Being able to buy a washer/dryer, refusing to play into stereotypes for roles, the ability to say “no” — that’s how a few of Hollywood’s most prominent Asian Americans have define…
for a lively discussion about what it means to be successful in the entertainment industry, how their parents and family regard their careers, who their industry role models were as they came up and what what being successful means for AAPIs in the industry going forward.” series, dedicated to the intersection of race, culture and Hollywood.
The Pakistani American actor says he did feel somewhat successful, though, once he started auditioning for parts that were what he calls less stereotypical “brown guy roles.” Although he does remember being up for one part — that of a taxi driver — in a major movie, for which the director asked him to play up his accent; Nanjiani refused.
For Wang, success means having the ability to say “no” to projects that she doesn’t believe in or can retain the type of creative control to tell the story she wants. Such was the case on a recent project where she initially turned down a studio’s pitch because she did not feel the scripts were up to par. After being offered the chance to re-write the existing version she pushed back, saying she would want to re-work the show entirely; they agreed.
Minhaj filmed his Netflix comedy special “Homecoming King,” based on a story he told for The Moth, which won him a Peabody Award in 2018; he co-created “Patriot Act” with his friend Prashanth Venkataramanujam. He says success for AAPIs in Hollywood is the ability to create original work without looking to traditional gatekeepers for approval, while bolstering other AAPI creatives in the process.
So what does success look like for the Hollywood AAPI community moving forward? Exposure, both in front of the camera and beyond.
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