Asian Americans have been involved in the entertainment industry since the first half of the 19th century, when Chang and Eng Bunker (the original "Siamese Twins") became naturalized citizens.[1] Acting roles in television, film, and theater were relatively few, and many available roles were for narrow, stereotypical characters. Early Asian American actors such as Sessue Hayakawa, Anna May Wong, and Bruce Lee encountered a movie-making culture and industry that wanted to cast them as caricatures. Some, like actress Merle Oberon, hid their ethnicity to avoid discrimination by Hollywood's racist laws.
Asian Americans are rapidly gaining access to the American mainstream.[2]
Recently, young Asian American comedians and filmmakers have also found an outlet on YouTube and the Internet, allowing them to gain a strong and loyal fanbase. Notable YouTubers include comedians such as Ryan Higa and Kevin Wu; entertainers such as Dan Chan and Christine Gambito; musicians such as MC Jin, Far East Movement, Sam Tsui, David Choi, and Kina Grannis; and the filmmaking group Wong Fu Productions. These entertainers have gained notable followings, mainly with young Asian American students, through solo and collaborative videos, short films and tours.
Additionally, other Asian American artists have broken out into mainstream audiences beyond the Asian American community. Those include artists such as Bruno Mars, Darren Criss, Awkwafina, and The Slants.
1st Asian-American actor to win a Golden Globe in a Limited Series.[4][5]
19th century
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Chang and Eng Bunker had a stable career in entertainment.[1]
Cheng and Eng Bunker were conjoined twins who rose to popularity known as the "Siamese Twins" in the 19th century. They were born in 1811 in a village sixty miles from Bangkok. Cheng and Eng were conjoined at the chest at birth, thus starting their career as a human spectacle. They were gawked at in their own country before coming to America at age eighteen. Touring city to city, they were well received, giving performances that featured their unique physiognomy and also highlighted their distinctive wit and innate intelligence. After ten years, at the age of twenty-eight, Chang and Eng retired and decided to settle down in Wilkes County in western North Carolina where they also adopted the surname "Bunker." In North Carolina, they married sisters Sarah Anne and Adelaide Yates[6] and began their lives as southern gentlemen by managing their individual households, plantations, and slaves. The former Siamese Twins from the countryside outside of Bangkok became the wealthiest men in the county and the patriarchs of two large families (between the two, there were twenty-one children). When need be, they returned to touring in order to accumulate more funds. In 1873, both Chang and Eng died at age sixty-two.[citation needed]
Despite few Asian/Asian-American entertainers in the 19th century, many entertainment platforms attempt to depict accurate occurrences in 19th-century Asia, such as Dunhuang Performative Arts company and their performances exhibiting the journey of the Silk Road in "Dunhuang, My Dreamland." The show portrays Daoist priest Wang Yuanlu in accurate garb and performed by an appropriate actor, Chen Yizong. The playwright sets the stage at the Dunhunag Magao Caves which was historically important for travelers along the Silk Road, especially Buddhist monks from India and central Asia while on their journey to Chang'an (now Xi'an). Among meditations, the caves were used to reference the monastery's texts and records.[citation needed]
Actor/Actress Transitions from Film to Television and Visa Versa (Film/Television links are for body of work)
Anna May Wong was the first Asian American to have become an international acting star.[7] She became a fashion icon during the silent film era, beginning with her success in the film The Toll of the Sea (1922), the first color feature to be made in Hollywood. During her career she sought roles that portrayed Chinese and Asian Americans in a positive light, but these films never became famous except for a select few such as the film Daughter of Shanghai (1937). Frustrated by being stereotyped and typecast during her career in the United States, she moved to Europe, where she appeared in many plays and films, the most notable of which was the British film Piccadilly (1929). She later returned to the United States in an ironic twist, at a time when American studios were searching Europe for fresh new talent, despite the fact that she is an American. She returned with promises of leading roles, but these did not come about due to racism in the United States. She eventually stopped acting in professional films and turned to stage, cabaret, B movies, and anti-Japanese propaganda films such as Bombs Over Burma (1943) due to her being an advocacy against the Japanese aggression in China. She was set to make her comeback with the film Flower Drum Song (1961) but was unable due to failing health. Despite a prolific career Wong's only film to have ever been a truly big success was Shanghai Express (1932). For her later work in television, please see Television 1950s. On February 8, 1960, Wong became the first Asian American actress to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[8]
Sessue Hayakawa
Sessue Hayakawa in 1918
Sessue Hayakawa was the first and one of the few Asian American/Asian actors to find stardom in the United States and Europe and was also the first leading Asian male actor in the United States. He became the first male sex symbol of Hollywood long before and the precursor to Rudolph Valentino.[9] His fame rivaled that of Douglas Fairbanks and Charlie Chaplin.[10][11] His fame began during the silent film era, leading into sound pictures in his later life. He became a film actor in a somewhat reluctant and accidental manner when the famous producer Thomas Ince saw his theater play The Typhoon and wanted to turn it into a silent film and when it was released the film was an instant hit. With rising stardom he was eventually offered film contract by Famous Players–Lasky now Paramount Pictures.[12] His second film with the production company, The Cheat (1915), was a success and made him a romantic hit with U.S. female audiences. He became a leading man of romance films, considered a heartthrob and a sex symbol; many actresses wanted to work with him in films, in which he was often cast as the exotic male Asian lover that women desired. After years of being typecast as a villain and exotic Asian lover that white women could not have, he decided to start his own production company, where he eventually made 23 films; he produced, starred in, and directed them, and contributed to their design, writing and editing. His films also influenced the way the United States viewed Asians.[11] He personally chose American actress Marin Sais to appear opposite him in his films such as The City of Dim Faces and His Birthright. Hayakawa's collaboration with Sais ended with the film Bonds of Honor (1919). In 1919, Hayakawa made what is generally considered one of his best films, The Dragon Painter. After some bad business, he left the United States and for the next 15 years he worked in Europe and Japan where he made many popular films and plays such as the films The Great Prince Chan and the play Samurai which he performed for the king and queen of the United Kingdom at that time King George V and Queen Mary and a stage play version of The Three Musketeers. His fame in France came from France's fascination with anything Asian.[11] In the 1930s with the rise of Talkies and growing Anti-Japanese sentiment due to World War II. During the war, he tried to perform in Europe but eventually became trapped by the Germans and for years was not able to work as an actor until Humphrey Bogart tracked him and down and offered him a role in his film Tokyo Joe (1949) which became a hit and afterwards he did another successful film Three Came Home (1950). After the war his image in films this time was as the honorable villain which he became typecasted as and from it he starred in what is considered to be his most famous film of his entire career The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) for which he was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award. On February 8, 1960, in a joint ceremony with Anna May Wong, Hayakawa became the first Asian American actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[13]
Merle Oberon an actress of Old Hollywood starred in many successful films, and was nominated for the Oscar for Best actress for the film The Dark Angel (1935) and is most renowned for her performance in the film version of Wuthering Heights (1939). In the United Kingdom, she starred in the successful films The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). Despite her success as an actress, Oberon hid her Indian heritage due to her history of discrimination growing up in India. So much so she invented a fake story of the origin of her birth and early life.
