.”
That organization became Career ACTivate, now an established professional-development platform for actors. “For actors looking to get great representation, book more work, build genuine connections with people in the industry… I encourage them to check out CareerActivate.com,” she explains. The site offers free resources, blogs, and structured training rooted in real-world strategy rather than hype.
Her philosophy is direct. “When we want to see something in the world that doesn’t yet exist, maybe we need to make it happen,” she says. “If there’s something missing that we wish existed—why not us to create it?”
Hollywood, on Her Terms
Over the past decade, Xiao has built a portfolio defined by range: recurring roles on Starz’s Hightown and The Flash on CW; a voice role in Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon; and a brief turn—ultimately cut—from Spider-Man: Homecoming. The variety is intentional. She has long rejected the industry’s impulse to typecast.
That instinct finds new expression in Eyes of Wakanda, which premiered August 1 on Disney+. Produced by Marvel Studios Animation in collaboration with Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media, the series traces generations of Wakandan warriors tasked with retrieving lost Vibranium artifacts across time. Xiao voices Jorani, a newly created, ancient female Iron Fist—a revelation confirmed by Marvel in July 2025.
“She’s someone who I appreciate—her strength, but her vulnerability, too,” Xiao says. “She’s relatable and this young woman that fell in love and then felt hurt and betrayed. She’s powerful yet vulnerable and very clever. I think she’s someone both relatable and inspiring.”
The role marks the first time the Iron Fist mantle has been embodied by a woman in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also unites Xiao’s lifelong fascination with martial arts, mythology, and mentorship. In interviews with Authority Magazine and GO Magazine, she has said that when she auditioned, she didn’t know she was reading for Iron Fist until after booking the job. “Representation isn’t a finish line,” she told GO. “It’s about adding layers to the stories we tell.”
Gold Medals and Good Men
Her strength, however, isn’t confined to the screen. Sports remain her parallel calling. “I ended up in Guadalajara at the Gay Games and got picked up by a men’s team for the men’s division,” she remembers. “We ended up winning the gold medal.”
The experience was transformative. “I’d tell them, ‘I know I’m not normally part of your team, so I’m totally okay subbing whenever,’ and they were like, ‘No, you’re good. We want you to play.’ They helped coach me up, they were respectful, supportive—it was such a beautiful experience.”
“It was a small microcosm of what’s possible when men lift women up,” she says. “I definitely felt lifted up by my team.” She still competes through the National Gay Flag Football League, occasionally quarterbacking for the Los Angeles Icons, where she continues to champion inclusion on and off the field.
The Protector Archetype
That sense of uplift runs through her advocacy for artists. “I see myself as a fighter and a protector of people,” she says again. “That’s where I can really relate to Kirani—she’s a protector of Konon. I’m a protector and a fighter for actors and for other voices.”
Career ACTivate’s workshops focus on demystifying the business side of entertainment, teaching actors to negotiate contracts, sustain mental health, and build meaningful industry relationships. For Xiao, the work is personal—an act of repair as much as leadership.
“If there’s something you want that you don’t have, it just means there’s something you don’t know,” she says. “Notice I didn’t say it’s not possible. The false narratives—‘I’m not good enough, not talented enough, not pretty enough, not smart enough’—none of that’s true.”
Owning Her Power
In person, Xiao balances precision with warmth. She doesn’t romanticize struggle but she refuses cynicism. “Sometimes we just need help and support—in the form of coaching, mentorship, resources, education—to learn how to access those innate traits we already have,” she says.
That ethos underpins everything from her entrepreneurial work to her artistry. For her, community is a strategy, not a slogan. “When I was younger, I would watch film and TV to understand the world,” she says. “Now I get to be part of shaping it.”
The actress who once felt invisible in a Missouri classroom now inhabits one of Marvel’s most symbolically charged roles. Yet she insists success is a continuum, not a destination. “If there’s something missing in the world that we wish existed,” she says softly, “why not us to create it?”
The Legacy in Motion
As Eyes of Wakanda continues to draw global attention, Xiao’s future appears as wide-ranging as her past. She has hinted at producing and writing projects under development and plans to expand Career ACTivate’s reach through online mentorship programs. Whether on a soundstage or a sports field, she’s still chasing the same purpose she found at twelve: making people “laugh and feel.”
The difference now is scale—and agency. In her, Marvel’s new Iron Fist finds its most fitting vessel: an artist forged not just by power, but by purpose.
Creative Credits
- Written by
- Laura Notorangelo
- Written by
- Elizabeth Harms
- Photography
- Brett Erickson
