TGIF FRIDAY: Actress makes her character hapa.

Vanessa Hudgens (center) has made her 'Powerless' character Emily Locke a Filipino/American,

THREE CHEERS for Vanessa Hudgens!

The actress starring on NBC's Powerless made her character half-Filipino!

I'm pretty sure that when the concept for Powerless was first thought up and they wrote for the lead character, Emily Locke, they weren't writing for a person of mixed race, much less a Filipino/American. I searched for the DC backstory of Emily and couldn't find any reference to her ethnicity.

When Hudgens was cast in that role, it would have been easy to  stay silent and let the writers fill out her character. I'm almost certain that she must have said something to the creative team behind Powerless about being Filipino/American to help flesh out her  character's back story.

This is the first role the California-raised actress has played in which her character reflects her real-life heritage.

Powerless is a sitcom about an insurance company that cleans up after the havoc and destruction created by various super heroes.

You can count on one hand the TV roles that are identified Filipino/American:

• Josh Chan of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend played by Vincent Rodriguez III. This role opened the door for an entire Filipino/American family to be introduced - a television first.
• Sgt. Wu of Grimm played by Reggie Lee. Not much is known about Wu's character outside of his life chasing Vessens, but in one episode, he talked about his grandmother scaring him with tales of the mythical Aswan, a Filipino monster that eats children.
• Mateo of Superstore played by Nico Santos. Originally the character was supposed to be Latino and straight, but once Santos got the role, he was able to tailor the back story to mirror his own.

And ... uh, that's it!

There are another handful of Filipino/American actors on television but their ethnic background has never been explored or deliberately kept mysterious or, in the case of those appearing in space sagas, are from some other planet.

RELATED: 'Powerless' premieres

Watch the video. It's just a snippet and her line, "I'm half Filipino," is passed over so quickly you might miss it. What's wonderful is that it was in the context of the episode's plot, the revelation was no big deal. There was no music swelling, dramatic drumbeat to emphasize or knowing looks to mark, what in some states, is a common, everyday moment.  

When someone like Hudgens -- with her star power growing with each role that she undertakes -- uses her influence to define her ethnicity rather than play a white or Latina woman, it's a big deal at so many levels; from the youngster looking for role models, students struggling with their identity to those Americans whose definition of what an American looks like is limited to being white.

Well done, Miss Hudgens. Salamat!

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'Powerless' premieres Thursday

ASAM NEWS

THE FIRST U.S. TV show evolving around comic book superheroes to star an Asian/American debuts this evening on NBC.

Powerless is a comedy featuring Filipino/American Vanessa Hudgens in the role of Emily Locke. She’s the head of research and development charged with developing security products that will not only save the world, but save the troubled company she works for from extinction.

The story which takes place in a universe of superheroes and villains also features Indian/American actor Danny Pudi who was a regular on the NBC show Community and more recently was a voice in the film Smurf, the Lost Village. In Powerless, both Pudi and Hudgens set out to protect us all from the collateral damage caused by superheroes that the powerless are left to clean up.

Vanessa Hudgens

The show when originally conceived had Hudgens playing the role of an insurance adjuster handling claims caused by the destruction of superheroes. The show’s producers realized that concept was too limiting and made what they felt were necessary changes.

“We landed on security products because we still wanted to do the idea that they are working on stuff that makes everybody like you or me a little bit safer in a world where demigods are flying around in the sky, wrecking buildings, causing falling rubble and that sort of thing,” Executive Producer Patrick Schumacker told TV Guide.

Hudgens leads a team of scientists including Pudi, Ron Funches and Jennie Pierson. Her foil is the cousin of Bruce Wayne, Van Wayne as played by Alan Tudyk, whose ambitions get in Hudgens’ way.

“Emily’s the type of girl that’s good at almost everything,” Hudgens recently told TVGuide.com. “Van … is just the rich, spoiled guy who’s never had to work very hard in his life, and my character wants to change the world, so they clash a lot.”

Powerless is the first comedy from DC Comics. It can be seen Thursdays at 8:30 p.m./7:30 p.m. Central.

TGIF FEATURE: Vanessa Hudgens & Ashley Tisdale duet on "Ex's & Oh's"

VANESSA HUDGENS recently joined Ashley Tisdale in a duet singing "Ex's & Oh's," that their fans are going crazy over.

Their harmony was exquisite and their friendship translates over the video. Their friendship began when both were starring in High School Musical.

Hudgens' new television comedy is set to debut next month. She plays Emily Locke, director of Research and Development for Wayne Security in Charm City, home to super heroes and villains and citizens fed up with the collateral damage of their constant fighting.

Powerless is about an outfit that cleans up after superheroes after they do their deeds, like saving the world. The characters in Powerless is set in the DC Comics universe. Will that open up the chance that some of our favorite superheroes show up on the show? Will Vanessa's character be an Asian/American? I guess we'll have to tune in to find out.

The 28-year old Filipina/American actress' return to TV will premiere Feb. 2 on NBC, 8:30 p.m./7:30 Central.

Strange, but the real-life BFFs never had the opportunity to perform as a duet in all the years doing HSM, but here they are singing together and it's a gem. Saving you the trouble of going to YouTube. The video is below: