Asian representation in Hollywood has finally achieved a remarkable and overdue breakthrough this year, industry insiders say. From Oscar favorites “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “RRR” to an unprecedented four acting nominations, the momentum is clear. Malaysian star Michelle Yeoh, who appears in “Everything Everywhere,” is only the second Asian best‑actress nominee in the 95‑year history of the Oscars and has a strong chance of becoming the first winner on Sunday. Only four Asian actors have ever won Oscars, the same number nominated this year, including Yeoh’s co‑stars Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu, as well as Hong Chau of “The Whale.”
The accolades extend beyond acting. India’s all‑singing, all‑dancing “RRR” is heavily tipped to win Best Original Song, and Nobel literature laureate Kazuo Ishiguro’s screenplay for “Living” has also received a nomination. Behind the camera, the best‑picture frontrunner “Everything Everywhere”—a $100 million box‑office hit with 11 Oscar nominations—features Asian co‑director Daniel Kwan and Asian producer Jonathan Wang. “There’s something really beautiful about being able to show that if you put people in these roles, people will go see it,” Wang told AFP. “Why is it only white characters who go on the fun adventures, while Asian, Black, and Latino characters have to experience the suffering? It’s time to flip that on its head, and people will run to the box office.”
The shift marks a stark contrast to Hollywood’s past. At the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards, 94‑year‑old veteran James Hong, who appears in “Everything Everywhere,” reflected on how white actors with “their eyes taped up” once played leading Asian roles because producers believed “the Asians are not good enough and they are not box office.” He concluded, “But look at us now,” to a huge ovation.
Hong co‑founded the East West Players in 1965, a Los Angeles theatre group created to boost the visibility of Asian‑American actors and issues. The company welcomed this year’s diverse Oscar nominations, which artistic director Snehal Desai called “much appreciated and long overdue.” “These are artists who have been doing this work for decades. We are glad for the visibility and recognition, but it really should not have taken this long,” he said.
Vietnam‑born Ke Huy Quan, a major child star in the 1980s with “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” and “The Goonies,” all but abandoned acting for decades due to a lack of roles. “Quan’s story of his prolonged absence from the industry strikes a resonant chord for our community, as we continue to fight for more opportunities and quality representation,” the group said in a statement. Actor and comedian Kristina Wong, currently appearing in a one‑woman show co‑produced by East West Players, explained that she was driven to write her own productions because it was the only way to see “weird” immigrant stories told. “It is either this, or sit around and audition for bubble‑gum commercials,” she told AFP. “I’ve done that life, and it sucks. It’s not fulfilling creatively.” Wong noted that a “lack of opportunities in general” still persists, but with her Pulitzer‑drama finalist “Kristina Wong, Sweatshop Overlord” and “Everything Everywhere” racking up awards and box‑office receipts, she feels “we’re ready” for new stories. “We’ve been seeing the same tired old stories about a white‑guy action hero fixing everything with a gun. It makes me excited, thinking maybe there’s an audience ready to be challenged.”
Despite the progress, Asian success at the Oscars remains limited. A New York Times study found that only 23 Asian actors’ performances have ever been nominated, representing just 1.2 percent of all nominations. Only Ben Kingsley, whose father was Indian, has been nominated more than once, and no year has seen more than one Asian actor win. Could this be the year representation goes beyond a few specific individuals?
South Korea‑born Joel Kim Booster, who wrote and starred in the gay rom‑com “Fire Island,” said that having his work championed by two Asian executives at Disney‑owned Searchlight “really pushed this project through and made sure it was going to get made.” He observed, “For a long time, there was this pull‑the‑ladder‑up‑behind‑me mentality among many minorities who found success in Hollywood. There was a scarcity… a mentality of ‘there’s only room for one of us at the table and that’s going to be me.’ I think that has dissipated in a big way.”
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