Gemma Chan and Awkwafina (above) were among the Asians and AAPI celebrities who attended the star-studded 2019 Met Gala held in New York Monday night. Other models and stars who glimmered and glowed at the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art included Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Mindy Kaling, Lana Condor, Eva Chen, Darren Criss and more. Click to "E" online for more photos.
AT THE Screen Actor Guild awards show Sunday night, the casts of two landmark motion pictures got together for a significant photo that says a lot about the future Hollywood hopefully will embrace. There is a lot of symbolism when the casts of Crazy Rich Asians and Black Panther joined each other for this photo posted by CRA director Jon M. Chu on his Instagram account. Both films were breakthroughs for subject matter and casting. Both films broke down the old Hollywood belief that films with minority leads would not appeal to general (white) audiences. First Black Panther and in August, Crazy Rich Asians, broke box office records and opened the door to explore storylines and actors that reflect U.S. audiences. Dozens of projects are now underway or under development with more diverse casts because of the critical and financial success of those two films. For the photo, they were joined by winner of SAG's Best Actor award-winner Darren Criss and Mike Meyers. Mike Meyers? To quote Chu, "This photo is beautiful." _______________________________________________________________________________
IT IS NOT OFTEN that Asian Americans get nominated for the 67th Emmy awards but this year, two were nominated in the same category of Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics.
In addition, a documentary about the Filipino labor movement, Delano Manongs, was nominated in the Cultural/Historical category. The documentary is directed by Marisa Aroy and focuses on the unsung role that labor leaders Larry Itliong and Philip Vera Cruz played in the 1965 farm workers' strike that led to the creation of the United Farm Workers.
Robert and Kristen Lopez won Oscars in 2014 for "Let It Go" from Frozen.
Asian American nominees were sprinkled throughout, mostly for their technical expertise in sound, editing and lighting - you know - behind the camera.
Minority actors fared better in the Emmy nominations than they did for this year's Oscars where all the nominees were white. Overall, television has done a better job than the movies in terms of diversity although there is still plenty of room for television for improvement in order to look more like America. Several African American and Latino Americans were nominated in the acting categories. No Asian Americans were singled out for acting.
Many thought that Constance Wu would get a nomination as best supporting actor in a comedy series for her role Fresh Off the Boat. Alas, not this year.
Filipino/American Robert Lopez and his wife, Kristen Anderson Lopez, have two songs nominated this year: "Kiss An Old Man" for the show "The Comedians", and for "Moving Pictures" the opening song that they wrote for the Oscars award show.Ironically, for the category Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics, Lopez goes up against another Filipino/American, Darren Criss, who wrote the final song of Glee finale, "This Time" and performed by Lea Michele. Listen to the nominated songs:
