Asian Americans in arts and entertainment

, 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

. 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.

Award (Golden Globe and Academy Awards)

Actor/Actress		Award	Category of the Award	Project	Year	Notes
Miyoshi Umeki		Academy	Best Supporting Actress	Sayonara	1958	1st East Asian-American actress and Japan born actress to win an Oscar[3]
Richard Chew		Academy	Film Editing	Star Wars: A New Hope	1978	1st Asian-American to win a Film Editing Oscar
Haing Ngor		Academy	Best Supporting Actor	The Killing Fields	1985	1st East Asian-American actor to win an Oscar
Aziz Ansari		Golden Globe	Best Actor in Television Comedy	Master of None	2018	1st Asian-American actor to win a Golden Globe for acting in television
Ke Huy Quan		Academy/ Golden Globe	Best Supporting Actor	Everything Everywhere All at Once	2023	1st Asian-American actor to win an Oscar as well as a Golden Globe
Ali Wong		Golden Globe	Best Actress	Beef	2024	1st Asian-American actor to win a Golden Globe in a Limited Series.[4][5]
Michelle Yeoh		Academy/ Golden Globe	Best Actress	Everything Everywhere All at Once	2023	1st Asian-American actress to win an Oscar for Best Actress

19th century

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (July 2011)

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 Dunhuang 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)

Name	from	to	Examples
Anna May Wong	Film	Television	From Silent Films to The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (1951)
Phillip Ahn	Film	Television	From Films in the 1930s to Kung Fu (1972)
Myoshi Umeki	Film	Television	From Films in the 1950s (including Sayonara of which she received an Academy Award) to The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969-1972)
France Nuyen	Film	Television	From Films in the 1950s to St. Elsewhere (1986-1988)
Bruce Lee	Television Film	Film Television	From The Green Hornet to film (Based on US Box Office Results) From films made in Hong Kong (1940s) to US television (1960s).
George Takai	Film	Television	From Film in the Late 1950s to Cast Member of Star Trek (1966-1969).
Pat Morita	Television	Film	From Happy Days (1970s) to Karate Kid (1980s)
Ming-Na Wen	Film	Television	From Dr. Jing-Mei "Deb" Chen on ER from (1994-1995) and (1999-2004)

Film

Film actors / actresses

1920s

Anna May Wong

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

1930s

Merle Oberon and Philip Ahn

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]

1950s

Miyoshi Umeki, Frances Nuyen, and James Shigeta

Miyoshi Umeki won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in for Sayonara (1957).

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.

France Nguyễn Vân Nga (later changed to France Nuyen) portrayed Liat in the 1958 film South Pacific. In the same year, she was in The World of Suzie Wong on Broadway with William Shatner. She was later cast to reprise her role of Suzie Wong in the 1960 film The World of Suzie Wong , but was later replaced by Nancy Kwan. France Nuyen would go on to play Dr. Paulette Kiem in the television series St. Elsewhere (1986-1988).^[19][20]

1960s-1970s

Bruce Lee

However, he abandoned

Female Character Roles

Nai Bonet, originally from Vietnam, was a cast member of John Goldfarg, Please Come Home! (1965). She would go on to play a variety of characters in a variety films until 1980.^[26]

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.

1979 and the 1970s Box Office

1980s-2000s

Sho Kosugi

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

Mako Iwamatsu was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Sand Pebbles (1966). He also starred in other noted films Conan the Barbarian (1982) and its sequel Conan the Destroyer (1984), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), Seven Years in Tibet (1997), The Bird People in China (1998) and Pearl Harbor (2001).

Haing Ngor won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Killing Fields

(1984).

Lou Diamond Phillips had leading roles in several motion pictures including La Bamba (1987), Stand and Deliver (1988), Young Guns (1988) Che (2008).

The 2000s

Quentin Tarentino's Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), the latter for which she was paid $5.5 million. She also was the first Asian American woman to host Saturday Night Live^[32] in 2000. She also had hit releases with the film Kung Fu Panda (2008) and its sequel Kung Fu Panda 2

(2011).

