15 Asian And Asian-American Actors We Should All Be Watching

This half-Chinese, half-Korean American is a jack of many trades. The 33-year-old went from rapping on YouTube to a comedy career to acting in Hollywood blockbusters. Awkwafina landed her breakout role when she starred as Goh Peik Lin in Crazy Rich Asians. Her latest role in 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' as Katy had us all falling in love with the breakout indie-darling all over again.

Liu Yifei isn’t nearly as famous in the West as she is in China — yet. There’s a reason that this 34-year-old actress beat out almost 1000 other candidates for the role of Mulan in Disney’s new live-action film of the same name, which hit theaters in 2020. Liu Yifei is an incredibly accomplished actress — she can act in both English and Chinese, and she has a ton of action roles under her belt, so she can definitely nail all of Hua Mulan’s warrior moves.

Tzi Ma is a veteran Hong Kong American actor who’s well-known for his role in Rush Hour and has appeared in everything from Veep to Akeelah and the Bee.

Not only does he star alongside Awkwafina in The Farewell, but he also plays Mulan’s dad in the 2020 live-action film, Mulan!

With 30+ years of experience under his belt, Tzi Ma has also spoken out about the need for more diversity in Hollywood.

This Chinese Australian actress grew up in mainland China and was trained as a traditional Chinese opera singer from the age of 14. She starred in many Chinese movies and television shows before immigrating to Australia. She plays the role of Awkwafina’s stoic mother in The Farewell.

Taiwanese American actress Constance Wu was first lauded for her starring role in Fresh Off the Boat, but she rose even further into stardom when she landed the lead role in Crazy Rich Asians. Constance is more than just an accomplished actress, though — she’s also an outspoken advocate for Asian representation in the media. She has spoken out many times about the need for more diverse, non-tokenized roles in front of the camera AND more diverse voices behind the camera.

Vietnam-born, Chicago-raised actress Lana Condor burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere when she starred as Lara Jean Covey in the Netflix rom-com To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. She killed the role and promptly stole everybody’s hearts, but this young lady is just getting started. She has other projects cooking, ranging from sci-fi to comedy.

Lu Hong, or “Little Nai Nai,” isn’t an actress, per se, even though she plays a major role in The Farewell as the great aunt. The film’s writer and director, Lulu Wang, had two weeks left to go before filming when she decided to just ask her real great aunt to play herself. Little Nai Nai did an excellent job, even though she was worried about her lack of experience.

“She’s amazing. She walks around in her Air Jordans, she has the hippest style. Having her around was very beautiful but also emotional,” Lulu told the LA Times.

This Filipino Canadian actor is most famous for his role as the adorable doofus Jason Mendoza on The Good Place. At this point, Manny and Jason are basically the same person in fans’ minds. But the man behind the role isn’t a doofus at all — he has a degree in civil engineering, for starters. He has been lauded for how the role smashed stereotypes of how Asian men are typically portrayed in the media.

Star Wars fans will recognize this Vietnamese American actress for her role as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. She is the first woman of color to play a leading role in a Star Wars film, and a lot of viewers were not happy about it. She received a lot of racist backlash and harassment for the role; she even deleted her Instagram because of it. But Kelly isn’t letting the hate stop her from pursuing her calling. She’ll reprise her role for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Kumail’s early film credits show how South Asian actors get pigeonholed into stereotypical roles, like “Gary the Delivery Guy.” But the Pakistani American actor has since made his name as an incredibly talented stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He co-wrote and starred in 2017’s Oscar-nominated film The Big Sick.

Watch his acting chops in one of his upcoming projects, like the romantic comedy The Lovebirds, or the TV adaption of My Beautiful Laundrette that he's writing and starring in. Or the Men in Black spin-off. Yeah, this guy stays busy.

This Filipino American actor was made famous by portraying Josh Chan in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The role is notable, not only because he’s an Asian-American actor playing a love interest on TV, but also because he’s an openly gay actor who is playing a straight male lead. Josh told the Advocate that until he was cast as Josh, he truly didn’t even know it was possible to have a gay Filipino person playing a lead on a network television show — and yet here he is, doing it!

Ali Wong rose to fame with an irreverent Netflix stand-up comedy special, Baby Cobra, which she performed while 7 months pregnant with her first child. Before that, though, she was already a successful comedian and writer who had been writing for Fresh Off the Boat for years.

The 39-year-old is half Chinese American and half Vietnamese American. She recently landed her first lead role in a Netflix rom-com, Always Be My Maybe (which she also co-wrote).

Nico is an openly gay, Filipino American actor whose unique brand of comedic flair earned him a role in the TV series Superstore. He also played the fashionable and outspoken Oliver T’Sien in Crazy Rich Asians. The 42-year-old was born in Manila, and he moved to the US at age 16. He says it “baffles” him that he gets to play a femme Filipino gay man on TV, but in a good way. The show wouldn’t be the same without him!

At 31 years old, Charles’s acting career is just getting started. The half-Korean actor first achieved success as a model for brands like Dolce & Gabbana and MAC. He then landed roles on Glee and American Horror Story, and now, he's a series regular on Riverdale. Charles is also a “video vixen,” if you will — he appeared in Ariana Grande’s music video for “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored.”

Claudia is a South Korean actress who has starred in Korean television shows and movies for years. She broke onto the international scene with her role as Helen Cho in Avengers: Age of Ultron, and later as Nagini in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.