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 Demon Hunters...

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 simply as a...

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 who he was...

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 something deeply...

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 return of our...

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 Filipino stories.”...

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 the son of...

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 American actress...

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 rarely seen...

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 Hispanic, and 41...

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 criticizing a struggling campaign in one state. Her words landed like a challenge, but with echoes that sound far beyond the 2025 gubernatorial election happening in New Jersey. Conrad pointed out a sharp shift that began in 2024: “Where we found … more votes that did go towards [Donald Trump] … there was a dip in the support for...

KPop Demon Hunters has captured streaming records, the zeitgeist, and the hearts and minds of die-hard fans everywhere. What started as a stylish, demon-slaying girl-power fantasy became a global phenomenon, even sneaking onto the Billboard charts this year. But the animated musical also caught Netflix flatfooted, leaving the streamer running to catch up. For years Netflix famously avoided diving into merchandising, but when KPop Demon Hunters exploded into a worldwide obsession, fans...

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl has never fit neatly into anyone’s box. As the first Asian American to be ordained as both a rabbi and a cantor (and the first woman to lead New York City’s historic Central Synagogue in its 185-year history) Buchdahl spent her career expanding the idea of who gets to belong in Jewish life. Her new memoir, Heart of a Stranger , tells that story in full. Born in Seoul in 1972 to an American Jewish father and a Korean Buddhist mother, Buchdahl grew up in Tacoma,...

Having influence means more than just counting the number of followers someone has on social media. It’s about shaping culture, building communities, and defining what authenticity looks like in the real world, too. From TikTok stars to business moguls, these Asian American creators have used their platforms to amplify representation, inspire creativity, and redefine what success looks like. Here are ten of the most powerful voices shaping the social media landscape today. 1. Bella Poarch —...

NBC News recently laid off 150 staffers in what the company is calling a necessary restructuring tied to the split between NBC News and MSNBC, as reported by The Wrap and The Advocate . The team behind NBC Asian America, a group of dedicated journalists who spent years telling stories about our community that mainstream media often overlooked, was included in the layoff. For many of us in the Asian American community (and other marginalized groups) this move is more than just corporate...

According to recent commentary from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), Asian students are a key component to...

Erik Spoelstra has been named head coach of the U.S. men’s national basketball team , a breakthrough moment for Asian American representation. As the first coach of Filipino descent to lead Team USA, Spoelstra brings deep basketball credentials as head coach of the Miami Heat, taking the franchise to six NBA Finals and championships in 2012 and 2013. As of 2025, he is the NBA’s longest‑tenured head coach with one franchise. He will lead Team USA in both the 2027 FIBA Men’s World Cup and the...

Suicide is now the leading cause of death for Asian Americans between the ages of 15 and 24, according to a recent report from NBC News ,...

Walk into any big box Halloween store right now and you’ll see it: chaos, glitter, and a lot of neon. But forget all those tired old vampire, witch, and Michael Myers outfits. This year’s hottest costume has wings, sequins, and serious main-character energy. Oh, yes. The entire world’s talking about K-Pop Demon Hunters (KPDH), and can you blame them? The Netflix animated hit about three K-pop idols moonlighting as demon slayers is everywhere. Anyone who’s anyone around a screen, teen, or...

Asian Americans in Hollywood have long been told their stories are too niche, but a new report from The Asian American Foundation (TAAF) proves that that isn’t necessarily true. Their 2025 Business Case for Asian and Asian American Narratives makes a case that Asian-led stories aren’t just good for visibility, they’re actually good for business, too. Despite recent progress, Asian Americans remain the most underrepresented group in Hollywood, accounting for only about three to six percent...

Homes lit up with tiny clay lamps. Families spending hours creating rangoli designs that look like living pieces of art. Diwali is more than just a holiday to those who celebrate it. Known as the Festival of Lights (or Deepavali, which translates into “a row of lights” in Sanskrit), Diwali is a time of year when millions commemorate the power of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. For Hindus, according to Wikipedia , it marks Lord Ram’s victorious return to...

It’s a trivia question you likely don’t even know the answer to but probably should: who was the first Asian American to win a Grammy award? A new documentary short that's out now has the answer: Larry Ramos, a Filipino American musician from Hawaiʻi who's been overlooked in American music history far too long. Along Comes Larry: The Larry Ramos Story shows his remarkable journey, from a musical prodigy growing up in Waimea, Kauaʻi, to his rise to fame in the 1960s folk scene. Ramos made...

At one point, it seemed like everyone believed breast cancer wasn’t a major concern for the Asian American and Pacific Islander...

Kevin Nguyen’s novel, Mỹ Documents , might be speculative fiction, but the world it imagines feels uncomfortably close to home right now....

Okay, say what you will about the comic book movie genre, but we still need our heroes, now more than ever. Whether done up in spandex,...