27 Celebs Who Spoke Out About AAPI Representation In Hollywood
By Kristen Harris,
25 days ago
According to a recent study from McKinsey & Company , Asian Pacific Islander (API) representation in movies reached nearly 20% in 2022 — a significant increase from 3% in 2000 — but only 3% of that came from films produced in the US. Likewise, the researchers found that over two-thirds of API consumers find the available onscreen representation unsatisfyingly inauthentic.
Here are 27 celebs who spoke out about AAPI representation in Hollywood:
1. In 2021, Olivia Rodrigo told People , "Representation in TV and media is so important. And I'm so glad that I can hopefully be an example for a little Asian girl out there, that they can do anything that they set their mind to."
She also said, "It actually makes me want to cry. It's so touching."
Kevin Mazur / Getty Images for Live Nation2. In 2018, Sandra Oh told Vulture , "When I got the script for Killing Eve , I remember I was walking around in Brooklyn, and I was on my phone with my agent, Nancy. I was quickly scrolling down the script, and I can't really tell you what I was looking for. So I'm like, 'So Nancy, I don't understand, what's the part?' And Nancy goes, 'Sweetheart, it's Eve, it's Eve.' In that moment, I did not assume the offer was for Eve. I think about that moment a lot. Of just going, how deep have I internalized this? [So] many years of being seen [a certain way], it deeply, deeply, deeply affects us. It's like, how does racism define your work? Oh my goodness, I didn't even assume when being offered something that I would be one of the central storytellers."
She continued, "Why? And this is me talking, right? After being told to see things a certain way for decades, you realize, 'Oh my god! They brainwashed me!' I was brainwashed! So that was a revelation to me."
Nick Briggs/© BBC-America / courtesy Everett Collection3. In 2021, Simu Liu told TIME100 Talks , "I can be someone I didn't have as a kid...I loved comics as a kid, I loved superheroes, but I really didn't see myself represented in that space. I really hope with [ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ], kids who are like me, who grew up similarly, can have that."
"That's really the power of representation: seeing yourself on screen and feeling like you're a part of this world, which for Asian children who have grown up in the West hasn't always been the case," he said.
Jasin Boland /© Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / © Marvel Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection4. In 2022, Mindy Kaling told Today , "I think when my show Never Have I Ever debuted on Netflix, I remember thinking, like, before it came out, 'This is a really specific story.' It's an Indian American family — and not only Indian but South Indian, which has its own specific cultural nuances. One of the members of the family is an immigrant, the mom, and then the cousin also is a more recent immigrant, and the girl is Indian American. So, it felt so specific to my lived experience. And you have this feeling in TV where you're supposed to be doing things with broad appeal. And I was like, I wonder if this is going to be really niche? And I have never been more happily surprised that that show, you know, 40 million people watched that show when it came out."
She continued, "And what's so exciting is that…here's something that should have been really niche, which is really about my experience growing up in this country as an Indian American girl in a certain time, and that that show had this appeal universally. And to me, it was such an amazing message … I was like 41 when that came out and still learning that yes, if something is truthful, and it's honest to your experience, it can have universal appeal."
Santiago Felipe / Getty Images5. During a 2023 TIFF event, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan said, "How many times was it the white girl? How many times was it the white girl that they chose? How many times did I want to be the white girl that they chose? Because then I realized I'm never gonna be the white girl because I'm a brown girl."
"And they're never gonna pick the brown girl because she's gonna be the best friend, or like, just in general, the woman of color is going to be the quirky best friend and not the one that they choose. When really, the best friend character was obviously always the cooler one," she said.
Olivia Wong / FilmMagic / Via Getty6. In 2023, Dinah Jane told People , "I'm the first female artist of Polynesian descent in the mainstream world to [open my own record label]. I want to give that platform to the next generation of Polynesian kids."
She also said, "I would embrace [my background] here and there [during my time in Fifth Harmony], but then there were times where I was just trying to fit in."
