UCLA report: Hollywood needs to change its world view to reflect today's multi-ethnic audiences

The bottom line of a new UCLA report for Hollywood's corporate leaders is: Diversity is good for business.

For Hollywood to be a more inclusive and diverse industry, companies need to implement a five-point strategy for hiring, sponsoring and promoting minorities and women — especially women of color — the new UCLA study suggests. 

The study, published Wednesday (Sept. 18), was drafted by the authors of UCLA’s Hollywood Diversity Report. It is based on an analysis of current diversity programs at Hollywood studios, agencies and other companies and interviews of 21 entertainment industry leaders with experience in diversity and inclusion efforts.

“There are many diversity hiring programs in place, but they are not always systematic or fully integrated into how companies actually do business,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of the division of social sciences at UCLA, and co-author of the report. “While these programs have served as a sort of lottery benefiting a few exceptional individuals, they are not contributing to overall, sustained progress on the equitable representation of women and minorities.

“Thus, they also do not serve the larger issue of making the content that today’s increasingly diverse audiences demand.”

According to the report, companies can improve diversity and inclusion by following five essential practices:

• Modernize their worldviews of the evolving American audience, which is now 40 percent minority and 50 percent female. Businesses can do this by establishing a public statement about their diversity mission, setting specific goals with timelines that support the stated mission, and teaching employees that change is not only inevitable but beneficial.

• Expand hiring searches to include candidates of diverse racial, ethnic, gender, disability and LGBTQ backgrounds. In part, companies can do this by tapping into databases like Creative Artist Agency’s list of TV writers of color and Women in Hollywood’s female filmmakers roster, and by expanding outreach to colleges.

• Implement a robust strategy to amplify the roles of women, and women of color in particular, in leadership roles. Previous research has shown that when women occupy leadership roles, projects and work environments are considerably more inclusive.

• Normalize compensation packages, especially for entry-level jobs, because minority hires from non-affluent backgrounds often cannot afford to take low-paying jobs despite their high-value networking opportunities.

• Structure incentives for decision makers to prioritize diversity and inclusion at all levels.

Modernize their worldviews of the evolving American audience, which is now 40 percent minority and 50 percent female. Businesses can do this by establishing a public statement about their diversity mission, setting specific goals with timelines that support the stated mission, and teaching employees that change is not only inevitable but beneficial.

“Clearly there is no one-size-fits all approach to this issue, and making meaningful change is a deliberate process that requires sustained effort and a commitment to carry out the work at all levels from top to bottom,” said Ana-Christina Ramon, director of research and civic engagement for the social sciences division and the co-author of the new report. “We’re offering a list of sustainable actions that can be refined and adapted to fit any existing efforts. This problem won’t solve itself. The path ahead must be paved with intention.”

The box office success of 'Crazy Rich Asians' widened Hollywood's world view.

The researchers write that all five practices must be integrated to achieve the kind of meaningful change that would enable Hollywood to reflect America’s increasingly diverse mainstream. The Hollywood Diversity Report, which published the results of its sixth annual analysis in February, has repeatedly demonstrated that films and programs with diverse casts and creators are profitable.  

“Diversity must be seen as a business imperative, because it is,” Hunt said.

"In 2017, Latino market buying power was $1.5 trillion, followed by $1.3 trillion for African Americans, $986 billion for Asian Americans and $114 billion Native Americans, respectively. The result? Today’s “mainstream” market is defined by its remarkable and increasing diversity," cites the report.

"It follows that people of color are also avid moviegoers and have had a profound impact on the success of Hollywood’s top films. In 2017, for example, people of color accounted for the majority of domestic ticket buyers for five of the top ten films, ranked by global box office," continued the report. "Moreover, people of color bought half of the tickets for one of the remaining five top ten films that year. It is worth noting that seven of the top ten films had casts that were 21 percent or more diverse."

UCLA’s annual Hollywood Diversity Report series published in February has consistently found that despite the stark underrepresentation of women and people of color in the industry, diversity sells at the box office. The report cites the box office success of Crazy Rich Asians and Black Panther as examples.