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]

Sandra Oh, a Canadian-American actress of Korean descent, has been a mainstay in film for well over two decades having portrayed many scene stealing supporting characters in a large number of well known films such as Double Happiness, Bean, Last Night, The Princess Diaries, Under the Tuscan Sun, Sideways, Hard Candy, Rabbit Hole, Catfight, and Meditation Park.

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.

Ming-Na Wen, Jordan Nagai, and Ryan Potter starred in highly impacting voice roles in the animated Disney and Pixar films Mulan (1998), Up (2009) and Big Hero 6 (2014).

Maggie Q after achieving fame in Hong Kong has since starred in big budget and big box office films Mission: Impossible III (2006), Live Free or Die Hard (2007) and most recently as the character Tori Wu in The Divergent Series and will have three upcoming films. Daniel Henney also having gained fame overseas in South Korea has since starred in American films X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), The Last Stand (2013), and the animated Oscar-winning Disney film Big Hero 6 (2014).

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.

South-Korean actor and superstar Lee Byung-hun, has already starred in numerous American production including Red 2 (2013), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) and Terminator Genisys (2015). Indian superstar and actress Priyanka Chopra is beginning to work in American cinema and is currently filming the action comedy Baywatch (2017).

2017 was a landmark year for Asian-American actors in major film projects.

Veronica Ngo, both of Vietnamese descent, starred in the space opera Star Wars: The Last Jedi

as Rose Tico and Paige Tico, respectively.

In 2018,

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]

Film directors

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.

Academy Award-nominated The Sixth Sense

.

to her credit.

Director Justin Lin brought attention to the experiences of Asian Americans through his movie Better Luck Tomorrow, which included an almost exclusively Asian American cast. He has since directed The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, its prequel Fast & Furious, and the sequels Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6, and F9. Outside of the Fast and Furious saga, he has directed Star Trek Beyond.

was also well received.

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.

Wayne Wang is a pioneering director and writer of Asian American cinema, having made notable films such as Chan is Missing, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart, Life Is Cheap... But Toilet Paper Is Expensive, Chinese Box, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, The Princess of Nebraska, The Joy Luck Club, and Eat a Bowl of Tea. He was very well known in the 90s for directing the hit Independent film Smoke and he has also had mainstream success with the films Anywhere but Here, Maid in Manhattan, and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

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

Minari, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, featured an almost entirely-Asian cast, including Asian-Americans Steven Yeun and Alan Kim who received several award nominations for their respective performances. Chung is the first Asian born in the United States to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and was also nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The 2019 film Always Be My Maybe, directed by Nahnatchka Khan, features Asian American actor, Ali Wong and Randall Park. The film denies a popular impression that being an Asian American also meant being a model minority.^[40]

Other notable film contributors

Makeup and Hairstyling

Kazu Hiro won the Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling in 2018 and 2020, winning the second award as an American citizen.

Prop Design

Academy Award

for special effects.

Director of Photography

The Watchmen, Super 8, and Suckerpunch.^[41]

Film Editing

Mark Yoshikawa was the

editor on several of Terrence Malick's films, including The New World, The Tree of Life, and Knight of Cups.^[42][43]

His feature film career spans five decades, with credits including notable films such as The Conversation, My Favorite Year, Risky Business, Clean and Sober, Singles, Shanghai Noon, and I Am Sam.^[44]

Cinematography

feature documentary Amargosa, about a dancer who performs regularly in an opera house in a California ghost town.

Production Illustration

Films with Asian-American leads

Flower Drum Song is a 1961 film.^[46]

The Joy Luck Club is a 1993 movie, based on 1989 best-selling novel The Joy Luck Club (novel) written by Amy Tan. It is a story of four women who were born in China and eventually came to America, and of their daughters.^[47] It was directed by Wayne Wang and stars Tsai Chin, Kieu Chinh, Lisa Lu, France Nuyen, Rosalind Chao, Lauren Tom, Tamlyn Tomita, and Ming-Na Wen.