She realized how important it was for kids to see her embracing her heritage when Barbie made Fifth Harmony dolls — and hers was the very first Polynesian Barbie. She said, "Still, to this day, it gives me chills. I remember when I received it, all my little cousins were like, 'We want the Dinah Jane Barbie.' They want to be seen, too."
Christopher Polk / Billboard via Getty Images7. In 2022, Drew Afualo told Teen Vogue , "Polynesian people in mainstream media [are] like The Rock, Dinah Jane [of Fifth Harmony], Jason Momoa, and that's it. It's just the three of them, and like, if it's not sports, we're not really talked about."
She also said, "One of the biggest honors of my life is being a role model to my own community. That's all I've ever wanted, was to make a difference. Being one of the [very few in mainstream media] is a beautiful thing but also a scary thing. Our people are so talented, and they can literally do anything."
Rodin Eckenroth / Getty Images for CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment)8. In 2021, Charles Melton told Entertainment Weekly , "I was flying, and there was a 50-year-old guy who looked like my father, just a white American male. And, he was like, 'I'm a huge fan, can I get a photo?' After I got through security, he introduced me to his wife, and his wife was Chinese. They introduced me to their son, who is 9. And his wife looked to her son and said, 'See, he looks like you. He's a movie star.'"
"That, for me, was a very special moment because I didn't grow up having that role model that I saw on the screen that looked like me. So, I think we're in a new territory as far as telling stories where the Asian male masculinity is whole and expressed in storytelling," he said.
Karwai Tang / WireImage / Via Getty9. In 2021, Gemma Chan told British Vogue , "It's only a fairly recent thing that Asian females have been able to be the protagonists of stories...Individual successes are one thing. But structurally, when you look at who can actually get projects green-lit in the UK, who are in those positions of power, those gatekeeping positions – there aren't that many Asians. There aren't many people of color in those positions."
She also said, "There's a way that you can honor the spirit of your ancestors by actually trying to do something different, which I know is a privilege. This is the argument I tried to put to my parents back then when things were tough: hopefully, you work to make sure the next generation has even more of a chance to do something different and change things for the better for the rest of the community, or the next generation after that. That's something I feel in my bones. I want a rising tide to lift all boats."
Taylor Hill / WireImage / Via Getty10. In 2022, Bowen Yang told the RepresentASIAN Project , "As the sole writer of this movie, Joel [Kim Booster] shaped [ Fire Island ] in a way that was ultimately equitable. If I'm representing Howie as this honest representation of what the gay Asian American experience is like, that has a lot to do with Joel's pretty lived-in, rounded-out experiences."
He continued, "Joel is someone who has seen it all, and that is kind of only possible insofar as he is this desirable Asian American queer person, but he's also even still navigated this low floor low ceiling existence of being a queer Asian person where you are so summarily, violently, rejected or ostracized, but then also sometimes fetishized and glorified to an overcorrect of extents. Joel has really seen a wide berth of things."
Jeong Park / © Searchlight Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection11. In 2023, Bretman Rock was the first openly non-binary person on the cover of Vogue Philippines. They told Good Morning America , "It's truly a love letter to my baby self in the Philippines. Like, just even, you know, like, me being on the front of the cover of Vogue makes people feel like they could be that too...brown, gay kids at that. Like, we're not supposed to be cover girls. We're not supposed to be cover boys."
He said, "Every brown queer kid deserves their own Vogue cover 'cause I think they deserve to be seen in that way."
David Livingston / Getty Images12. In 2021, Constance Wu told TIME , "[When Crazy Rich Asians came out] I was in a unique position, having that happen to me with two big-profile projects: first there was Fresh Off the Boat, which was seeing yourself represented on network American TV. That was something that really hadn't happened in a long time. Crazy Rich Asians was on a bigger scale. People used to say, 'Oh, well, she can't carry a show. She can't carry a movie.' But that's why it was hard for Asian Americans — they couldn't carry a show or movie because nobody had ever let them."