After the so-called “Hollywood white out” TV season of 1999–2000 began without a single new show featuring a lead character of color, the NAACP and a coalition of media and social justice organizations demanded that the entertainment industry stop systematically excluding minorities.

“We are once again challenging studios, networks and production companies to take a hard look at their workforce, to see where and if they have improved, and to seek out ways to ensure that the entertainment industry is diverse and inclusive, and to continue their focus on the creative community’s acceptance of talent, regardless of age, race, religion or gender,” said Vicangelo Bulluck, who as executive director of the NAACP’s Hollywood bureau, led efforts against the “white out” and chaired the advisory board for the report.

Scarlett Johansson 'whitewashed' Ghose in A Shell.

In addition, today’s multi-ethnic audiences are also very savvy and sensitive to inauthentic casting or “whitewashing.” Ghost in the Shell, a film based on a Japanese comic and numerous anime adaptations, received negative attention once news circulated that the lead character — who is Japanese in the original story — would be portrayed by the white actress Scarlett Johansson. The movie grossed only $40.6 million in the United States, despite a budget of $110 million. 

The report concludes: "Current status quo approaches to addressing the entertainment industry’s diversity problem have failed to move the needle in any significant way. This fact is documented in numerous studies cited throughout this report. 

"We must get beyond thinking of diversity programs as lottery systems that reward just a few hardworking and highly talented individuals. If the goal is truly to establish an inclusive Hollywood, one in which the storytelling that defines us as a nation better reflects the new mainstream, then the means outlined in this report must replace industry default positions and simply engaging in business as usual."

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ABC developing a Chinese American family sitcom

YOUTUBE

Jessica Gao will help develop a sit-com about a Chinese American family for ABC.

THE IMPACT of Crazy Rich Asians' box office and critical success is having representation repercussions in the entertainment industry. Hollywood decision makers can no longer say that audiences won't accept the old belief that Asian Americans can't be lead actors. 

ABC has given the go-ahead for a script written by Emmy winner Jessica Gao, a Chinese American writer that will have feature a Chinese American family.

According to Deadline, the untitled series is about "Janet Zhao, a first generation Chinese American woman who struggles to set healthy boundaries with her crazy, exhausting family. When her wealthy grandmother dies and names Janet the sole inheritor, she suddenly finds herself the unwilling new matriarch of the family she’s spent her life trying to keep at arm’s length."

The potential series will be part of Kim Falvey’s first broadcast pitch season since joining Imagine as President of Television last October. Falvey, who is of Korean descent, shepherded Fresh Off the Boat, the first series about an Asian American family in over two decades.

It was an episode of the animated series Rick & Marty written by Gao, "Pickle Rick," which landed the show's first Emmy as Best Animated Program this past weekend. Winning the Emmy was the best response to some of the show's fans over the past year who were apparently didn't like that a woman -- a woman! -- was writing for their alpha male hero.

Gao—who also co-hosts the podcast Whiting Wongs with Rick & Morty’s Dan Harmon, which pulls no punches when discussing the problem of race and racism in Hollywood—also has TV credits for Silicon Valley, Robot Chicken, and more. 
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A host of AAPI actors will be losing their jobs as their shows are cancelled or ended

'Quantico's' Priyanaa Chopra and 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend's'' Vincent Rodriguez III

WHILE Asian/Americans were celebrating the renewal of Fresh Off the Boat, networks were cancelling other shows with AAPI starring roles.

Here are the shows that we won't see next year and the AAPI actors we bid a fond farewell (for now):

•Quantico, which starred Priyanka Chopra as the lead character, made it through three seasons. In her short stint in Hollywood, the former Miss World has made quite an impression. Quantico is merely a launching pad for her.

•Designated Survivor. with Kal Penn and Maggie Q couldn't get pass the second season. Both Asian/American actors played multi-layered complicated characters.

•The Crossing didn't even last a full season so we couldn't get fully involved in its premise or its characters. Somebody please give Sandrine Holt a series worthy of her talent.

•Marvel's Inhumans' cancellation was a big loss. Kenny Leung, Mike Moh and Sonya Balmores deserve a better fate, and a better vehicle.

•Rise never rose to the pre-season expectations, but expect to see the talented Aull'i Cravalho (Moana) in future projects if not on TV, perhaps the Broadway stage where she has the mentorship of award-winning Lin-Manuel Miranda.

•Scorpion. Too bad. I felt pretty sure that "geniuses" Jadyn Wong and Elyes Gabel would be back for a fifth season in the engaging nerds-save-the-world storyline.

•The Exorcist. Even the addition of John Cho in its second season couldn't save this one.

In addition, this year saw - or, will see - the demise of shows that had previously scheduled their own end.

•Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. One of the most original shows on television for the past three years and the show that introduced the AAPI bro and romantic lead in the character played by Vincent Rodriguez III.

•New Girl. After seven seasons, the show is currently in its final season. It had a good run marked by likeable characters and good writing. Hannah Simone was part of the repertory team that delivered the comedic goods week-in and week-out.

•The Mindy Project. While there was much ado about the debut of Fresh Off the Boat, it might be easy to forget that Mindy Kaling has had her own show for seven (more or less) seasons. In her own way, the evolution of Mindy, paralleled the evolution of the Indian American community.

That's a lot of shows leaving us and a lot of out-of-work AAPI artists. Let's hope that this is not the beginning of a trend. After two seasons we've seen a spate of television shows featuring AAPI actors in prominent roles. While two seasons won't undo the decades of neglect and being invisible, it demonstrated what the industry could do if it wanted to and not just spurred by shame from the brouhaha surrounding the #OscarsSoWhite debacle.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Keep an eye out for Views From the Edge's annual roundup of all the new fall shows featuring AAPI actors.)
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Asian American woman to direct DC superhero film

Cathy Yan will direct Margot Robbie, right, as the DC comicbook character Harley Quinn.

ASAM NEWS

THE FIRST Asian/American woman director has been chosen to helm the next feature based on super villain Harley Quinn, a yet unnamed movie spinoff from the DC Comic superhero universe.

Cathy Yan will direct the movie starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn from the girl gang "Birds of Prey" comic, reports Variety.

According to Buzz Feed, Robbie, who will produce the film, strongly advocated for a woman director, to join the largely female team behind the camera, including scriptwriter Christina Hodson, who wrote Shut In, Unforgettable, and Bumblee: The Movie, according to Variety.

Yan is best known for her 2018 Sundance entry, Dead Pig, a highly-praised Chinese language comedy, which won the festival's U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Acting. 

In that film, a mysterious stream of pig carcasses floats silently toward China’s populous economic hub, Shanghai. As authorities struggle to explain the phenomenon, characters intersect. They include a down-and-out pig farmer with a youthful heart struggles to make ends meet, an upwardly mobile landowner fighting gentrification against an American expat seeking a piece of the Chinese dream, a romantic busboy hides his job from his father, and a rich young woman struggling to find her independence.

The Shanghai-born Yan is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and received both an MBA and an MFA from New York University.

During an interview at Sundance, Yan talked about how touched she was that two Chinese Americans approached her to talk about the impact her film had on them personally.

"I didn’t really want to make Dead Pigs a political film. It has political ramifications but it’s not overtly political," said Yan. Indeed, winning the ensemble acting award was appropriate for the New York City resident, who said she was influence by Robert Altman's films, which often employed huge ensembles to tell his stories.

The DC comics girl-gang 'The Birds of Prey' that inspired the Harley Quinn storyline.

(Views From the Edge contributed to this post.)

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Famous Hollywood actress kept her race a secret

Merle Oberon habored a secret.

By Sophia Whittemore
ASAM NEWS

MERLE OBERON was a glowing image of classic Hollywood grace. There might have been a reason she was so good at acting.
She’d been acting and living a lie for almost her whole life.

An article from Vanity Fair delves into the background of Oberon. She claimed to have been born in Tasmania like another dashing cinema contemporary, Errol Flynn. Her publicists touted her fake heritage, born to an honorable British officer and raised by aristocratic grandparents.

But it was all a lie.