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.

To All The Boys I've Loved Before is a 2018 romance film directed by Susan Johnson based on the novels by Jenny Han and released by Netflix on August 17, 2018. The film stars Lana Condor and Noah Centineo.^[52] The critical success of the film led to two sequels, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020) and To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021) alongside a spin-off series titled XO, Kitty.

(Leung) and his terrorist organization, the Ten Rings, living a normal life in San Francisco before being called back by his father for a final mission.

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).

Joy Ride is a 2023 comedy film directed by Adele Lim. The film follows Audrey Sullivan (Ashley Park), Kat Huang (Stephanie Hsu), Lolo (Sherry Cola) and Deadeye (Sabrina Wu) as they go on a hilarious adventure.

Quiz Lady is a 2023 comedy film directed by Jessica Wu. The film follows the lives of two sisters starring Sandrah Oh and Awkwafina.

Theater

1950s

The musical

I Enjoy Being A Girl

", it would not be produced with an all-Asian American cast until a 2002 Broadway revival.

The 1958-1959 Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong was based on the 1957 novel of the same name. It starred France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga) and William Shatner, and featured Mary Mon Toy.^[53] It later became the British-American feature film The World of Suzie Wong (1960) with Nancy Kwan as Suzie Wong.^[54] Ms. Nuyen would go on to portray Dr. Paulette Kiem on the 1980s television series St. Elsewhere (1986-1988).^[55]

1960s

In 1965, frustrated with the limited opportunities given to them, actors

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

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?]

2000s

Telly Leung started his Broadway career in 2002 as a performer in Flower Drum Song. He later went on to perform in Pacific Overtures, Wicked, Rent (both on Broadway as a performer and as Angel at the Hollywood Bowl), Godspell, and originate the role of Young Sam in George Takei's Allegiance.

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]

Outer Critics Circle Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and Theatre World Award.^[58]

Disgraced, a play about Islamophobia, written by Pakistani American Ayad Akhtar won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Actors that have played the lead role include Aasif Mandvi and Hari Dhillon.

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.

Phillipa Soo starred as Natasha Rostova in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 in the Off-Broadway productions, and as Elizabeth Schuyler in the original Broadway cast of Hamilton, winning a cast Grammy Award for musical theater album.

Kimiko Glenn starred as Dawn in the original Broadway cast of Waitress, the musical adaption of the film of the same name.

Theater Set Design (Theater Scenic Design)

Ming Cho Lee

set designer for theater.^[59]

He won the following awards as well:

• Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Set Design (Several awards starting with Billy in 1969)^[60]
• The Helen Hayes Awards^[61]
  • Six Awards for Outstanding Set Design, Resident Production, from 1996-2002.
  • The Helen Hayes Tribute Award (2006)
• The 1983 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for K2.
• The 2002 National Medal of Arts
• The 1995 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence
• The 2013 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement^[62]

He was a Chinese-American set designer and professor at Yale School of Drama.

Television

Main article: American television series with Asian leads

Television actors / actresses

1950s

Anna May Wong was the first actress as well as acting professional of Asian descent to be the leading star of a US television series with The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, where she played a detective and Chinese art dealer.^[63] For her work in the motion picture industry, please see Film: 1920s-Anna May Wong.

1960s-1970s

Academy Award® winner Miyoshi Umeki was the housekeeper/nanny who offered sage advice in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1969-1972), a television series that starred Bill Bixby as the father/widower.^[64]

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.

1980s-1990s

France Nuyen (born Francis Nguyễn Vân Nga) was Dr. Paulette Kiem on the 1980s television series St. Elsewhere (1983-1988). Prior to that, she was an actress in the motion picture industry. (Please see Miyoshi Umeki, Frances Nuyen, and James Shigeta) Rosalind Chao was Soon-Lee Klinger on AfterMASH (1983-1985) and went on to portray Keiko O'Brien on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-1994) and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999).^[65]

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

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.