Philip Ahn's first film was A Scream in the Night (1934).[14][15] He would go on to portray the character Master Kan in the television series Kung Fu (1972-1975).[16][17] He was the first Korean American film actor to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[18]
In the legacy of Sessue Hayakawa, James Shigeta often in his early career in the late 1950s-1960s played romantic male lead roles even interracial ones, which as an actor of Asian descent during his time was almost non-existent.
However, he abandoned Hollywood in the early 1970s and achieved worldwide fame in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee has made a substantial impact with martial arts and entertainment. He claimed to not fit into the established martial arts scene in San Francisco when he arrived in 1959. Lee encountered a diverse group of martial artists within the bay area who held a similar philosophy.[24] Lee signed a two-film contract, eventually bringing his family over to Hong Kong as well. Towards the end of 1972, Lee was a major movie star in Asia.[25]
From 1960s-1970s, Midori Arimoto portrayed a variety of characters, in a variety of films ranging from Krakatoa, East of Java (1968) to Kill the Golden Goose (1977).[27]Nancy Kwan, after the release of her film The World of Suzie Wong (1960), became a popular actress in her film career in the 1960s.
Sho Kosugi achieved stardom in the United States and internationally during the 1980s. After thrilling audiences as the third lead and villain in Enter the Ninja (1981), he was given the solo lead starring role as the hero in the follow-up film Revenge of the Ninja (1983). Like Bruce Lee did with Kung Fu in the 1970s, Sho Kosugi ignited a worldwide Ninja craze in the 1980s with his films. And similar to the Bruceploitation phenomenon that followed Lee's death, many copy-cat ninja films were made following the worldwide popularity of Sho's early ninja films. A number of films produced in Hong Kong and Taiwan even used Sho's image on their posters and home video covers, despite the fact that Mr. Kosugi was not involved in these productions. Sho's image as a ninja was used and continues to be used on unsanctioned T-shirts, posters, fans, collectibles, and even Video game covers like The Last Ninja. Following his starring role in Revenge of the Ninja, he would go on to be the lead star in 6 more American films: Ninja III: The Domination (1984), 9 Deaths of the Ninja (1985), Pray For Death (1985), Rage of Honor (1987), Black Eagle (1988), and Journey of Honor (1991) which he also produced and co-wrote. He also received "special appearance" credit in the American films Aloha Summer (1988) and Blind Fury (1989), and was the third lead in the Japanese film Kyokuto Kuroshakai (1993). Sho also co-starred in the NBC TV series The Master where he played double-duty as the lead villain and also doubled for actor Lee Van Cleef in most of the fight scenes. Along with his on-screen work, Sho also served as fight choreographer, ninja technical advisor, and stunt coordinator on many of his projects. He also directed two V-cinema movies in Japan starring his son Kane Kosugi. While working in Japan, Sho also had a high-profile role in the prestigious long-running NHK Taiga Drama TV series Ryūkyū no Kaze (Dragon Spirit) (1993) and was a special guest star in 2 episodes of 1994–1995 TV series Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, part of the long running Super Sentai series. After 16 years off the silver screen, Sho returned as the lead villain in Ninja Assassin (2009) produced by Hollywood heavyweights the Wachowskis, Joel Silver and Grant Hill, and directed by James McTeigue: "If you've ever watched any ninja films from the 1980s, you know that Sho Kosugi is the ninja; he is the man," asserts McTeigue.[31]
Mako Iwamatsu, Pat Morita, and Lou Diamond Phillips
John Cho, a Korean-born American actor, famously portrayed Hikaru Sulu in the Star Trek reboot, as well as appearing in the first American Pie series and the Harold & Kumar series along with Indian American actor Kal Penn. Penn, also starred in The Namesake, one of his favorite books, taught a course and seminar on images of Asian Americans in the media at the University of Pennsylvania. John Cho also starred in Searching; it is the first mainstream Hollywood thriller headlined by an Asian-American actor.[33][34]
Making waves in the entertainment industry, Korean-born, US-raised actor Ki Hong Lee rose to international fame as Minho in the film adaptation of James Dashner's book series, The Maze Runner.
