Christina Milian Says Changing Her Last Name Was a Strategic Move to Break Into Hollywood: ‘Not something that I’m proud of’
Written by b87fm on 01/21/2026
Christina Milian became a familiar face in early-2000s Black teen comedies and pop culture, but before her career could fully take off, she made a calculated decision that quietly changed everything: she stopped using her birth name.
The 44-year-old actress and singer, born Christina Flores in Jersey City, New Jersey, opened up about the choice during a recent appearance on the Richer Lives podcast, explaining that it wasn’t personal—it was professional.
“It was absolutely a business decision,” Milian said. “I’m Afro-Cuban—and especially in the early phases of my career, you didn’t see as many of our faces on TV.”
Milian recalled repeatedly running into industry roadblocks tied to how casting directors perceived her identity. Auditioning with her given last name often left executives unsure where she fit.
“A lot of auditions I would go for… I would try to go in as Latina, but my skin color didn’t really match the last name to what was appealing at that time,” she explained. “Then, when I was going for an African American role, they’re like, ‘Flores? Oh, she’s Hispanic. She can’t even come to this audition.’”
Eventually, she decided to try using her mother’s last name—Milian—one that didn’t immediately box her into a narrow racial category.
“Same picture, same headshot. Changed the last name to Milian,” she said. “We sent it to the same casting directors, and do you know just that one small little change changed the trajectory of my whole career.”
While the move paid off, Milian admitted it’s not something she celebrates.
“It’s not something that I’m proud of, that being the reason,” she said. “But I’m happy we see more Black Latina faces on television now. If I was getting into the business today, I feel like I wouldn’t have to change my last name for that to happen.”
Milian broke out starring opposite Nick Cannon in the 2003 teen rom-com Love Don’t Cost a Thing and has since built a multi-hyphenate career spanning music, film, and television. In the years since her debut, Hollywood has made more visible space for Black Latina talent, from Zoe Saldaña and Gina Torres to Rosario Dawson, Tatyana Ali, the late Naya Rivera, and Broadway and film star Ariana DeBose.
Still, Milian has long been vocal about embracing her identity, even when others struggled to understand it.
“Since early, it’d be like, I’m Cuban but [people] didn’t get it because I was also brown-skinned, and you usually see a fair-skinned Latino,” she told HuffPost in 2015. “So it was just like, ‘Oh, what are you? Are you Black? Are you white?’ I didn’t feel like I had to make a choice. I am what I am.”
