15 Asian Rising Stars in Hollywood You Need to Be Paying Attention to
This talented group has been writing, directing and starring in all of your favorite films and television shows
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Bowen Yang
Talent: Comedian, writer, actor
Best known for: Writing for Saturday Night Live, his laugh-out-loud Twitter impressions and co-hosting the Las Culturistas podcast with Matt Rogers
Upcoming roles: After making his SNL debut as a staff writer in 2018, Yang is now going to be a featured player on the comedy sketch series, alongside newcomer Chloe Fineman. Yang is the first ever Asian-American cast member to join the show.
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Simu Liu
Talent: Actor
Best known for: Playing Jung Kim on Kim's Convenience
Upcoming roles: Marvelās superhero Shang-Chi in the upcoming film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which is slated for a 2021 release.
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Lana Condor
Talent: Actress
Best known for: Playing Lara Jean Covey in Netflix's To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Jubilee in X-Men: Apocalypse
Upcoming roles: Condor will be reprising her role as Lara Jean in not only a sequel to the film, called P.S. I Still Love You (2020), but also a third movie based on the story, called Always and Forever Lara Jean (release date TBD).
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Awkwafina
Talent: Actress, rapper
Best known for: Albums Yellow Ranger and In Fina We Trust and films Ocean's 8, Crazy Rich Asians and The Farewell
Upcoming roles: Awkwafina will star in her own upcoming Comedy Central series called Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, a half-hour scripted comedy loosely based on her life, according to Deadline.
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Charles Melton
Talent: Actor
Best known for: Playing Reggie Mantle on Riverdale and Daniel Bae in the film The Sun Is Also a Star
Upcoming roles: Melton will be joining Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys 4 Life, which is headed to theaters in January 2020.
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Ki Hong Lee
Talent: Actor
Best known for: Playing Minho in The Maze Runner film trilogy and Dong Nguyen in Netflix's Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Upcoming roles: You can catch Lee next in the upcoming dark comedy, Looks That Kill, which is currently in post-production according to IMDB.
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Lauren Tsai
Talent: Reality star, actress, model, illustrator
Best known for: Playing herself on the reality show Terrace House: Aloha State and Switch in the FX series Legion
Upcoming roles: Tsai hasn't revealed her upcoming projects, but based on her Instagram, she's been modeling for brands like Revlon and Rodarte.
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Alan Yang
Talent: Screenwriter, producer, actor
Best known for: Writing for Parks and Recreation, co-creating Netflix's Master of None and producing Amazon Prime's Forever
Upcoming roles: Yang executive produced the 2019 comedy, Little America, and the 2019 drama, Tigertail.
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Hiro Murai
Talent: Filmmaker
Best known for: Directing episodes of FX's Atlanta and HBO's Barry and directing music videos for Childish Gambino, A Tribe Called Quest, Earl Sweatshirt, Flying Lotus and more
Upcoming roles: Murai has been tapped to adapt post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven for television, according to Indiwire.
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Jake Choi
Talent: Actor
Best known for: Playing Miggy Park on Single Parents and Charles Bae in The Sun Is Also a Star
Upcoming roles: Choi will play the role of Colton in the upcoming comedy Keep Hope Alive (2020) and Richie in the upcoming dramedy Definition Please (2020).
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Lyrica Okano
Talent: Actress
Best known for: Playing Nico Minoru in Hulu's Runaways
Upcoming roles: Catch Okano next in the thriller Story Game as Chika and the comedy short Jelly as Becca.
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Kelly Marie Tran
Talent: Actress
Best known for: Playing Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Upcoming roles: Tran will reprise her role as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019) and will return as Jules on Sorry for Your Loss season 2, which premieres on Oct. 1, 2019 at 3 pm EST on Facebook Watch.
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Nico Santos
Talent: Actor
Best known for: Playing Mateo Liwanag in NBC's Superstore and Oliver T'sien in Crazy Rich Asians
Upcoming roles: In addition to continuing his role as Mateo in Superstore, Santos has also filmed a TV pilot for Best Seller, a comedy that is currently in post-production and executive produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.
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Ross Butler
Talent: Actor
Best known for: Playing Zach Dempsey in 13 Reasons Why
Upcoming roles: Butler will be playing Trevor in the upcoming All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020).
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Vincent Rodriguez III
Talent: Actor
Best known for: Playing Josh Chan in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Upcoming roles: While it's unclear what Rodriguez has planned next, you can bingewatch him right now as Detective Rudy Cruz in Insatiable on Netflix.