The international star Joan Chen (Chong Chen) was featured in numerous films from China, the United States, Australia, and many other countries. She has won numerous awards for her acting and has also directed a film.
In 2018, Daniel Wu was the male lead in Tomb Raider, a first for a franchise in Hollywood. Daniel Wu who is one of Hong Kong's biggest film stars, also previously starred alongside Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey in Chinese-American writer-director Dayyan Eng's indie film Inseparable (2011). He also starred and produced Into the Badlands the AMC TV series loosely based on The Monkey King.
In 2018, Aziz Ansari, star of the Netflix original comedy series, Master of None, won a Golden Globe award for Best Actor in a Television Series Music or Comedy. He is the first of Asian descent to win this award, making him the first to win a best actor award in a television category. Ansari also won Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series in the 2017 Emmy Awards.[35] Ansari created the show because he was not being cast in interesting roles and the issues of Indian representation on television. These characters were those who played stereotype roles and were asked to do Indian accents. Ansari turned down a role in the 2007 film Transformers because he refused to do an Indian accent.[36]
In 2020, Awkwafina was the first of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe award for best actress in a musical or comedy. She was recognized with this award for her work in the 2019 film, The Farewell. Directed by Lulu Wang, The Farewell, follows the lives of a Chinese-American family dealing with the demise of their grandmother. This film was also nominated for Best Foreign Language film, but lost to the South Korean film, Parasite.[37]
Ang Lee is the director of Brokeback Mountain, Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Life of Pi, three of which have won Academy Awards. Although much of Ang Lee's work does not deal specifically with Asian people, themes or settings, Lee has made one film in his native Taiwan (Eat Drink Man Woman) and two films in mainland China (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Lust, Caution). In addition, his first two features, Pushing Hands and The Wedding Banquet, both set in the United States, deal primarily with Taiwanese and Chinese American characters and their attempts to navigate between the demands of their ancestral traditions and contemporary American culture. Pushing Hands deals with an interracial marriage where the man, of Chinese ancestry, has brought his traditional-minded father to live with the family, which is a source of tension with his wife until they learn to appreciate one another's cultures. The Wedding Banquet is a comedy that deals with a young, prosperous Taiwanese-born gay man who lives and works in New York, and his attempts to conceal his sexual orientation from his visiting parents, who are pushing him to marry.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson is a storyboard artist and film director. She directed Kung Fu Panda 2 (becoming the first female director to solely direct a major American animated film and the first Asian-American to direct a major American animated film), Kung Fu Panda 3, and The Darkest Minds.
Gregg Araki is an influential American independent filmmaker of Japanese ancestry, who is especially noted for his often playful, punk-influenced work dealing with young, often gay, members of generation X trying to define themselves in the wake of the AIDS epidemic, rampant consumerism, and childhood trauma. His films such as The Doom Generation, The Living End and Nowhere were seen to exemplify the alienation and hedonistic abandon of their times, while his 2004 film Mysterious Skin, featuring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in a dramatic role, was highly acclaimed for a dark and realistic portrait of the effects of child sexual abuse.
Dayyan Eng, who is known as Wu Shixian in China, is a Chinese-American of mixed ancestry. His film Bus 44 was the first-ever Chinese language short film to be selected and win an award at Venice Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and to be invited to Cannes Film Festival Director's Fortnight. He was also the first American to write and direct a Chinese film (Waiting Alone), and the only non-Chinese national to date to have a film nominated for Best Picture at the Chinese academy awards. Eng's 2011 indie film Inseparable, starring Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey and Daniel Wu, was the first fully-Chinese funded film to have a Hollywood star in the lead and was on Wall Street Journal's "Top 10 Most Notable Asian Films of 2011".[38] In 2017, Eng directed the indie summer box office fantasy-comedy Wished, which held the highest audience scores for local Chinese comedies across all 4 ticketing platforms, it was also subsequently optioned to be remade in the US as an American film.
So Yong Kim is a Korean American independent filmmaker who was awarded the Special Jury Prize at Sundance for her debut feature, In Between Days, which was shot in Toronto, but was loosely based on her own experiences growing up in Los Angeles as a newly arrived immigrant who felt alienated from the surrounding world. In the film, the protagonist is a teenage Korean girl transplanted to North America who must take responsibility for her own life as her mother is not around much and her father is estranged from the family. A raw, largely improvised romance shot digitally with first-time actors, In Between Days received enough attention for Kim to make her next film, the childhood drama Treeless Mountain, in her birth country of South Korea. Her latest and third feature, For Ellen, is set in the United States and stars Paul Dano as a man going through a divorce.
The 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu, featured several Asian American actors in prominent roles including Constance Wu, alongside other actors of Asian descent. The film was nominated for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy at the 2019 Golden Globe Awards.[39]
Curt Apduhan is a NATAS News/Documentary Cinematography Emmy awarded cinematographer for the Sundance Channel feature documentary Amargosa, about a dancer who performs regularly in an opera house in a California ghost town.
The Namesake is 2006 film directed by Mira Nair and written by Sooni Taraporevala based on the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.[48] The movie depicts the struggles of Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli (Irrfan Khan and Tabu), first-generation immigrants from the East Indian state of West Bengal to the United States, and their American-born children Gogol (Kal Penn) and Sonia (Sahira Nair). The film takes place primarily in Kolkata, New York City, and suburbs of New York City.
Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 romantic comedy directed by Jon M. Chu. The film follows the life of Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) and Nick Young (Henry Golding) to attend his best friend's wedding in Singapore. Nick fails to mention that he is the son of one of the country's wealthiest families and Rachel must navigate her journey as she meets his family for the first time.[49] Crazy Rich Asians is recognized as the first major Hollywood picture with an all-Asian principal cast since The Joy Luck Club in 1993.[50]
Always Be My Maybe is a 2019 romantic comedy film directed by Nahnatchka Khan. The film was written by Ali Wong, Randall Park, and Michael Golamco.[51] The film follows the lives of Sasha Tran (Ali Wong) and Marcus Kim (Randall Park) who are childhood neighbors and friends in San Francisco.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is a 2022 absurdist comedy-drama film co-directed by the Daniels starting Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan. The film centera around Evelyn Wang (Yeoh) travelling through dimensions to fight prime evil Jobu Tupaki while resolving her relationship with her alienated daughter Joy (Hsu).
The musical Flower Drum Song was based on the 1957 novel, The Flower Drum Song, by Chinese-American author C. Y. Lee, which in turn was based on the San Francisco nightclub Forbidden City that was popular for military men in transit during World War II. Rodgers and Hammerstein adapted it into a musical produced on Broadway in 1958 and on film in 1961, and both starred a number of Asian American actors. Largely remembered for the hit song "I Enjoy Being A Girl", it would not be produced with an all-Asian American cast until a 2002 Broadway revival.
In 1965, frustrated with the limited opportunities given to them, actors Mako, James Hong, Beulah Quo, Pat Li, and June Kim, together with Guy Lee and Yet Lock, formed East West Players (EWP), a Los Angeles-based Asian American theater company – the first of its kind. They produced their own shows to allow Asian American actors the opportunity to perform a wide range of leading roles. As the need still exists, EWP continues today. Dozens of other Asian American theater companies have since formed in major cities throughout the US, providing similar outlets elsewhere.
1980s
In 1988, playwright David Henry Hwang's Broadway hit M. Butterfly won a Tony Award for Best Play, among other awards. Singer and actress Lea Salonga, who broke out in the lead role in the musical Miss Saigon, was also the first Asian to play the roles of Éponine and Fantine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway, and is still active on Broadway.
1990s
Margaret Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian in 1994. Comedian Byron Yee's show Paper Son was awarded "Outstanding Solo Show" at the New York International Fringe Festival.[56][when?]
In the 2005 Broadway production of the Tony award-winning musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Deborah S. Craig originated the role of Marcy Park, the first Korean-American character on Broadway.[57]
Allegiance, which ran on Broadway from October 2015 to February 2016, is set during the Japanese American internment of World War II (with a framing story set in the present day), and was inspired by the personal experiences of George Takei, who stars in the musical along with Lea Salonga.
George Takei and Pat Morita became famous for supporting roles in Star Trek and Happy Days, respectively. In 1976, Morita starred on the first American sitcom centered on a person of Asian descent, Mr. T and Tina and went on to become widely known as the mentor Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid movies of the 1980s. Other Asian Americans from this period include Bruce Lee on The Green Hornet and Jack Soo of Barney Miller. Also noteworthy were Philip Ahn and Keye Luke, who portrayed Master Kan and Master Po on the television series Kung Fu; Keye Luke was the voice of Charlie Chan on the 1972 animated series The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, which featured a mystery-solving Chinese American family.
Chinese American actress Joan Chen had a major role on David Lynch's cult classic television series Twin Peaks which ran from 1990 to 1991. Like many other original cast members, Chen also had scene in the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me which was deleted and later released in 2014 among with other deleted scenes in Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces. Chen does not her reprise her role as Josie Packard in the limited event series in 2017.
After landing a role on As the World Turns, Ming-Na Wen starred as Dr. Deb Chen in the medical drama television series ER from 1995 to 2004 and played a lead in The Joy Luck Club (1993). She went on to star in other successful television series such as Stargate Universe and lent her voice to the protagonist in the animated film Mulan (1998).
Both Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Jennie Kwan in the past were both popularly known to the teen and children audiences for their roles on television series Saved by the Bell and California Dreams respectively both aimed at youth in the 1990s. The late Thuy Trang is probably a familiar face to many children and young adults for her role as the original yellow ranger Trini Kwan on the children's television series Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and since Thuy there have been many Asian American actors who have succeeded her in the Power Rangers franchise.
Margaret Cho, stand-up comedian and actress, had a leading role in her own comedy series All-American Girl in the 1990s. Her character was a Korean-American (as is Cho), who struggled with her family and cultural issues in San Francisco. The series included other Asian American actors such as Amy Hill. Despite being groundbreaking in prime-time television, All American Girl was canceled after one season due to low ratings. After its run, due to the way it was handled and the pressures that were forced on her to conform to vague mainstream expectations to try to make the series a success, Cho suffered a huge psychotic break and self-disappointment that led to her drug and alcohol addiction.[citation needed] Cho has since regained popularity and success from her 2000 one-woman show I'm the One That I Want and through her current involvement on Drop Dead Diva on Lifetime.
Kal Penn was formerly a regular on the medical television series House M.D. in one of his best known roles and later recurred on How I Met Your Mother. Asian American actress Charlyne Yi was also a regular on House, and was with the series from 2011 until it ended.
Maggie Q, of Vietnamese, Polish and Irish descent, who first rose to fame in Hong Kong achieved international fame when she starred as the title role on the television series Nikita. She also has a regular role on the television series Designated Survivor.
Mindy Kaling was the first South Asian American actor to be the series lead of a television show.
