It’s a familiar story, especially if you’ve spent your life navigating two worlds: the pressure to achieve success in the American system, often by subtly downplaying the parts of yourself that make you different. For years, we’ve heard that message loud and clear. Blend in. Fit in. That’s why listening to director Jon M. Chu talk about his career is so fascinating. The guy who gave us Crazy Rich Asians is now bringing Wicked (with the sequel Wicked: For Good coming out on

Nominations for the 68th Grammy Awards were revealed this week, and music fans everywhere were greeted not only by some familiar names but by what could mark a turning point in how the music industry recognizes women in global pop, particularly those from the Asian American and Asian diaspora. As ABC News reported, the 2026 Grammy nominations highlight women from K-pop and K-pop-inspired acts in several major categories. The fictional K-pop girl group from Netflix’s KPop Dem

The documentary film Third Act is more than a biography retrospective. It's a profound, intimate exploration of art and activism, as well as the complicated beauty of a father-son relationship. Directed by Tadashi Nakamura, the film shines a spotlight on his father, Robert A. Nakamura, a figure who "Generations of artists call… 'the godfather of Asian American media,'" but who his son simply calls "Dad". Initially conceived as a career retrospective, the film evolves into so

Did you, like everybody else on the planet, fall head over heels for KPop Demon Hunters ? Then get ready for some good and not so good (bad) news. The good news is that KPop Demon Hunters 2 is happening! Yay! The bad news? You're gonna have to wait a while. SlashFilm , citing a Bloomberg report, says that the animated sequel is going to be released in 2029. That’s four years after the original’s debut, which means we'll be twiddling thumbs until the end of the decade for the

Zohran Mamdani has been elected as New York’s 111th mayor, as reported by CNN . Born in Uganda to Indian parents, including celebrated filmmaker Mira Nair, and raised in NYC, Mamdani has become the city’s first Muslim mayor, its first of South Asian heritage, and its youngest in more than a century. For New York’s immigrant and South Asian communities, Mamdani’s win felt personal. The 34-year-old democratic socialist from Queens leaned into his story as an American Muslim and

DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming feature Forgotten Island is shaping up to be something pretty special. The film stands out not only for its story rooted in Philippine mythology but also for who’s telling it. Hollywood has made some progress on Asian representation, but full-length animated features drawn from specific Southeast Asian cultures have been almost nonexistent. As Rolling Stone Philippines noted, it’s “the first international film by a major studio to highlight Fil

Before the fame, before Harold & Kumar and Searching , John Cho was just a college student trying to find his place in the world. In a recent interview about that time in his life, he shares that transferring to UC Berkeley was “the first independent, proactive thing that I did for myself,” a decision that marked a turning point for him. Once there, he suddenly felt a freedom he hadn’t known before. Surrounded by students from all walks of life, he realized he could explore

Asian American literature has gone mainstream. Finally. What started as a few trailblazing voices has become a full-on literary movement reshaping how our country understands family, identity, and belonging. Here are ten books that didn’t just tell great stories. They changed the culture. 1. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (1989) Amy Tan’s interwoven tales of Chinese immigrant mothers and their American-born daughters gave voice to an experience that millions recognized but had

Disney’s 1942 classic Bambi defined an entire generation, and after years of re-releases on home video, in theatres and on streaming, you probably have no problem picturing its dreamy forest filled with soft pastels, drifting mist, and sunlight melting through trees that look more like a painting than a cartoon. You might be surprised to learn this beautiful, ethereal look came from the vision of one man: Tyrus Wong, a Chinese-born artist whose name appeared in the credits s

When DNC Vice Chair Shasti Conrad told Fox News , “We lost ground with many of our communities … The Asian American community was one of them,” she wasn’t just rehashing a tough presidential campaign loss back in 2024. She was issuing a very specific warning for the 2025 gubenatorial battle happening in New Jersey — a warning for Democrats not to ignore Asian American voters there, but also in upcoming elections happening in Virginia and New York, as well. Conrad pointed out

Actress and filmmaker Rachel Michiko Whitney is turning her family’s layered, often unspoken history into art with her moving documentary short, Yonsei (a term that means fourth-generation Japanese American). The film has been traveling its way through the festival circuit, and Whitney sat down with Deadline to talk about what it means to honor your past while also working to create something entirely new. What started as an attempt to tell her mother’s story as a Japanese

Harvard’s student body is beginning to look different these days. And it isn’t by accident. Recent data reveals a clear trend. Asian American enrollment is on the up, while the number of Black and Hispanic students is falling. The Times of India called it Harvard’s “diversity in flux,” a change in the makeup of our universities. Now some are sending out an alarm. The Harvard College admissions data for the class of 2029 showed a mix of 11.5 percent Black students, 11 percent