The Lincoln Log

Asian and Pacific Islanders: misrepresented in the entertainment industry

According to the U.S Census Bureau, Asian and Pacific Island Americans (APA) consist of 4.46% of American citizens. In the media, APAs are considered the model minority because they can easily assimilate into American culture because of their hard work, family values and high level of education. Though this is opinion is a positive one for the APA community, there are many stereotypes about the APA population that linger around the country.

Many still assume that the typical APA is limited to be in the fields of business, science, and law but there have been some who have broken the stereotypical features of the APA community through the entertainment industry.

According to the chronicles of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hosts Academy Awards, the first ever APA nominee for any of the big four (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress) acting awards was to Merle Oberon.

Oberon, an Indian-American, was nominated for Best Actress in the movie Dark Angel in 1935. It would be twenty-years later, in 1957, that Miyoshi Umeki would become to first APA actor or actress to win the Academy Award in her supporting role as Katsumi Kelly, in the movie Sayorara. Ever since two others, Ben Kingsley and Haing Ngor have won one of the acting awards at the Academy Wards.

Recently there have been a growth of APA actors. Actors such as Lucy Liu, John Cho, Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li, Chow Yun-fat, Daniel Dae Kim, and most recently Masi Oka, have been able to launch successful careers. Even though some of their roles had displayed the typical Asian kung-fu fighter, nerd, or exotic beauty, they have been able to move onto better, though oftentimes limited, roles.

Through a couple of interviews, Kim has said that there are very limited roles that Hollywood producers offer to APA actors and actresses. Most of time, those auditions require the actors auditioning for that role to speak in an Asian language. An example of this is Kim’s role on the show “Lost.” Kim’s character, Jin-Soo Kwon, speaks almost all the time in Korean and barely in English. In real life, Kim’s primary language is English and not Korean, which he is not fluent in. Meanwhile, actress Lucy Liu, has been able to get casted into many roles which do not require her to speak any Asian language. She was an agent in the most recent “Charlie’s Angels” series, whereas the originals were of all Caucasian descent, as well as a witty lawyer on the new television hit, “Ugly Betty.” She has been able to show the many dimensions of what APA actors can achieve.

Even if there is little APA representation in the American music industry, there are many Asian artists who have been interested in the American market. Most recently, Bi (as known as Rain) was the first Asian artists to perform in New York’s Times Square of a Music Television (MTV) special. Due to the success of his arrival, he is planning on recording hits with rythym and blues (R&B) artist, Omarion. Other Asian artists, such as Chinese pop-diva Jolin Tsai and legend Jacky Cheung have performed in America, and yet they have not released a single. Even more interestingly, APA artists like New Yorker Wang Lee Hom have gone back to Asia to become pop stars. He recently became MTV Asia’s Best Chinese artist in 2006. Currently, Lee-hom has opened a studio in New York, bringing in a possibility that he may release an English single in America.

Though there is a gradual increase of APA entertainers in the entertainment industry, the question remains whether or not the stereotypes can be broken. Why is it that many Americans think that the APA community is just Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese? There is much more than that. There are Samoans, Koreans, Filipinos, Cambodians, Kazakhs, Iranians, Iraqis, Laotians, plus the many more ethnicities of the many countries on the biggest continent on Earth. The APA community needs to encourage upcoming artists so that future generations of APAs can look up to them. The more exposure the media has to the APA community, the more that the APA community can achieve in the industry.

Let’s hope the best for the future APA entertainers to come.