Emmy nominations remind us AAPI representation on television falls short of reality

Bowen Yang on "Saturday Night LIie" was nominated for an Emmy

OPINION

Just as it might appear that Asian representation on American television is at an all time high with a record number of shows featuring Asian leads, along comes the Emmy nominations to remind us that AAPI actors, producers and writers have a long, long way to go to achieve anything resembling real life.

There were zero number of Asian and Asian American actors in any of the categories for lead actors, the categories that get the most media attention and are featured in prime time during the broadcast.

Nevertheless, we celebrate Bowen Yang for getting nominated for his part(s)  on "Saturday Night Live" with an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actor in A Comedy.

Congratulations are due, too for Philippa Soo getting nominated in the Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series for her heartbreaking role in "Hamilton;" and Max Minghella of "The Handmaid's Tale" was nominated in Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

There has been an improvement in Asian representation on television but if you're not a TV addict or someone who actively looks for Asian and Asian American stories and actors in featured roles, Asian and Asian American representation continues to look abysmal.

We are grateful for Mindy Kaling's "Never Have I Ever," "Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens," Netflix's "Warrior," and Disney's 'High School Musical: The Musical: The Series" starring Olivia Rodrigo, "Blue's Clues" host Joshua Dela Cruz, Lou Diamond Phillips in "Prodigal Son," Sandra Oh in "Killing Eve," Michelle Yeoh in "Star Trek: Discovery" and the increase of secondary roles awarded to AAPI actors in a number of series, but the fact that I can name practically all the shows and actors in one paragraph leads us the sad conclusion that Hollywood is far from seeing America for what it is.

These Emmy statistics, of course, are linked to the overall underrepresentation of Asian and Pacific Islanders on television. Actors of Asian descent made up 1.7%, 3.1% and 1.8% of lead roles across broadcast, cable and digital shows, respectively, during the same time period (while making up 5.6% of the U.S. population, according to UCLA's “Hollywood Diversity Report 2020: A Tale of Two Hollywoods”

Following are the nominations in the major categories (minus the technical nominations) featuring Asian American artists.

PEN15 starring Maya Erskine -- Best Comedy

Maya Erskine, “PEN15” (“Play”) -- Best Writing for A Comedy

Yahlin Chang, “The Handmaid’s Tale” (“Home”) -- Writing for A Drama Series

Janet Mock , “Pose” (“Series Finale”) -- Writing for A Drama Series

Padma Lakshmi, "Top Chef -- Outstanding Host for a Reality Program

Tan France of “Queer Eye" -- Outstanding Host for a Reality Program

Brett Chan, Stunt Coordinator, "Warrior" -- Outstanding Stunt Coordination