Nicole Scherzinger, Darren Criss and Daniel Dae Kim lead record number of AANHPI Tony nominees

On the verge of history, from left, Darren Criss, Daniel Dae Kim and Nicole Scherzinger.

This year could be the watershed moment artists of Asian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander descent have been waiting for with a record number of AANHPI nominated for Tony awards, announced May 1 by Tony Award winners Sarah Paulson and Wendell Pierce.

Filipino Americans Nicole Scherzinger, Darren Criss and Conrad Ricamora were nominated for their roles in their respective musicals. Korean American Daniel Dae Kim became the first Asian American to be nominateed for his lead dramatic role.

If Scherzinger, Criss or Kim win in their categories, it will be the first time an Asian American artist has won a Tony for a lead role in over 30 years. The last time an Asian American won a Tony in a lead role was 1991 when Lea Salonga won for her history-making role in Miss Saigon.

The American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League announced the nominees for the 78th Annual Tony Awards, celebrating excellence in Broadway theatre for the 2024–2025 season. The nominations, revealed by Tony winners Sarah Paulson and Wendell Pierce, reflect both artistic range and growing cultural diversity on the Great White Way.

        FYI: Complete list of 2025 Tony nominees.

Former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger earned a nomination in Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical. Her role as an aging actress in Sunset Blvd. garnered rave reviews and has made her as one of the favorites to win in this category. She has already won an Oliver Award, Great Britain's equivalent to the Tony, for the role in the same category, Scherzinger is a strong contender in this category.

“I have worked many, many years to build up to this moment, and it’s changed my life,” said Scherzinger.

Darren Criss, a past Emmy and Golden Globe winner is a double nominee for his show Maybe Happy Ending. Criss, who got his breakout role in TV's musical drama Glee, got nods for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and as one of the show's producers, he could possibly win another Tony for Best Musical. 

Maybe Happy Ending, based on a South Korean TV drama,  earned 10 nominations,  including one for Filipino American Clint Ramos for Best Costume Design of a Musical. With so many nominations, some critics were surprised that Helen Shen was overlooked as a lead actress.

Daniel Dae Kim, best known for his television roles in Lost and Hawaii Five-O, has been an outspoken advocate for more AANHPI representation in the performing arts, was nominated for his first Broadway role in David Henry Hwang's revival ofYellow Face, which questions the role of race in media and politics. Kim's nomination for Best Performance By a Leading Actor in a Play was the first for an Asian actor.

Yellow Face also won a nomination in the Best Featured in a Play Actor category for Francis Jue, Kim's costar, who played the main character when the play debuted on Broadway 20 years earlier.

Filipino American actor Conrad Ricamora -- who most people will recognize for his role in the TV drama, Murder She Wrote -- will also compete against Jue in the Best Performance by an Best Featured Actor in a Play category for his portrayal of Abe Lincoln in Oh, Mary!

Middle easter performer,Tala Ashe, who most people know for her role in the soap opera As the World Turns, garnered a nomination in the Best Featured Actress in a Play category for her role in English. She'll be joined by her costar Marjan Neshat in the same category. Playwright Sanaz Toossi became the first Iranian-American to be nominated in this category. 

Surprisingly, Broadway favorite Salonga wasn't nominated for her performance in Old Friends, a revue of Stephen Sondheim songs that also starred fellow veteran stage artist Bernadette Peters. In fact, despite its sentimental star power, Old Friends didn't garner a single nomination.

The 78th Annual Tony Awards will return to the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York City next month. Hosted by Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award-winner and three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, the Tony Awards will broadcas live to both coasts on Sunday, June 8, 2025 (8 – 11 PM ET/5 – 8 PM PT) on the CBS Television Network, and streaming on Paramount+ in the US.*

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New Hollywood production company will focus on AAPI projects

Hollywood veteran Mary Lee, left, will head A-Major Media.

A new production company focused on Asian American content has launched with a majority investment from Valence Media,  reports The Hollywood Reporter. 
A-Major Media is led by Mary Lee, a 15-year industry veteran who was most recently head of film at Justin Lin's Perfect Storm Entertainment, where she oversaw such upcoming projects as Warner Bros.' Space Jam 2, Legendary's Hot Wheels, Paramount's Lone Wolf and Cub and the upcoming adaptation of Steve James' Oscar-nominated documentary Abacus.

Lee, previously head of film at Justin Lin's Perfect Storm Entertainment, is developing projects for the newly formed A-Major Media with John Cho and Gemma Chan, among others.

The new company already has several projects in the hopper, including:

• I Believe in a Thing Called Love, Yulin Kuang's (CW Seed's I Ship It) adaptation of Maurene Goo's 2015 YA novel about a Korean-American girl who uses Korean drama techniques to woo the boy of her dreams. 

• An untitled autobiographical project based on the high school experiences of Fresh Off the Boat co-executive producer Kourtney Kang, who is writing and making her feature directorial debut.

• We Stan, about female friends and fellow K-pop stans, penned by Atypical writer Lauren Moon (who also is adapting 29 Dates for Disney+). A-Major will produce the comedy alongside Asian American music and media company 88rising and Korean American rapper and actor Jon "Dumbfoundead" Park.

A-Major also is in early development on an untitled television series produced by Gemma Chan and Franklin Leonard, among others.

“Looking back at my entire career, I think I’ve always tried in certain ways to champion Asian American stories or be involved with them, but it was just so much harder back then,” Lee tells THR. 

She called the success of such films as 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians and Searching as paradigm shifters. “To actually build a company and be able to champion Asian and Asian American artists and stories is something I really didn't think was possible until now," said Lee.

Lee is the latest Hollywood executive to take matters into her own hands to overcome the lack of movies about and by Asian Americans, featuring AAPI in front and behind the camera. Among the AAPI writers, actors and producers who have started their own production companies include Mindy Kaling, Daniel Dae Kim, Justin Lin, Jon M. Chu and Dan Lin.