Times’ top 100 list of Who’s Who in America includes nearly one dozen Asian Americans and two Asians well known to the AAPI community, actor and Asian Brit Henry Golding and late night talk host and Asian Canadian Lily Singh.
Among the Asian Americans named in the Time 100 Next list are actress Awkwafina of The Farewell, Bowen Yang of Saturday Night Live and Chanel Miller, a women who went public about being sexually assaulted on the Stanford campus.
About Awkwafina, Sandra Oh wrote “I cannot express how pleased I am to see her meteoric rise. I’m not surprised because she is a complete original. There are so many things I can point to: Her timing. Her beautiful, melancholic face. And her unforgettable voice.”
Bowen Yang has been described as a potential breakout star on SNL. UPROXX wrote “he’s managed to accomplish some nearly impossible feats in his short time in front of the camera. He’s given us polished impersonations of world leaders and presidential candidates, he’s perfectly encapsulated the kind of woke bro who aspires to be a SoulCycle instructor, and he’s introduced us to China’s “Trade Daddy.”
Chanel Miller has been praised for her courage for coming forward publicly about being sexually assaulted on the Stanford campus. Known only as Emily Doe during the trial of Brock Turner, her book Know My Name has been her coming out. Goodreads says with her book, she “reclaims her identity to tell her story of trauma, transcendence, and the power of words… But her struggles with isolation and shame during the aftermath and the trial reveal the oppression victims face in even the best-case scenarios.”
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Amanda Nguyen is a survivor of rape who has turned her horrendous experience into a force for positive change. The group she founded, Rise, has passed 25 state and federal laws, protecting DNA evidence gathered from rape kits that have been credited with numerous prosecutions. She is also a 2018 Nobel Prize nominee.
Vijay Gupta uses his musical talents to help the homeless. He quit the Los Angeles Philharmonic where he worked as a violinist to teach music at homeless shelters and prisons. He is also a MacArthur Genius Fellow.
Varshini Prakash serves as executive director of the Sunrise Movement. Washington Governor Jay Inslee called her and her organization “some of the greatest sources for hope in our fight against the climate crisis.”
Alyssa Liu is a rising star in the ice skating world. At age 13, she became the youngest US Women’s Figure Skating champion in the world. Michelle Kwan said her quad lux “is pushing the technical envelope, and there’s no slowing down.”
Nite Yun is a Cambodian American “changing America’s relationship to Cambodia, one exquisite dish at a time,” said Samin Nosrat, a chef, author and host of Netflix’s Salt Fat Acid Heat. Her restaurant in Oakland, CA, Nyum Bai, has quickly made a name for itself a year after opening.
Mei Mei Hu is working on a cure for Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases. Her company United Neuroscience is working on a vaccine to help the immune system produce antibodies to fight off these degenerative diseases.
Henry Golding catapulted onto the world stage with Crazy Rich Asians. He is now attained leading man status, especially noteworthy for Asian males. Michelle Yeoh calls him the perfect son.
Lilly Singh has turned her You Tube fame into her own show on NBC’s late night line up. As Jimmy Fallon wrote, ” You don’t rack up millions of fans all over the world without being someone people can relate to.”
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