Mindy Kaling has been a regular on the United States version of The Office since the beginning of the series in 2005 until 2012 and now is the series lead and creator of her own television series The Mindy Project which is also the very first U.S. television series starring a South Asian American series lead.[67][68]
Aziz Ansari became the first Asian American actor to win a Golden Globe for acting in television.
Aziz Ansari was a series regular on the NBC comedy television series Parks and Recreation. Ansari portrays the lead on his own television series Master of None. Ansari made history by becoming the first Asian American actor to win a Golden Globe for acting in television.
Parminder Nagra (British Asian) was featured as a cast member on the medical drama ER as Dr. Neela Rasgotra for five seasons from 2003 to 2009 all the way until the end of the series. She recently was a part of the cast of The Blacklist during the series' first season. Archie Panjabi (British Asian) starred in the acclaimed and very successful CBS television series The Good Wife.
Reiko Aylesworth was part of the cast of the television series 24. Sonja Sohn was a series regular on the entire run of the television series The Wire.
Korean-American actress Yun Jin Kim and the Asian CanadianSandra Oh of the ABC television series Lost and Grey's Anatomy, respectively, were during their series' runs the main two Asian American actors in lead roles on network television (the latter is still on air), although both part of large-ensemble casts, where minority characters are more likely to be found. Oh was nominated for many Emmy Awards and won a Golden Globe Award.
Danny Pudi and Ken Jeong are series regular on the NBC comedy series Community and through the run of the series, Pudi's character became the series' breakout character mainly due to the character's personality, popular culture references, and style of meta comedy. Jo Koy is a stand-up comic whose routines frequently focus on his Filipino heritage and life as an Asian-American. He was a frequent panelist on E!'s late night show Chelsea Lately and has two Netflix specials: Jo Koy: Comin' In Hot and Jo Koy: In His Elements. Ali Wong, stand-up comedian, actress, and writer, had a leading role in 2019 film Always Be My Maybe with Randall Park, who is also an Asian American comedian, actor, and writer. In addition, Netflix features stand-up specials by Ali Wong, Baby Cobra[70] and Hard Knock Wife.[71]
In 2024, Ali Wong won the Golden Globe for actress in a limited series for her portrayal of the character Amy Lau in the Netflix comedy-drama television mini-series Beef.[73]
Television writers
Mindy Kaling, a Dartmouth graduate, has been involved from the beginning in the production of the American series of The Office, having originally been the only female writer on a staff of eight; since the show's eighth season she has been an executive producer. She has since created her own show, The Mindy Project which she produces, writes, and stars in.[74]
James Wong, a Hong Kong-born writer raised in the US, was a writer, co-executive producer and consulting producer of The X-Files in its first, second and fourth seasons (1993–1997); co-creator, producer and writer of the TV series Space: Above and Beyond (1995–1996); and writer, consulting producer and co-executive producer of Millennium in its first and second seasons (1996–1998). Before The X-Files, Wong had worked as a writer on police dramas such as 21 Jump Street, The Commish, Booker and Wiseguy as well as on the script for the independent crime film The Boys Next Door (1984), starring Charlie Sheen in his first leading role.
Wong later wrote, produced and directed horror and action films such as Final Destination (2000) and the Jet Li-starring The One (2001), and he was hired by 20th Century Fox to direct Dragonball Evolution (2009), although like other producers and crew members on that production, complained of having little creative input as the studio made all the major decisions.
Television channels
In 2007, Myx TV became the first Asian American music, entertainment and lifestyle network.
Fashion design
Many Asian Americans have made their mark in the fashion world. Vera Wang, friend to Anna Wintour, and Anna Sui have been working as highly accomplished and awarded fashion designers for years. Philippine-bornMonique Lhuillier's dresses are on the Hollywood red carpet and Vietnamese-American Chloe Dao won Project Runway in spring 2006. Other designers include Phillip Lim, 2006 CFDA Emerging Talent Award Winner Doo-Ri Chung, and 2005 Winner Derek Lam; all three have been featured in Vogue magazine several times. Sandy Liang and her eponymous brand have found cult success, particularly in New York City, and have been compared to Miu Miu and Supreme.[75] At the Fashion Institute of Technology, 23 percent of the nearly 1,200 students now enrolled are either Asian or Asian American.[76]
Internet
With the advent of YouTube, young Asian Americans have become more prominent, gaining large followings through filmmaking, comedy, or music. This includes video bloggers/comedians such as The Fung Brothers, Kevin Wu, Anna Akana, Ryan Higa, Eugene Lee Yang of The Try Guys and the filmmaking group Wong Fu Productions. The latter's growing influence is evident especially in Wong Fu Productions' annual concert series, International Secret Agents (ISA), which often sell out, and in which many popular Asian American guest performers appear, including Far East Movement or Poreotics. Kevin Wu's recent appearance on the 17th season of The Amazing Race marked another significant venture into mainstream media.[77] These along with other rising Asian American talents have shared and documented their journey in Asian American blogs, including channelAPA.com[78]Amped Asia magazine,[79]Hyphen magazine, and Mochi.[80]
Raks Geek, founded by Chinese/Singaporean American Dawn Xiana Moon is a majority Asian-American bellydance and fire performance company best known for their bellydancing Wookiee viral video and other cosplay/nerd-themed dance work. The group's diverse roster features Hmong and Filipino performers as well, and most have performed around the world.
Mark Edward Fischbach is another example of a popular Asian American on YouTube. His YouTube channel and name online, Markiplier, is dedicated to gaming videos and comedy.[81] With about 20 million subscribers and his channel reaching about 9 billion total views, Markiplier's internet fame has helped him raise over 3 million dollars for charity.[81] In 2016, Markiplier won the Make-A-Wish Foundation's celebrity of the year award alongside voice actor Tom Kenny and the Dallas Cowboys football team.[82]
Major films have been based on Asian American novels, such as Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake (2007) and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. Others have been created based on stories about Asian American communities.
