Only 23 actors of Asian origin have been nominated for the Oscars for 95 years. They could well have their moment of glory this year, thanks in particular to the success of “Everything Everywhere All At Once”
Are Asian Actors and Their Movies Going to Raid the Oscars? Completely unprecedented, this question which dominates the ceremony on Sunday attests to a remarkable breakthrough in Hollywood, which the main interested parties judge “very late”.
Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu have a chance to win a statuette for their performances in the crazy comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, favorite for the Best Picture award, and actress Hong Chau is also in the running for her supporting role in The Whale. There are therefore as many nominees this year as actors of Asian origin to have won an Oscar in 95 years of existence, i.e. four.
The Indian film, him, RRR part favorite for the prize for the best song, and the Nobel Prize for Literature Kazuo Ishiguro is nominated for the best screenplay with Live.
11 nominations for “Everythine Everywhere All At Once”
The 2023 winners therefore have every chance of being exceptional. Malaysian Michelle Yeoh could become the first actress of Asian origin to win the Oscar for Best Actress, for her role as a Chinese immigrant forced to save the universe in Everything Everywhere All At Once by
“Why are the white characters the only ones having fun adventures, while the Asian, Black, and Latin American protagonists are forced to suffer?”, asks AFP the American-Taiwanese producer of the film, Jonathan Wang.
Co-directed by a director of Chinese origin, Daniel Kwan, this independent film garnered 11 Oscar nominations, after raking in 100 million box office receipts. Enough to prove that the general public appreciates stories embodied differently. “It’s time to turn things around and people are going to rush to theaters,” says Jonathan Wang.
The era endured by the patriarch of the film, James Hong, who recalled at the end of February at the age of 94 that Hollywood once preferred to blindfold white actors with tape rather than hire Asian actors, seems a long way off. But the recognition expressed by these appointments is “very late”, underlines Snehal Desai, the artistic director of the East West Players, a theater troupe founded by James Hong himself in 1965 to promote actors of Asian origin in Los Angeles.
An audience ready to be surprised
Martial arts superstar Michelle Yeoh and Vietnamese-born actor Ke Huy Quan, revealed in the 1980s in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, are “artists who have been doing this work for decades”, emphasizes Snehal Desai. Recognition of their talent “really shouldn’t have taken that long”.
The dazzling return of Ke Huy Quan, forced to leave the acting profession for more than 20 years for lack of opportunities, also underlines the persistent reluctance of Hollywood. Kristina Wong can attest to that. On the poster of a “one woman show” co-produced by the troupe East West Players, the comedian began to write his own creations, because it was according to him the only way to tell his stories “weird” of immigrant. “It’s that or audition for chewing gum commercials”she told AFP. “I’ve lived this life. And it sucks. It’s not creatively fulfilling.” For her there is still “a lack of opportunities in general”.
But the comedian, whose show was nominated for the prestigious Pulitzer Prize last year, also considers the success ofEverything Everywhere All At Once as an encouraging sign. “There is an audience ready to be surprised” with new stories, she believes.
23 actor nominations for 95 years
However, the inclusion of Asian communities at the Oscars remains very limited. Only 23 acting performances have been nominated in all, or 1.2% of nominations for 95 years, according to a tally by the New York Times. The only one to have been nominated more than once is Indian-born actor Ben Kingsley. And there’s never been a year where more than one Asian actor has won an Oscar. A scenario that could change this year.
If things are changing, it is also thanks to a new solidarity, according to Joel Kim Booster. The South Korean-born actor starred in the recent gay romantic comedy Fire Island. A film which, according to him, owes a lot to the involvement of two executives of Asian origin from the Searchlight studio.
For a long time, the few minority representatives able to make a place for themselves in Hollywood have adopted “a mentality of closing the door behind them”trying to keep the roles for themselves, he believes. “I think that’s largely gone.”