Even young Oberon wasn’t quite sure who her mother was. The Daily Mail explains that, on her birth certificate, she was actually born in India to a 12-year old Constance Selby (of Maori and Indian background) in 1911. Her father wasn’t an army officer. He was Arthur Thompson, a White railway engineer. Her grandmother, Charlotte, lied to Oberon that she was actually her mother, as she was ashamed of the unwed nature of Selby who went on to marry another man after Thompson left them.

According to TCM biographies, Oberon was raised believing her half-siblings were actually her nieces and nephews. She grew up in private schools in India, during British regime, and was mocked and bullied horribly for her multiracial background. She did, however, manage to join some drama societies in Kolkata.

Using layers of makeup to hide her skin color, Oberon moved to England as a teenager and was discovered by cinematographer Alexander Korda, who cast her as a temptress Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933).

But tragedy struck the rising star. During the filming of I, Claudius (1937), the actress suffered in a horrible car accident. She had a near-death experience, one which her children believed caused her to never fear death again. I, Claudius never made it past production, and with the scars on her face, Merle was anxious to work again, if she ever could.

Luckily, with some technical rigging for lighting, an invention fondly nicknamed “the Obie”, and fantastic makeup work, Merle was able to hide the scars she’d sustained in the car accident. Classic Movie Hub actually says that Merle suffered skin poisoning from the heavy amount of toxic makeup applied on her skin, and often worsened her facial scarring.

However, her efforts got her the leading role as Cathy in the romantic gothic tragedy of Wuthering Heights (1939). She starred opposite the dark-eyed Laurence Olivier (Heathcliff). It’s perhaps her best-remembered role to date. Other movies include another where she starred across Olivier in The Divorce of Lady X(1938), the movie that launched her fame in America The Berlin Express (1948), and the Scarlet Pimpernel (1934). And that’s still only a few movies from her long-listed resume.

As of yet, Merle Oberon is the only Asian actress ever to be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her role as Kitty Vane in The Dark Angel.

However, as the actress got older, her roles waned. It seemed her star was falling back to the earth. She suffered terrible anxiety during the time where multiracial backgrounds weren’t just hidden, but entirely illegal in multiple states. Terrified she’d be found out, she even had to lie that her grandmother was her maid. This fear carried into her later life.

Returning to Malibu, with considerable heart problems allegedly caused by the looming threat of revealing her true birth certificate, Merle suffered a stroke in 1979, aged 68. She passed away taking her true secret to the grave, and only her closest circle knew about it.

If born in another world, another era, perhaps Merle Oberon would’ve been free to live her truest life. Yet for now, her star remains in the heavens, waiting for another actress, and another time.
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The Oscars talk about DACA, diversity, representation in the media -- and fear

Lupita Nyong'o and Kumail Nanjiani: 'We're Dreamers.'

THE ACADEMY AWARDS staged last Sunday (March 4) was so-o-o l-o-o-ng (over three hours) that it would have been easy to miss or forget this video clip featuring artists, including Pakistani/American comedian Kumail Nanjiani, talking about representation in the movies.

A lot of division in our country these days is emanating from "straight, white guys" who are afraid of the demographic changes sweeping over the U.S.

That fear, which could be very tangible for white dudes, is  all in their imagination. It doesn't help that the man in the Oval Office is sowing and nurturing that fear.

As Nanjiani says in the video, "Some of my favorite movies are by straight white dudes about straight white dudes," he said. "Now, straight white dudes can watch movies starring me and you relate to that. It's not that hard. I've done it my whole life."

The basic message of the video is that though the face of America is changing, there's really nothing to be afraid of guys. Really!

Speaking of "representation," Nanjiani was apparently the Asian/American of the day. (Director: We need an Asian American. Producer: Call Kumail!) 

When it came time for Nanjiani, along with Lupita Wyong'o, to presented the Oscar for Achievement in Production Design, they used their presentation to send a powerful message to the recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as Dreamers.

The ceremony took place the day before the DACA program ― which protects undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children― had originally been set to expire. 

“Like everyone in this room and everyone watching at home, we are dreamers,” Nyong’o said before announcing the nominees for achievement in production design. “We grew up dreaming of one day working in the movies. Dreams are the foundation of Hollywood, and dreams are the foundation of America.”