Early notable writers include "1.5 Generation" who spent their early childhoods or young adult lives outside of the United States. Writers include Bryan Thao Worra, Bao Phi and Anida Yoeu Ali.[6]
Lin Yutang and his work "Chinatown Family" strays from the film representation of Asian Americans and attempts to depict the accurate representation of Asian Americans during the 1950s. Lin's works were considered Orientalist, seeing as they were a polar opposite to the style of most Asian American writers after 1965. Yet, Lin's works are still ignored when studying the history of Asian American genealogy and subjectivity.[83]
William David Chin, nicknamed "Charlie Chin", was the guitarist for Cat Mother's & the All Night Newsboys. His nickname, "Chop Chop" or "Charlie", was given to him as one of the only children of Asian kid on Upper East Side.[85] In the Rolling Stone, Ben Fong-Torres wrote that he was "the only Chinese in rock" at the time.[86]
In addition, late guitarist Eddie Van Halen is a renowned musician with Asian roots; his mother was of Indonesian ethnic origin.
John Myung of the progressive metal band Dream Theater is considered one of the greatest metal bassists of all time with his extremely complex playing styles and harmonics.
James Yoshinobu Iha (井葉吉伸, Iha Yoshinobu) is a Japanese-American rock guitarist best known as a member of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins.
Chi Cheng a Chinese American was the late original bassist for the critically acclaimed experimental metal band Deftones. He is well known for playing unconventional bass lines in metal arrangements particularly their most popular single "Change" which features a reggae/dub bass line. The Deftones lead singer Chino Moreno is also part Chinese as well and is known for his ethereal and haunting vocal styles.
Christopher "Fresh Kid Ice" Wong Won is noted for being the first Asian American rapper noticed in hip hop.[87][88] When his group 2 Live Crew started to gain traction in the mid- to late 1980s, Wong Won noted that many fans had no clue that he was Asian until the group's music videos were released. When asked about Asians in hip hop in the early days, Wong Won mentioned that most of his Asian peers were involved in either disc jockeying or breakdancing.[89]
Chad Hugo a Filipino-American makes up one half of the prolific music producing duo the Neptunes alongside his partner Pharrell Williams
Asian Americans are increasingly enjoying success in mainstream hip hop and R&B such as MC Jin. A few notable examples are multi-racial Amerie, Cassie, Jhené Aiko, Ne-Yo, who is one-quarter Chinese, Filipino-American Nicole Scherzinger who is of Filipino, Hawaiian, and Ukrainian descent, apl.de.ap of The Black Eyed Peas, H.E.R. who is half-Filipino, and Jin. There are many more Asian Americans represented in local hip-hop scenes, including rising acts like Baiyu and the Blue Scholars. The Asian American actress Awkwafina also started her entertainment career as a viral internet rapper.[90] In 2010 and 2011, half-Filipino singer-songwriter Bruno Mars broke into the Top 10 with his singles "Just the Way You Are" and "Grenade".[11][91] In 2018, he became the second unaccompanied Asian American artist to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. In October 2010, Far East Movement became the first Asian American band to break into the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 with their single "Like a G6", which eventually reached No. 1.[92]Jay Park's fourth album "Everything You Wanted", released in 2016, charted at #3 on Billboard's World album chart as well as #3 on iTune's U.S. R&B chart. Hawaii's Jason Tom perpetuates the hip hop vocal art of beatboxing and is ranked as one of the top 150 professional vocal percussion artists in the world.[93][94][95][96][97][98] In 2015, media company 88rising was founded and Dumbfoundead and Rich Brian, along with other Asian rappers, are signed to this record label.[99]
There are also major underground hip hop artists who have developed a following, such as the Pakistani American rapper Bohemia who is known as the creator of Punjabi rap music.
There is a genre of music called Desi hip hop due to its contributions and influences by many nations including the US by the South Asian diaspora including South Asian Americans especially by pioneers such as Pakistani-American Bohemia himself. Desi hip hop is one of only two music genres to have been either created by Asian Americans or have been contributed to musically by the community (in this case South Asian Americans) to the genre.
Asian American jazz
Asian American jazz is a musical genre and movement in the United States begun in the 20th century by Asian American jazz musicians that has produced a number of very prominent artists. Along with Desi Hip Hop who has many origins including the US it is currently one of only two musical genres to have been created by Asian Americans or been influenced by them. Some Asian-American Jazz artists are Toshiko Akiyoshi (piano),[100]Vijay Iyer (piano),[101]Rudresh Mahanthappa (alto saxophone),[102]Jon Jang (piano),[103]Tiger Okoshi (trumpet),[104] Yasushi Nakamura (bass),[105] Connie Han (piano),[106] Joey Alexander (piano) and Hitomi Oba (tenor saxophone).[106][107]
In addition, jazz musician Charles Mingus, whose mother was descended from a Chinese national, was very influential in American jazz.
Folk singer-songwriter and Dawn Xiana Moon was the first to blend traditional Chinese music with Americana, pop, and jazz in the mid-2000s, and Vienna Teng is notable for a folk pop without the Eastern influences.
