Who is Jenn Tran, the first Asian-American Bachelorette? She appeared in The Bachelor and failed to find love after putting her career on hold – but will return to lead season 21 of the spin-off
Jenn Tran didn’t find love with Joey Graziadei on season 28 of The Bachelor, but she’s getting a second chance at romance as the star of the upcoming season of The Bachelorette.
Tran, a 26-year-old physician assistant student based in Miami, was announced as the leading lady of season 21 of The Bachelorette on Monday night, making her the first Asian-American woman to lead the spin-off.
“I feel so, so grateful and so honoured to be the first Asian Bachelorette in this franchise,” she said during the “After the Final Rose” segment following the Bachelor finale. “Growing up, I’ve always wanted to see Asian representation on TV and I feel like it was really sparse.”
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“To be here today sitting in this position being like, I am going to lead my own love story, I am going to be the main character in my story – I just can’t help but think of how many people I’m inspiring and how many lives I am changing,” Tran, whose family is Vietnamese, added.
Although Bachelor Nation got to know Tran a bit on The Bachelor, she teased that there’s “a lot that you don’t know about me yet”.
“But you’re just gonna have to watch to see,” she said.
Ahead of the season 21 premiere in July, here’s what to know about Tran.
Jenn Tran put her career on hold to appear on The Bachelor
Tran graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in May 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology. During her time at the university, she served as the Red Dress chairman for Alpha Phi Foundation and organised a fundraising gala that raised more than US$30,000 for women’s cardiovascular health.
Per her LinkedIn profile, she plans on pursuing a career as a physician assistant. But her goals shifted when she was cast on ABC’s hit reality TV show.
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As Tran explained in a video posted on Instagram in February, she didn’t drop out of school to compete on The Bachelor. Instead, she asked her school for permission and was able to come to an agreement regarding her two-and-a-half-year programme. She’s currently on a general surgery rotation as part of her schooling.
She loves travelling
Tran has travelled the world and documented her experiences on Instagram. She’s visited places like Greece, Italy and the Bahamas.
She fosters cats and kittens
In January, Tran posted a series of photos on Instagram showing the cats she fostered in 2023, from striped ginger felines to all-black kittens. Her newest foster cat is a black kitten that she’s named Peter Parker.
She is a Swiftie
We’ll find out plenty more about the newest Bachelorette when her season premieres on ABC this summer.
- Tran loves travel and cats, and is a fan of Jonas Brothers and Shawn Mendes, whose music makes her cry – she recently saw Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert in Massachusetts, too
- Tran, whose family is Vietnamese, says that she ‘wanted to see Asian representation on TV’ growing up and was ’so grateful and so honoured to be the first Asian Bachelorette’