1990s-2000s

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

.

Emmy Award. Liu now plays Joan Watson alongside Jonny Lee Miller (Sherlock Holmes) on Elementary

.

2000s

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

.

Heroes

.

.

Asian American and Canadian actress Grace Park having rose to fame on Battlestar Galactica and Edgemont (from Canada) is now a cast member of Hawaii Five-0.

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.

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.

.

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.

Brenda Song is a Thai-Hmong American actress known to younger audiences for starring in several Disney Channel productions including The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, The Suite Life on Deck, Stuck in the Suburbs (2004) and Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior (2006). Ryan Potter first rose to prominence on the children's television series Supah Ninjas.

Recently, the U.S. television series

. She is regarded by many as the Real World alumna with the most successful media career.

Korean-American actress

, 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.

Korean-American actor Steven Yeun plays one of the leading roles as Glenn Rhee in AMC's The Walking Dead. Arden Cho is a Korean-American actress, singer and model, starring on the prominent television series Teen Wolf as Kira Yukimura.

.

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]

The first American sitcom,

The sitcom Dr. Ken featured an Asian American family and aired from 2015 to 2017.

Chloe Bennet is a Chinese-European American who gained fame as a pop star in China under the name, Wāng Kěyíng (汪可盈). She stars on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as one of the main leads alongside Ming-Na Wen. Daniel Henney, who is a half Korean American, also first gained fame overseas in South Korea had since been a recurring guest-star on CBS' Hawaii Five-0 and now stars on Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders.

Also a recurring guest star on

.

Ki Hong Lee has become well known for portraying Dong Nguyen in the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

2020s

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]

(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,

became the first Asian American music, entertainment and lifestyle network.

Fashion design

Many Asian Americans have made their mark in the fashion world.

Internet

With the advent of

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.

Brothers Jimmy Wong and Freddie Wong also own popular YouTube channels, with the former acting in and the latter producing the web series Video Game High School.

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]

Literature

Asian American writers have received numerous top awards in fiction and nonfiction writing.

Women writers have been particularly prominent for their work of telling a wide range of stories of immigrant experience, changing cultures and aspects of Asian American imagination, spanning continents, eras and points of view.

in 2021.

Asian American writers have also received several awards for both children's and young-adult fiction. Taro Yashima won the Children's Book Award in 1955 for his book Crow Boy. Linda Sue Park, Cynthia Kadohata, Erin Entrada Kelly, and Tae Keller received the Newbery Medal for A Single Shard, Kira-Kira, Hello, Universe, and When You Trap a Tiger, respectively. Thanhha Lai received the National Book Award for Young People's Literature for the verse novel Inside Out & Back Again, Kadohata received the award for The Thing About Luck, and Malinda Lo received the award for Last Night at the Telegraph Club

Several writers have received the

.

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]

Kumail Nanjiani, a Pakistani American, co-wrote the romantic comedy The Big Sick, a film in which he also starred as the eponymous male lead. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his efforts.

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]

Throughout the 1990s there was a growing amount of Asian American queer writings^[84] and today the list of contributing writers is long. To name a few: Merle Woo (1941), Russell Leong (1950), Dwight Okita (1958), Norman Wong (1963), Chay Yew (1965), and Justin Chin (1969).

Music

Rock

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.

.

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.

Hip hop and R&B

Christopher "

Asian Americans are increasingly enjoying success in mainstream

Desi hip hop

There are also major underground hip hop artists who have developed a following, such as the Pakistani American rapper

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

In addition, jazz musician Charles Mingus, whose mother was descended from a Chinese national, was very influential in American jazz.

Popular music

Grammy Award

-winning singer, songwriter, pianist, keyboardist, guitarist, and actress

In popular music, Asian Americans are a sizable influence, including pop divas such as part-Filipino Olivia Rodrigo,^[108] Vanessa Hudgens,^[109] Nicole Scherzinger,^[110] Bruno Mars,^[111] Hikaru Utada, and Lea Salonga. Singer and actress Lea Salonga is also referenced in this article in Theater: 2000s.