Just before the Oscar nominees were announced, Nanjiani interjected, “to all the Dreamers out there, we stand with you.” The crowd erupted in applause. 

The actors also poked fun at their own experiences as immigrants, with Nyong’o joking that both of their names are impossible to pronounce and Nanjiani revealing that his real Pakistani name is actually Chris Pine.

Nyong'o, who was born in Mexico City and raised in Kenya and Pakistani/American Nanjiani.

“I’m from Pakistan and Iowa, two places that nobody in Hollywood can find on a map,” Nanijani added.

Trump in September announced he was disbanding DACA, which lets hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants stay in the U.S. and gave Congress six months to come up with a legislative resolution. Congress failed to come up with a bipartisan solution because Trump wanted to tie the Dreamers to passage of his radical reform of immigration laws.

Because of a recent Supreme Court decision, the program continues to exist, but i Dreamers― still remain in limbo over their futures due to Congress’ ongoing debate on immigration reform.

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Pre-Oscar: Asian American filmmakers win Independent Spirit Awards

Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon at the Spirit Awards.

FORGET THE OSCARS! If you're a proponent of diversity in content, perspectives and talent in filmmaking, the really big awards night was the day before the Oscars. 

In one night, the Independent Spirit Awards gave more recognition and awards to Asian/American creatives than other award shows for film, television or Broadway.

Asian/American filmmakers and actors nabbed  awards in four categories and received nominations in several categories.

Kumail Nanjiani and his wife Emily V. Gordon won in the Best First Screenplay for the semi-autobiographical romantic comedy The Big Sick.

Chloe Zhao

Sayombhu Mukdeeprom won in Best Cinematography for his work capturing the Tuscan landscape and atmosphere in Call Me by Your Name.

Producer/director Chloé Zhao (The Rider) won the inaugural Bonnie Award, named after Bonnie Tiburzi Caputo (the first female pilot to fly for a major airline) recognizes a mid-career female director and includes $50,000 unrestricted grant for the winner. Also in this category was Korean/American filmmaker So Yong Kim.

Justin Chon, director of Gook, won the Someone to Watch Award, which recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision who has not yet received appropriate recognition. The award includes a $25,000 unrestricted grant funded by Kiehl’s Since 1851.

Besides the winners, AAPI talent nominated in their categories included:

Producer Chloe Zhao's The Rider was nominated in the Best Feature category. The eventual winner was Get Out.

Columbus, directed by Kogonada and starring John Cho, was nominated for Best First Feature.

In the same category, Oh, Lucy, was nominated. Directed and produced by Atsuko Hirayanagi, her movie is based on her short film, a story of a middle-aged woman coming of age in a foreign environment.

Shinobu Teraijima

Shinobu Terajima was nominated for Best Actress in Oh Lucy! She lost out to winner Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbings, Missouri.

Chloe Zhao was also nominated in the Best Director category for The Rider.

Kogonada also received a nomination in Best First Screenplay for Columbus.

Motherland, about the young women giving birth in a Manila hospital, was nominated for Best Documentary by Filipino/American filmmakers Director/Producer Ramona S. Diaz and Producer Rey Cuerdo.

Upon winning the Spirit Award for Best Feature Award, Get Out director Jordan Peele said: "It's clear to everybody in this room, and across the country and across the world, that we are in the beginning of a renaissance right now — where stories from the outsider, stories from the people in this room — the same stories that independent filmmakers have been telling for years — are being honored and recognized and celebrated and I'm so proud to be here with this group of people receiving this."

Missed the show? Relive some of the highlights below. You can watch the entire broadcast again in its entirety via the Film Independent Spirit Awards page on Facebook Watch.

Watch for these films at a theater near you: 

• Gook was released August 18, 2017.
• Oh, Lucy was released March 2, 2018.
• The Rider will be released May 20, 2018.

(UPDATED for clarity, March 5, 12:20 a.m.) 
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Aziz Ansari makes a little history with Golden Globes win

SCREEN CAPTURE / ABC

Aziz Ansari won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy/Musical on TV. for his role in 'Master of None.'

