‘Gifted’ Actress Jona Xiao Talks ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ Secrecy, Working With Her Favorite Director

You might not recognize Jona Xiao’s name, but you’ve probably seen her before. The actress appeared in “Halt and Catch Fire,” “Being Mary Jane” and “Keeping Up With the Joneses” last year, and she has two high profile movies hitting theaters this year: “Gifted” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Xiao spoke to International Business Times about her very different experiences on the films.

“Gifted,” starring Captain America himself, Chris Evans, tells the story of Mary (Mckenna Grace), a prodigy whose uncle (Evans) and grandmother (Lindsay Duncan) argue over how to raise her after her mother’s suicide. Xiao plays Lijuan, a mathematics major at a local college. “Without giving too much away, I question certain things so it kind of raises some eyebrows, and then we come to discover how truly smart Mary Adler is,” Xiao teased.

The actress said that Grace, 9, was a joy to work with. “She worked very hard,” the 27-year-old told IBTimes. “She was really easy to get along with and just freaking adorable overall as a person.”

Xiao revealed that while she loves the cast and story of “Gifted,” which she describes as “a little bit of a tearjerker,” she really wanted to work with director Marc Webb. His 2009 film “500 Days of Summer” had a big impact on Xiao. It helped her get over a boyfriend who cheated on her. “That [movie] really gave me a different perspective on relationships,” she explained. “Just getting to work with Marc Webb is a big draw and obviously the film just has an incredible cast and it’s just very beautifully written.”

Her role in “Gifted” can’t really be compared to her role in “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” but that’s because the actress isn’t allowed to talk about the latter. “‘Gifted’ didn’t have that shroud of secrecy in the same way ‘Spider-Man’ did,” Xiao noted. The production went to great lengths to keep Peter Parker’s (Tom Holland) new adventures secret.

“The production was especially hush-hush,” she said. “Even in the morning, they would pick up and pass out the call sheets. Usually [on other films] the call sheets are given out ahead of time, electronically distributed. And then when an actor was wrapped [on ‘Spider-Man’], they would actually go pick up the same call sheet. So people weren’t allowed to bring call sheets home. There was an issue with a leaked call sheet early on before I joined the cast.”

Xiao couldn’t even talk about her audition process due to all the non-disclosure agreements she signed. Luckily, the trailers give a brief glimpse of Xiao in scenes with Aunt May (Marisa Tomei). “I did get to work with the incredible Marisa Tomei, who is an actress I’ve respected for many, many years. She actually helped cast me in my role,” Xiao revealed, “which I found out the first day that I was filming with her, which was very cool and I was very flattered and grateful.”

The actress grew up a superhero fan (even using birthday wishes to ask for superpowers as a kid), and she believes other Marvel fans will enjoy everything “Spider-Man: Homecoming” has to offer.

“What I can say about the film is, being someone who loves the superhero genre, I think there’s some things that you’ll come to expect in terms of Spider-Man, but also a lot of plot twists and interesting happenings with like the villains,” Xiao teased. “You get to see this awesome coming of age story with Spider-Man in high school and dealing with just being a teenager and also saving the world.”

For more from Jona Xiao, keep up with her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

“Gifted” hits theaters Friday in select cities and will be released widely April 12. “Spider-Man: Homecoming” will swing into theaters July 7.