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.

Asian Americans play in a handful of "all-American" bands, including quarter-

.

Internationally, US-born

. Her vocal prowess and captivating voice won her many awards and is the reason she is dubbed the "Korean Beyonce."

There are also bands like the indie pop duo

.

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

Classical

In

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

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.

, 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.

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.

Abstract expressionism exploded onto the scene in the 1950s, drawing inspiration from calligraphy.^[125]

Sculpture

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]

Curating

Herb Tam is the curator and director of exhibitions at the Museum of Chinese in America.^{[129][non-primary source needed]}

Book arts

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]

Architecture

Notable works of world architecture have been designed by Asian Americans, such as the

.

Graphic artists

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 Comics GI 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]}

and others.

Asian Americans are gaining prominence in Los Angeles, the "Mural Capital of the World", including Nisha Sembi,

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

Portrayal of Asian Americans in media

The yellowface trend

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The entertainment industry has created a negative discourse around the Asian American community, associating them, solely, with negative stereotypes such as the

]

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.

]

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

, "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 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]

Further reading

• Hallmark, Kara Kelley (May 30, 2007). Encyclopedia of Asian American Artists. Artists of the American Mosaic. Westport, Conneticuit, USA: Greenwood Press-Bloomsbury Publishing.
  ISBN 9780313334511
  .

• Chang, Gordon H.; et al. (August 11, 2008). Asian American Art: A History, 1850-1970. Stanford, California, USA: Stanford General Books-Stanford University Press.
  ISBN 9780804757515
  .

• Cornell, Daniel; et al. (November 12, 2008). Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900-1970 (Illustrated ed.). University of California Press.
  ISBN 9780520258648
  .

• Poon, Irene (January 1, 2002). Leading the Way: Asian American Artists of the Older Generation. Gordon College.
  ISBN 9780970748706
  .

• Asian American Women Artists Association Staff. Cheers to Muses: Contemporary Works by Asian American Women. San Francisco, California, USA: Asian American Women Artists Association.
  ISBN 9780978735906
  .

• Wang, Grace (January 2015). Soundtracks of Asian America: Navigating Race through Musical Performance. Duke University Press.
  JSTOR j.ctv11hpkf2
  .

• Wong, Deborah (June 28, 2004). Speak it Louder: Asian Americans in Music Making. Routledge-Taylor & Francis Group.
  ISBN 9780415970402
  .

• Högerle, Erin Franziska. Asian American Film Festivals: Frames, Locations, and Performances of Memory. Media and Cultural Memory. Germany: De Gruyter.
  ISBN 9783110696530
  .

• Pham, Vincent N.; Ono, Kent A. (2009). Asian Americans and the Media. Media and Minorities. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Polity.
  OCLC 236321398
  .

• Liu, Miles Xian (May 30, 2002). Asian American Playwrights: A Bio-Bibliographical Critical Sourcebook. Greenwood Press-Bloomsbury Publishing.
  ISBN 9780313314551
  .

• Lee, Esther Kim (August 11, 2011) [2006]. A History of Asian American Theatre. Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama. Vol. 26. Cambridge University Press.
  ISBN 9781107402928
  .

• Wong, Yutian, ed. (December 2018). Contemporary Directions in Asian American Dance. Studies in Dance History. University of Wisconsin Press.
  ISBN 9780299308704
  .

• Wang, Oliver (Winter 2001). "Between the Notes: Finding Asian America in Popular Music". American Music. 19 (4). University of Illinois Press: 439–465.
  JSTOR 3052420
  .

See also

• Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater
• Asian-American theatre
• Asian American Dance Theatre
• Asian American Arts Centre
• Dragon Lady
• List of Asian Academy Award winners and nominees
• Asian Americans in broadcast journalism

References

External links

• "Asian American Women Artists Association".