ASAM NEWS

AZIZ ANSARI became the first Asian/American man to win in the best actor category in a comedy at the Golden Globes Sunday (Jan. 7) night.
He joins a short list of Asians to win a Golden Globe in the awards 75-year history. Others, according to KPRC, include Haing S. Ngor (1985 best supporting role, The Killing Fields), Peg Tilly (1985 Best Supporting Role, Agnes of God) Sandra Oh (2005 Best Supporting Role, Grey’s Anatomy) and Vic Tayback (1980 & 1981, Best Supporting Role, Alice).

Ansari won for his role as Dev Shah in Master of None. He also created the Netflix hit which is semi-autobiographical.

“Whatever seems best for storytelling. It’s usually fictionalized a decent amount and you know, I think we just try to tell stories that seem real and honest and show some sort of insight,” Ansari said backstage after winning his award.

He was one of two Asians up for an award last night. The other was Hong Chau for her supporting role in Downsizing. The award went to Laura Dern for Big Little Lies.

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Hollywood Reporter: Actor Daniel Dae Kim's latest role is behind the camera

Daniel Dae Kim, actor AND producer

AFTER HIS CONTROVERSIAL departure from CBS hit Hawaii Five-0, actor Daniel Dae Kim has fallen into the role of being the poster child of the racial inequities that exist in the world's entertainment capitol, whether it be in casting or in Hollywood's creative decision-making process.

In his latest Q&A with The Hollywood Reporter, he touches on his successful series produced by his production company The Good Doctor and how it has become a vehicle for his beliefs; and his role as Hellboy's Major Ben Daimo, the first Asian/American comic book superhero to be depicted on the big screen. 

The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Kim about what it means to play an Asian/American superhero, his goals as a producer, and the aftermath of his taking a stand on salary parity

"I ... think it's really important that all of us do something to participate. It's easy to point fingers and say well, it's because of this, that. To get involved in the nitty-gritty is sometimes a daunting task, but a necessary one.

"Something I often say is, I stand on the shoulders of the people who came before [me], and I’m ready to lift up people to stand on my shoulders. And one of the ways we can do that is to hire them. And that’s why it was so important for me to be a job creator, because there is no substitute for on-the-job experience," Kim said.

"A lot of us, and I can tell you from experience, just didn’t have the kind of opportunity it required to get better at the same rate as others.

"So it’s really important to me to create those opportunities," Kim continued. "And as a producer, I think The Good Doctor shows that I’m not in it to create roles for myself, although I won’t rule that out, but it’s not my primary focus."

To read the entire interview, click here.

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TGIF FEATURE: Josh Chan is in for a nightmare season on 'Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'

CW/ Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Josh Chan (Vincent Rodrigue III) and Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) try their best to be a happy couple.

I HOPE JOSH CHAN doesn't have any pet rabbits. Josh, our good ol' Filipino/American bro starring in the CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, is in the crosshairs of his vengeful ex-girlfriend ready to go into full Fatal Attraction mode.

The character, Josh Chan, American TV's only Filipino leading man, is played by Vincent Rodriguez III. Josh walked out on his wedding with Rebecca, superbly portrayed by award-winning actress Rachel Bloom. 

In the motion picture Fatal Attraction, the spurned love interest boiled the pet rabbit of the detective who was attracted to her and then rejected her.

The last time we saw our hapless hero Josh Chan, he had just freaked out over his upcoming wedding to Rebecca and he was entering a monastery to consider becoming a priest.

The jilted bride, the mentally unbalanced Rebecca, is out for revenge as we can see in the just released trailer for the show's third season.

"My hair is dark, so I look evil, and I'm wearing white, which is ironic," Rebecca tells a conference table of her co-workers in the new season 3 trailer, after swirling around in her office chair in an on-the-nose movie-villain move.

"I have a plan to destroy Josh Chan," she tells her girlfriends, who clap with approval.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, described as a romantic-comedy musical, is one of the most unusual series on television. Not only is it's heroine slightly off-balanced, in its first two seasons, it featured Josh's Filipino/American family - an historic first.

