Kamala Harris made history in 2020 by becoming not only the first female Vice President, but the first Indian-American Vice President and First Black Vice President. Her name reflects her Indian heritage, “It means ‘lotus flower’, which is a symbol of significance in Indian culture. A lotus grows underwater, its flowers rising above the surface while the roots are planted firmly in the river bottom.”
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Sandra Oh, a Canadian-American actress with South Korean heritage, was the first woman of Asian descent to earn an Emmy nomination for lead actress in a drama in 2018 for “Killing Eve.” For the role, Oh said she layers in her experiences as an AAPI because “We carry our culture, we carry our history. And typically, white Hollywood does not write it. Does not write our culture, does not write the depth of our culture.”
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Jason Momoa, a Polynesian and Hawaiian actor, has honored his roots through his various roles, including “Baywatch: Hawaii” and “Aquaman.” He revealed that one of his prominent tattoos is a nod to his Hawaiian roots, a tribute to his ‘aumakuea. In Hawaiian mythology, the ‘aumakuea is believed to be a family spirit or guardian who dies and comes back to life in a different form to protects its ancestors.
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Jhené Aiko’s blended roots have a huge influence on her music. She said she often thinks about the discrimination her Japense grandfather and Black grandmother must have faced while raising their family, and said the two have inspried her to lead a life of love and compassion. In a 2018 music video for “Never Call Me,” the R&B singer appeared as a Japanese goddess.
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Dwyan “The Rock” Johnson began as a pro-wrestler before becoming the blockbuster movie star he is today. He has roots in Ireland and and Nova Scotia, but his Polynesian roots have played a major role in his professional and personal life. He voiced the character of Maui in the Polynesian-themed Disney film “Moana” and visited the island afterward, where he said the best part of the trip was seeing his daughters embrace their culture. “My little ones just knew in their hearts, that this is who they are. Who they were born to be,” he wrote on Instagram.
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Teen star Olivia Rodrigo took the world by storm last year with her freshman album “Sour,” which earned her seven Grammy nominations and three wins for Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance. She is incredibely proud of her Filipino roots and being the AAPI representation she didn’t have growing up, saying “I sometimes get DMs from little girls being like, ‘I’ve never seen someone who looked like me in your position.’ And I’m literally going to cry.”
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Even those who don’t listen to Steve Aoki’s music recognize his name. The Japense-American DJ said his AAPI roots are ingrained in his music, which has earned him two Grammy’s. “It’s in my DNA,” he said.
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Sebastian Carandang, whose stage name is Yeek, is a DIY singer who credits his his musical prowess to this Filipino upbringing, specifically family karaoke parties. He feels the entertainment industry makes little space for AAPI musicians, saying “And like whether I have to play that role or like play a part in the role of opening the doors for that, I think I don’t mind that.”
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It took singer Hayley Kiyoko a long time to embrace her biracial roots, partuarly her Japanese half. She fully accepted her AAPI heritage after sitting down with her mother and talking about what it means to be Japenese. “You have your highs and lows, but a lot of the time you don’t take time to really get to reconnect with family tradition and the odyssey behind that,” she said.
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Though actress Olivia Munn has Chinese heritage, she spent some time growing up in Japan. During the rise in anti-AAPI crime during the pandemic, Munn used her fame and large social media following to highlight a brutual attack on her friend’w own mother, an Asian woman, outside a Queens bakery. “I’m an Asian American woman. This is my lane,” she said.
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Vera Mindy Chokalingam, known professionally as Minday Kaling, became the first woman of colour to write, star in and create a primetime show called The Mindy Project in 2012. Though the superstar is incredibely proud of her heritage, she said she didn’t want the show to center around her Indian “otherness.” I didn’t want to play a long-suffering Indian woman whom everyone called chubby,” Kaling said.
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Kal Penn can do it all. He famously starred in the “Harold and Kumar” series, but later became an academic lecturer and Obama White House staffer. Throughout his various lives, Penn notes that reaching for the stars is more important than any sterotype can bog one down with. “It’s not easy to make your voice heard, but once you figure out what the right pressure points are and how to make a difference, it is absolutely possible,” he said.
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M. Night Shyamalan has created a myriad of suspenseful and mythical films, from “The Sixth Sense” to “Old.” His series “Servant” is influenced by India’s replationship to the supernatural. “In Indian culture, my mom and everyone believes in the supernatural. It’s just a given in the culture,” he said.
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Constance Wu, a Taiwanese-American actress, starred in the blockbuster film, “Crazy Rich Asians” and hit show “Fresh Off The Boat,” both which centered around Asian families. Wu said she looks to play characters who are full in their own right and not tokens to the often-white, lead. avoiding tokenism. “They need to have families, joys, sorrows, loves, enemies all depicted within the narrative. The second you give a token character other qualities, then they’re human– they cease being tokens because they are fully realized,” she said.
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Crystal Kung Minkoff is the first Asian American “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” cast member. A descendant of Confusicous, Minkoff spoke up about racial prejudice in her first season on the show, iconically asking fellow housewife Sutton Stacke “are you one of those people that you say you don’t see color? Tell me you’re that girl,” after explaining her experiences with bias.
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Bowen Yang is the first Chinese American cast member on “Saturday Night Live” when he joined the cast in 2019. He used his platform to deliver an impassioned speech calling for an end to the rise in anti-AAPI bias during the pandemic. “I’m just a comedian.I don’t have the answers, but I’m not just looking for them online. I’m looking around me,” he said live on the air, in a segment that went viral.
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Known professionally as Awkwafina, Nora Lum is a rapper and actress with Chinese and Korean heritage. She is the star of “Awkwafina is Nora From Queens,” a show that encourages its Asian cast members to play against stereotypes. “It’s never been written for them before, to play these other roles, like a lot of the Asian-American characters that they’ve played before might have been what people thought Asian-Americans were,” she said.
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Stephanie Hsu, who stars as Chinese-American Mei in “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” said she grew up actively trying to forget her Asian roots and how to speak Mandarian. In the years since, she Hsu said she has grown proud to be Chinese, and has sought out roles that uplift AAPI casts, such as her recent work on the film “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once.” “I am proud to be a Chinese woman that a younger me didn’t see,” said said.
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