Don Ho was a Grammy Award-winning Hawaiian pop singer and entertainer. Tia Carrere is a Hawaiian singer, actress, and former model best known as Cassandra Wong in the Wayne's World movies and for her leading role on the television series Relic Hunter; her album Hawaiiana was nominated for a Grammy.[when?][112] Singer-songwriter Norah Jones is also very successful. Nadia Ali, singer-songwriter and the former front-woman of iiO is prominent in the electronic dance music genre, with her work having attained both critical and commercial success. Rising pop artist Conan Gray who became viral on TikTok in 2020 is also Japanese-American.[113]
Internationally, US-born Leehom Wang is a well-known musician in mainland China and Taiwan, and also played a part in Ang Lee's 2007 film Lust, Caution. In the heavy metal genre, Aja Kim, has achieved notoriety as lead vocalist in the role of Bruce 'Lee' Chickinson for the tribute band, The Iron Maidens. Also US-born is singer Ailee, whose captivating voice caught the attention of Korean R&B singer, Wheesung. Her vocal prowess and captivating voice won her many awards and is the reason she is dubbed the "Korean Beyonce."
The popular mass media company 88rising was also founded by Asian-American Sean Miyashiro with the mission to increase Asian and Asian American representation in mainstream media and music.[114]
Indie music
There are also many Asian American artists gaining success in the indie music scene. This includes Japanese-American indie rock singer-songwriter Mitski, Korean-American Michelle Zauner who is the musician behind Japanese Breakfast, Chinese-American singer-songwriter and YouTuber mxmtoon, Vietnamese-American singer, songwriter, and producer Casey Luong who releases lo-fi music under the stage name keshi, and half-Japanese R&B artist UMI.[115][116][117][118][119]
In classical music, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor Zubin Mehta are examples of significant Asian American figures. The classical violinists Sarah Chang and Midori Gotō have each been awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize, as has Ma. The composer Bright Chang has received extensive recognition for his work, including being invited to be composer-in-residence at the New York City Ballet. Hunan, China-born New York City resident Tan Dun is a contemporary classical composer, well known for his Grammy and Oscar-award-winning scores for the movies Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero.
Fine arts
Painting
Asian American art is one of the last genres to be added to modern day collections; however, many notable painters have drawn inspiration from art techniques of Asian-origin. In the 19th century, painters like Whistler and Van Gogh used various Japanese works as models for their artwork. At the same time, many Japanese painters were moving to California to blend their work with what would become new Western Techniques. Asian American art can mostly be traced back to the West Coast with artists also popping up in New York.
Tyrus Wong (1910-2016), who emigrated to the US from China, is considered to be one of the influential artists of the 20th century.[120] He was a muralist for the Works Progress Administration. As well as having been a production illustrator for films such as Bambi (1942), some of his paintings are now or have been exhibited in art museums. Examples include Deer on Cliff (1960s) and The Cove (1960s) which had been exhibited at the Armand Hammer Museum.[121][122] When he was about two years old, the last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing Dynasty, had come to an end.
Paul Horiuchi was a Japanese-born American painter best known for his abstract collages of torn, hand-colored mulberry paper. Active in Seattle, he created the glass mural behind the Seattle Center amphitheater in 1962.[123]
Indian-American Faris McReynolds is a Los Angeles-based artist and musician. Sueo Serisawa helped establish the California Impressionist style of painting. Los Angeles-based artists James Jean and David Choe have received domestic and international recognition within the Lowbrow art scene.
Martin Wong was a San Francisco and New York-based queer painter that made notable contributions to the 1980s East Village art scene. Wong was also involved with the growing New York graffiti art scene of this time and collected pieces from artists like Futura 2000 and Keith Haring.[124]
Unfortunately, the Japanese Internment Camps following WWII put a halt to a lot of Asian American artists. Art that resulted from this time serves as some of the only documentation of the trials and tribulations of the many Japanese Americans who were forced into camps.
Roger Shimomura is a painter and printmaker whose works combine pop culture motifs, racial stereotypes, and evocations of his childhood experiences in the Minidoka internment camp during World War II.
Isamu Noguchi was one of the most important American sculptors of the 20th century. Born in Los Angeles to a Japanese poet father and American writer mother, he spent most of his childhood in Japan, and his drew both from traditional Japanese aesthetics and international modernism. He worked many mediums, including clay, wood, and stainless steel, but is particularly associated with stone. In 1935 he began a career-long collaboration with dancer Martha Graham for whom he designed some 20 stage sets. Major works include the Unesco headquarters peace garden in Paris, the Sunken Garden for the Beinecke Library at Yale University, and the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden for the Israeli Museum in Jerusalem.[126]
George Tsutakawa was a Seattle-based painter and sculptor best known for his avant-garde bronze fountain designs.[127] His son Gerard Tsutakawa, who apprenticed with his father, is a contemporary Pacific Northwest sculptor.[128]
Colette Fu is a pop-up book artist who designed China's largest pop-up book and was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to create pop-up book of the 25 ethnic minorities residing in Yunnan Province, China, from where her family descends.[130]
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (July 2011)
Larry Hama is best known as the original writer of the Marvel ComicsGI Joe series. When he went to DC comics in the 1970s, he upended the long-standing tradition of coloring Asian characters yellow by confronting the head of the production department.[85]
As regarded by frequent speaker at the San Diego Comic Con, Gina Misiroglu, Jim Lee is one of the most popular comic book artist and one of the founders of Image Comics.[citation needed]
Asian Americans are gaining prominence in Los Angeles, the "Mural Capital of the World", including Nisha Sembi, Lady Aiko, Hueman, and Erin Yoshi.[131]
Lady Aiko is a well-known street artist who started out working for Takashi Murakami in Brooklyn until the late 1990s. She has international works installed in many cities including Miami's Wynwood Walls in 2009, New York City's Bowery Wall in 2013 and Coney Art Walls in 2015, 2016 and 2017.[132]