The show, which features original musical productions advancing the plot, will turn from a quirky romantic comedy to something more dark, releasing for full display Rebecca's unbalanced mental nature.
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Pray Josh Chan. Pray.
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Let's hope the Emmy's make history and award an AAPI actor

Aziz Ansari is up for an Emmy tonight.

There's a chance an Asian/American actor will win an Emmy today (Sept. 16) but based on the history of the awards show, the odds would be against it occurring. It would be only the second Emmy awarded to an AAPI actor.

The last couple of years, it looked like the AAPI community was turning the corner in terms of representation on television, still perhaps the greatest means of reaching millions of American households and getting into the heads of hundreds of millions of viewers.

Perhaps we began celebrating too soont. It looks that turn might be only a slight detour instead of the cultural shift we hope it would create.

Dr. Ken cancelled, The Mindy Project's last season, Master of None's 3rd season up in the air and the continued narrow perspective shared by casting directors and networks that don't give AAPI talent the access to more prominent roles.

There are only four shows out of the hundreds produced that feature AAPI actors in the lead: Fresh Off the Boat, Master of None, Into the Badlands, and Quantico. Four! Four out of the hundreds produced where AAPI actors are reduced to playing the best friend, the guy at the computer or the smart assistant.

Because of the dearth of meaningful roles offered AAPI thespians, only one Emmy has been awarded to an AAPI actor in the award show's 68 year history. Archie Panjabi won the award in 2010 for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role on CBS's The Good Wife.

This year, only three AAPI actors have been nominated for TV's top award. Aziz Ansari was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Dev Shah on Netflix's Master of None; Riz Ahmed for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie for playing Nasir Khan on HBO's The Night Of; B.D. Wong for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his part as Whiterose on USA's Mr. Robot.

A report, “Tokens on the Small Screen,” released Tuesday, just in time for the Emmy's. The study is a follow-up to broadcast TV studies done in 2005 and 2006, found increasing opportunities for Asian-American actors but concluded they are still underrepresented and “their characters remain marginalized and tokenized on screen.” 

Even on TV series set in highly diverse cities such as New York City or Los Angeles, AAPI actors are rarely seen onscreen, must less cast in significant roles, says the study.

The report by six professors and scholars from California universities. also found:

TV SO WHITE: Whites dominate the television landscape, making up nearly 70% of television series regulars compared to monoracial Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who comprise only 4%. Pacific Islanders make up only 0.2% of series regulars, which is half of their U.S. population.

MISSING: A full 64% of all shows do not feature a single AAPI series regular. In contrast, 96% of TV shows have at least one White series regular. Furthermore, the majority of shows set in AAPI-dense cities including New York and Los Angeles have no AAPI series regulars. 

ISOLATED: Intimate relationships add to a character’s depth and draw an audience into that character’s development. Three times as many White series regulars as AAPIs have romantic and/or familial relationships on shows featuring AAPI series regulars. 

LOW VISIBILITY: 87% of AAPI series regulars are on-screen for less than half an episode and 17% of AAPI series regulars have the lowest screen time on their show. Audiences also see white series regulars on-screen 3 times longer than AAPI series regulars.

TOKENS: 68% of TV shows featuring AAPI series regulars have ONLY 1.

SEGREGATED & ENDANGERED: Over one-third of all AAPI series regulars appear on just 11 shows, over half of which have been cancelled.

STEREOTYPED: The television landscape continues to be littered with problematic racial stereotypes, including forever foreigner, yellow peril, model minority, emasculated men, exoticized women, sidekicks to White characters, whitewashed characters, and white experts.

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A Chinese actor should have been picked to play Aladdin, cast named for movie

Mena Massoud will play Aladdin and Naomi Scott will be Jasmine in the new Disney production.

ALADDIN, should have been cast as a Chinese youth. Now that we've baited you, read on.

Just days after stories came out in the movie industry's trade media that Disney was having a difficult time finding ethnically appropriate actors for its live-action Aladdin, the studio announced they found their Aladdin and Jasmine.

Coincidence? I think the media (including Views from the Edge) were played.