She continued, "With Crazy Rich Asians, with To All the Boys, with Minari or The Farewell, we are truly seeing that it's not the lack of talent. It's been the lack of opportunity."
Later in the interview, she also said, "For me, avoiding tokenism … has been looking for roles where the character doesn't only exist as a means to tell somebody else's story. They need to have families, joys, sorrows, loves, enemies all depicted within the narrative. The second you give a token character other qualities, then they're human — they cease being tokens because they are fully realized."
Jamie Mccarthy / Getty Images13. In 2016, Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu told Entertainment Weekly , "The one thing I'm supposed to do is make this movie great and entertaining for everybody, and of course, to be as true and to make this the example of what a movie like this can really be so that others can follow, and we can open up a gate for other Asian stories."
He also said, "I think that, of course, I want the community to come out and show support. Hollywood listens to money and to controversy. And I think the people have created a wave of controversy to wake up Hollywood, and now we have to execute. Now we have the opportunity and the pressure to make a great movie so that everybody can get behind [the movement]. Now, we can show up in force and say, 'We will go to these movies," and that will speak volumes to the industry and to the studios to say there is a market for this. And beyond that, it'll open up the eyes of a little girl or little boy out there who looks like me and looks up on the big screen in the dark, having paid $20, and wants to escape into a fantastical world, and sees themselves there as a hero, and to me, that's the most important thing across the board. I think about myself when I was young and not seeing anybody up there on the screen that represented me. To me, I was like, 'Oh, I'm like Marty McFly. I'm like all these other characters that didn't actually look like me.' How great would it be if there could be somebody [who could say], 'Oh, I could be a superhero, I could be the charming guy girls can desire.' I think that that change is really exciting for me."
Frazer Harrison / WireImage / Via Getty14. In 2017, an Instagram commenter criticized Chloe Bennet for using a stage name. She replied , "Changing my name doesn't change the fact that my blood is half Chinese, that I lived in China, speak Mandarin, or that I was culturally raised both American and Chinese. It means I had to pay my rent, and Hollywood is racist and wouldn't cast me with a last name that made them uncomfortable."
She continued, "I'm doing everything I can with the platform. I have to make sure no one has to change their name again just to get work."
She also told NPR , "I think what's really dangerous with what, continuously, is happening with Asian-Americans in Hollywood is there's a narrative that white Hollywood, or just any other ethnicity really in Hollywood, gives to Asian-Americans that, 'You're the butt of the joke.' They're determining that we're the nerds, that we're the shy girls, or that the guy that can't be sexy because he's an Asian man. When you're continuously giving a different ethnicity their own narrative without giving them a chance to actually represent themselves or write something that's true to them, then that's really dangerous. It really seeps into the psyche of young Asian American kids. I know it did for me. I didn't see anybody that looked like me growing up on TV. I genuinely thought to my core that I would have no chance of being an actor because my dad wasn't white. The more I became aware of my thinking, the more I thought, 'Oh, this is because I look this way or because I feel this way.'"
Gregg Deguire / FilmMagic / Via Getty15. In 2021, Rina Sawayama told TIME , "If it's a unique story coming from a marginalized group, it's important that labels let artists be themselves...I'm so fortunate I get to write songs for a living. I'm not going to waste that by writing whatever is already out there."
"From the beginning, I've been passionate about talking about misrepresentation of Asian people," she said.
Tim Mosenfelder / FilmMagic / Via Getty16. In 2024, Auli'i Cravalho told Teen Vogue , "More, more, more, more! It's part of the reason I'm so excited for [the Moana] live-action. I'm not reprising my role because I'm happy to pass that baton on to the next young woman of Pacific Island descent. I look forward to ushering her into this."
"I've been to so many AAPI events where there's a lot of Asian Americans, not so many Pacific Islanders. And it gets lonely when I'm the only one che-hooing on here," she said.