Fine Art Institutions
LA Artcore, an art foundation in Los Angeles in the artist district of Los Angeles and in Little Tokyo as well, was founded by Lydia Takeshita.[133][134] Lydia Takeshita lived part of her youth in the Japanese internment camps of 1942. As a former tenured professor at California State University, Los Angeles, she used her retirement years to work full-time to run LA Artcore, which she founded with the help of her former students. Her efforts were greatly appreciated in the Los Angeles Artist District and the art community in Los Angeles. She and her foundation helped to create the artist district, and she stood up for the rights of local residents there when they were at risk of losing their homes. LA Artcore moved the Union Center for the Arts building in 1998, and its neighbor in the building was the Asian American theater company East West Players.[135]
The entertainment industry has created a negative discourse around the Asian American community, associating them, solely, with negative stereotypes such as the Dragon Lady, Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, and foreigners. Implicit and explicit bias towards Asian Americans (AA's) leads to discrimination and thus results in an inaccurate representation and unequal employment in film, television, and society. The yellowface trend is one that is heavily impacting the employment of Asian Americans. As stated in University of San Francisco's Christina Shu Jien Chong's research journal, yellowfacing was a go-to tactic for casting directors as early as the 1970s. Yellowface is applying makeup on a white actor or actress to make him or her appear more Asian. When a storyline cannot be changed from Asian to White, non-Asians are typically hired and then yellowface. Yellowface is a topic many believe has become obsolete, yet, in recent years, it has become more and more prominent; yet in today's society, in lieu of yellowface, casting directors are now blatantly opting for white actors and actresses over Asian American ones. The 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's received near-universal condemnation for Mickey Rooney's yellowface portrayal of I. Y. Yunioshi. More recently, in 2009, Justin Chatwin, a white actor, portrayed an anime character, Goku, in Dragonball: Evolution.[136][failed verification] In 2011, Noah Ringer, also a white actor, portrayed an Eastern Asian monk in The Last Airbender.[137][failed verification] In 2013, Clifton Collins, Jr., a Mexican-American actor, portrayed a Chinese-American character, Tendo Choi, in Pacific Rim.[citation needed] In 2015, Emma Stone, a white actress, portrayed a local Hawaiian character, Allison Ng, in Aloha.[138] The most recent account of historical yellowface was in Disney on Ice's 2015 Dare to Dream production, in which Li Shang, a Chinese general from Mulan, was cast as a white male who wore a black wig and painted slanted eyes.[citation needed] Other recent films that have whitewashed traditionally Asian characters include Star Trek Into Darkness, The Martian, Doctor Strange, Ghost in the Shell, 21 and Death Note.[citation needed]
Stereotyping of Asian Americans in film: Dragon lady / lotus flower dichotomy
Asian American characters and their representation in mainstream media, especially in the film and entertainment industry, are often one-dimensional and seriously lacking in depth. East Asian Americans in the film and media industry are often fetishized and exoticized, perpetuating damaging images of asian women as either the "dragon lady" or "lotus flower" dichotomy. An example is Lucy Liu's dragon lady character O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill, as well as Anna May Wong's character in Daughter of the Dragon. According to author Kent Ono, "Usually yellow peril discourse constructs and Asian-white dialectic emphasizing the powerful, threatening potential of Asians and Asian Americans, while simultaneously constructing whites as vulnerable, threatened, or otherwise in danger."[139] These limiting and offensive roles offered to Asian Americans further the US's exoticism and fetishism of Asian women, leading to terms such as "yellow fever".[citation needed] According to Rosalind S. Chou in her book, Asian American Sexual Politics: The Construction of Race, Gender, and Sexuality, stereotypical portrayals of Asian Americans which lead to phenomenon's such as yellow fever can be particularly damaging to real life interracial relationships where she writes "it can be difficult to distinguish genuine interest from interest resting on fabricated constructions of an othered person."[140]South Asian portrayal in cinema often involve "Kama Sutra" type analogies or imagery, an example being white actor Mike Myers and his role as Pitka in the movie The Love Guru.[141][failed verification]
Model minority
In The New York Times Magazine in January 1966, "Success Story, Japanese-American Style",[142] the term "model minority" was coined by sociologist William Petersen. It was used in order to describe Japanese Americans as ethnic minorities who, despite marginalization, have achieved success in the United States. While it was first used to depict Japanese Americans, it has since evolved to characterize Asian Americans in general, specifically East Asians (i.e. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean) and the South Asian community.[143]
However, this concept has faced major criticism from the Asian American community. According to Asian Americans Advancing Justice - Los Angeles, "the misperception that Asian Americans are doing fine on their own has serious policy implications ... politicians won't talk about our community's needs if they assume people don't require assistance."
This stereotype is often portrayed in media, such as television and film. Characters such as George Huang in Law & Order: SVU, Cristina Yang in Grey's Anatomy, and Archie Kao in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation are all examples of this.
In addition, in the second edition of her book, Unraveling the Model Minority Stereotype: Listening to Asian American Youth, Professor Stacy J. Lee argues that the ostensibly sterling stereotype was constructed to silence the charges of racial inequality and to delegitimize the protests of racial discrimination.[144] Bob H. Suzuki also questions the validity of the stereotype, contending that it is only media hype, more myth than reality. Suzuki further argued that, deceptively flattering and favorable on the surface, the model minority stereotype is inaccurate, overgeneralized, and a liability for Asian Americans. The commendation of Asian Americans as a model minority implicitly denigrates other racial groups as well.[145][146]
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