Yesterday, July 15, at Disney's fan conclave, D23 Expo, the studio confirmed that two relatively fresh faces will take the lead roles in the live-action production. Naomi Scott, 24, will play Princess Jasmine and newcomer Mena Massoud will portray the title character in the remake of the 1992 animated classic.

Earlier, Will Smith had signed on to play the Genie, who was voiced by the late comedian Robin  Williams in the Disney's original version, which was itself based on an Middle-eastern tale.

The selection of these two actors - in the context of cultural appropriation. has created a kerfuffle among netizens.

Massoud, whose father is Egyptian, grew up in Canada after immigrating from Egypt where he was born.

After the announcement, he tweeted, “So honored & grateful for the opportunity to help bring this magical story to life once again. Let’s get to work!”

RELATED: Three upcoming movies seek Asian casts

Although relatively unknown, he's not without a resume. Massoud has been working in television and film since 2011, amassing credits on Teen Nick’s Open Heart, The CW’s Nikita, and the Canadian series Saving Hope. But he’s largely remained under the radar — until this new boost to his celebrity stock.

“I grew up in a culturally different household,” he explained in an interview with Defective Geeks. “My parents saw certain things differently than other people. I went to schools that had a significantly large Caucasian population and I feel very fortunate because I was able to compare that perspective with my family’s. It allowed me to create a wider world view on things. Also, though, at this point in my career, being a visible minority in this industry still affects me.

“I can’t compete for roles that require me to be Caucasian or African/American, even if those characters really connect with me and intrigue me," he said. "The competition may be less, some people would say, but the amount of work to be had is less as well. However, I think the industry is growing more and more and starting to support actors of all cultural backgrounds.”

Naming Scott as Jasmine, has raised the hackles of a few netizens because, she is not Middle-eastern descent. The actress is from London. Her mother Usha Scott (née Joshi) is from Uganda and is of Gujarati Indian descent. Meanwhile, Naomi's father, Christopher Scott, is British.

Origin of Aladdin

The 24-year-old was on the television science fiction series, Terra Nova in 2011 and made a Disney movie Lemonade Mouth that same year, in which she was able to display her singing abilities. She might be best known for her role as Kimberly (aka the Pink Ranger) in this year's Power Rangers movie.

Agrabah, it should be pointed out, is a fictional locale despite a poll that says over 30 percent of Republicans would like to bomb it. Many in our pop-culture-centric world believe the original tale is one of the One Thousand and One Nights stories told by the legendary Persian (not Arabic) storyteller Scheherazade. It turns out that's not true.

The story of Aladdin, the magic lamp and genie was not in the original Arabic writings of those stories. That can be blamed on French translator Antoine Galland in the 18th century. The Aladdin story was added to the collection as well as "Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves" and the "Adventures of Sinbad." (Interesting that the three most famous stories are not in the original manuscripts.

In the earliest version of the story, Aladdin is a poor youth living on the streets of China and his love interest was not the sweet-sounding Jasmine, but the difficult-to-pronounce Badroulbadour, according to Krystyn R. Moon in Yellowface: Creating the Chinese in American Popular Music and Performance, 1850s-1920s. 

In the original version, Aladdin is no foreigner abroad either: he’s a Chinese boy, not an Arabian youth who’s ended up in China. (Nor is he an orphan: in the earliest versions of the story, Aladdin is not an orphaned street urchin but a lazy boy living at home with his mother.) 

The visuals and storyline of Disney's animated Aladdin are most likely formed by a 1944 adventure swashbuckler, Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves starring Jon Hall and Maria Montez; basically a western vision of the exotic "orient." Unfortunately, it is speaks to the power of movies and its imagery that that was America's predominant view of the Middle East until 9/11. (Watch the trailer below.)

So today's Aladdin is a redo of the 1992 Disney cartoon version, which was a ripoff of a 1940's film, which was a ripoff of an 18th century French translator's story collection, which was a ripoff of a Persian tale, which was a ripoff of a Chinese fable. It is so far removed from its original source material that any controversy surrounding the current telling of Aladdin should be moot.

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