Steve Granitz / FilmMagic / Via Getty17. In 2020 Little Mix's Jade Thirlwall told Vogue Arabia , "I was 18 when I moved, just after I did The X Factor [in 2011]. I went from being the token person of color to being in London, where it didn't matter. All of a sudden, I was thrown into the limelight [with Little Mix], and people didn't know what I was, so I went along with it. I had suppressed who I was because I wasn't proud. I had been bullied into thinking I should be ashamed of my identity, so I didn't talk enough about my heritage in interviews. It makes me sad to think about it now."
She continued, "When I was younger, I didn't see enough representation of Arabs in magazines or on TV, and when I saw people who looked like my granddad, they were always misrepresented. There's this stereotype of Muslims being terrorists. I regret now that I didn't talk about it more, but I was young and scared. I'm trying to make up for it now. I'm more open to being that voice for people. I think it comes with being more confident in yourself and more curious."
Dave Benett / Dave Benett / Getty Images for Warner Music UK LTD18. In 2021, Hayley Kiyoko told People , "[The growing number of Asian American artists is] all I've ever wanted. Especially growing up, all I've ever wanted was to have people I could look up to that look like me, that I could connect to, and so I think it's so incredible to see so many artists getting mainstream support and fix that."
She continued, "The possibilities are endless — that there is a space for us. A lot of times when you grow up, and you don't see someone that looks like you, it doesn't feel like society wants you or accepts you, so I'm so excited for what the future holds and the change that we're really starting to see in the music industry."
Gilbert Flores / Variety via Getty Images19. In 2017, Thank You For Your Service actor Beulah Koale told Stuff , "Jason [Hall, the writer/director] really wanted a Samoan to play a Samoan, as did I. But I know a lot of people higher up did not. They wanted the guy that could bring in the dollars and has a face. But I'm so competitive that I knew there was no one else for the role. The fact that Jason said he wanted this Samoan kid from New Zealand and that Solo [Tausolo Aieti, the real-life person he portrayed] is proud that a Samoan is playing a Samoan."
"I think Solo realised that these guys weren't playing around with his story, which is what anyone would think when Hollywood takes your story – that it's theirs now and you have no ownership of it and they're going to cast some one that vaguely looks like you but doesn't know your language or culture. But Jason is different. He comes from a place of truth and authenticity," he said.
Beulah also spoke Samoan in the movie. He continued, "When I heard my language part of the film, I cried. I represent so many people, Pacific Islanders, Polynesian people. The fact that this indigenous language is in a Hollywood film ... I love I represent that."
Francois Duhamel /© Universal Pictures /Courtesy Everett Collection20. In 2016, Gerald Ramsey, who's known for playing Mufasa in the North American touring production of The Lion King , told the Center for Asian American Media , "So when I got offered the contract to come be Mufasa on the tour, my initial reaction was to decline it. Part of being from the Pacific is you don't want to embarrass your family at any point. I didn't expect to get hired, and so when they offered me this position, I was petrified to show up to the company, and they may realize, 'Oh, he had a good audition, but he doesn't know what he's doing.'"
He continued, "My cousin in Hawaii was the one who told me to reach out to Nick Afoa, who plays Simba [formerly of the Sydney production of The Lion King , currently in the West End production]. I was kind of embarrassed and ashamed, but I was like, 'Man, who else would understand what I'm going through?' So I messaged him on Facebook, and I was like, 'Hey Nick, you don't know who I am, I don't know who you are, but we're both Samoan. I'm about to get hired in The Lion King . You've been in The Lion King for a couple of years.' I just kind of spilled my guts to him, and he wrote back the most encouraging words that really gave me the motivation I needed to get on the plane and head out to the tour and start training."
KRON 4 / Via youtube.com21. In 2022, James Hong told Variety , "I started in 1953, so at that time, the industry didn't take us seriously. They just said, 'Oh, Asians are not qualified to be the top actors.' You'd have the white actors tape up their eyes. It was terrible — I had to bear with that for maybe 20 years or so. And then finally, I formed the East West Players, and that started things going."
"And now look where we are. We're in Hollywood, and there's people receiving Academy Awards — and even Squid Game . So there's a lot of avenues we can take now," he said.
Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images22. In 2023, Avan Jogia told Teen Vogue , "[ Door Mouse ] was born out of not feeling very much agency in the film industry, especially as an actor of color. I was looking to find parts that I felt like I could dig a little deeper into as an actor and train myself to give good performances and improve as an actor."
He continued, "Good parts are hard enough to get ahold of, you know, regardless of [diversity]. And then you ask, how many films looking for a brown man are made a year? Of those roles, how many see me for that part? So I was frustrated and I wanted to find agency, so I started writing. This script, I wrote the first draft within two weeks."
He also said, "The commodification of my identity is something I was definitely really [resistant] to. And many people told me, 'Save this script, and just make a really simple movie about yourself or about your identity.' Like, make a film that's not such a big swing and such a jump for a financier to be like, 'Oh, that's the guy who should be making that film.' Why is it such a big swing? It feels as if having original ideas not based in identity is reserved for a different group of filmmakers. I would like to see a sci-fi film with an Indian woman as the lead. But the story's not about that. It's about like, I don't know, a water shortage and how she’s the hero who saves the day. Otherwise, it just reinforces the idea that these people are connected to tragedy and can only ever inherently be connected to tragedy."
Gravitas Ventures /Courtesy Everett Collection23. In 2024, Sasha Colby told Teen Vogue , "I think as a Pasifika trans woman, when I look for representation, unfortunately, in media and in entertainment, the representation that I would gravitate to is just a broad umbrella of a POC trans person."
She continued, "And when we really get down to being Pasifika, there is a level of grouping us all together. [We've always] celebrated our individuality and where we come from, all these little islands, all these little communities, these little systems that have worked for eons. For us to not have that shown is the biggest detriment because then we are not a whole person. It's just kind of a shell. And then we're just used for the token Pasifika person."
Chelsea Guglielmino / Getty Images24. In 2021, Danny Pudi told Entertainment Weekly , "I have felt pressure to be everything to everyone or to capture the Asian American experience."
He continued, "When I started out, I played characters that weren't fully developed, supporting characters who didn't have the chance to feel sexy or have a romantic life onscreen, and I found myself filling in the blanks for myself and hoping that I would get a chance to be a lead."
Cindy Ord / Getty Images25. In 2022, Jacob Batalon told SYFY , "Being Filipino and being proud of my heritage, it gives me this great sense of responsibility to be a better person. It means a lot. I think that I wanted to represent people and to make sure that they know that they are more than enough. They don't need to be a certain way, look a certain way to really be successful."
He continued, "I think it's important to have representation on SYFY because... I mean, why not? I feel like they've given us the platform to do so. I think that that's amazing, and we're gonna continually move forwardly and positively with that."
Jamie Mccarthy / Getty Images26. In 2021, Raya and the Last Dragon voice actor Kelly Marie Tran told Pop Sugar , "I never thought I would ever get to be a Disney princess, much less have that movie be inspired by the part of the world that my family's from."
She continued, "It was such an incredible experience not only to be part of that cast and to have had a film that was written by two Southeast Asian writers but also to participate in the press tour in a way that I felt was also giving me the ability to shine more of a spotlight on Asian designers. It just felt like a wonderfully celebratory and healing experience to be able to do that."
Sean Mathis / Getty Images for SXSW27. And finally, in 2022, Michelle Yeoh told People , "You know what, it's not about other people doing for us. First, we have to do for ourselves. We should never give up. We should always push. We should always step up and step forward to make sure the changes are there. Don't wait for Hollywood to change this course."
"We have to change the course. We have to. We have brilliant storytellers. And when we tell a story, like Everything Everywhere All at Once , Hollywood said so," she said.
Olivia Wong / FilmMagicCheck out more API-centered content by exploring how BuzzFeed celebrates Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Of course, the content doesn't end after May. Follow BuzzFeed’s A*Pop on Instagram , TikTok , and YouTube to keep up with our latest API content year-round.
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