If you didn’t know who Kelly Marie Tran was yesterday, chances are you do now, as the Asian-American actress has made her public debut as one of the leads of Rian Johnson’s upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Tran appears alongside actors Oscar Isaac and John Boyega on one of four special Vanity Fair covers shot by Annie Leibovitz to celebrate the film franchise’s 40th anniversary.

In what’s been a shocking revelation for many, Tran is the first Asian woman to feature on the magazine’s front cover in its 34-year existence.

Vanity Fair has received a lot of deserved criticism in the past over its treatment of people of colour, often focused around its best-selling Hollywood Issue covers.

Asian actors have never featured.

https://twitter.com/DanBenZvi/status/867153314798088192

In 2004, then megastar Lucy Liu made the cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue ‘technically’, but she was relegated to the third foldout page and, therefore, not seen on newsstands.

White stars Julianne Moore, Jennifer Connelly and Gwyneth Paltrow secured that privilege.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha star Zhang Ziyi received similar treatment the following year, making the jump to the second foldout page alongside fellow women of colour Rosario Dawson and Kerry Washington.

The proper cover went to Uma Thurman, Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet in 2005.

For Australian filmmaker Corrie Chen, who just completed filming teen girls’ footy comedy, Mustangs FC, for the ABC and served as a director’s attachment on HBO’sThe Leftovers, seeing Tran on the cover was massive.

“Seeing Kelly Marie Tran on the cover made me grin like a dork all morning,” the Taiwan-born, Melbourne-raised Chen said.

“Not only does this imply she’s gonna have a role where she gets to speak, she’s also looking like an absolute boss where she’s not solely defined by her exotic beauty as previous Asian actresses have been in Hollywood.

“I get that it’s only a cover and sure, it won’t change the world, but there will be one kid out there, or one teen girl, or hell, one 31-year-old grown-ass Asian-Australian woman who sees it and, for a fleeting moment in time, won’t feel so alone.”

Comedian and actor Jenny Yang was similarly ecstatic on Twitter, broadcasting the move with a phalanx of crying face emojis.

Oh dontworryboutit it's just #KellyMarieTran ON THE COVER OF VANITY FAIR 😭😭😭😭😭😭 #StarWars #TheLastJedi https://t.co/C7rEWN3J0k" @VanityFair pic.twitter.com/Yp2tHVCIFm

— Jenny Yang (@jennyyangtv) May 23, 2017

The magazine’s track record with representing diversity has improved in recent years.

Things took a horrendous backwards step in 2010 when the Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue featured an entirely white line-up, including Kristen Stewart, Carey Mulligan and Emma Stone.

While this year’s cover stars included black actresses Janelle Monae, Lupita Nyong’o and Ruth Negga, there were no Asian or Latina stars.

Chen added prominent roles were still so rare that she points at the screen every time an Asian woman has a line of dialogue.

“I think historically and culturally, Asians in the West have never been that vocal about standing up for themselves. We’re very much the subservient ‘be grateful with whatever you have and work till you die’.”