To get a sense of how far KAs have come in the entertainment industry, just glance at the list of nominees for the Hollywood Foreign Press’ Golden Globe awards. KAs may not be up for individual recognition this year, but several were part of the casts for films and TV shows that were nominated. Here’s the breakdown:
*Best Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy: The Hangover, with a memorable comedic performance by Ken Jeong.
*Best Animated Feature: Up, starring the adorable animated Boy Scout character, Russell, based on the image of Peter Sohn, a Korean American animator at Pixar.
*Best TV Series-Drama: Dexter, which co-stars C.S. Lee who plays Vincent Masuka, a wisecracking forensic expert.
*Best TV Series-Musical/Comedy: Glee, which co-stars Jenna Ushkowitz who plays the goth songstress Tina.
*Best TV Series-Musical/Comedy: Entourage, which co-stars Rex Lee who plays Lloyd, the assistant to a difficult Hollywood agent.
The 67th annual Golden Globe Awards will be broadcast Jan. 17 on NBC. Maybe one day soon, we’ll see these talented KAs recognized for their individual achievements as well. I have to say, it’s been refreshing to flip through the channels and randomly run across Korean Americans and Asian Americans playing a diversity of characters on primetime. It’s such a far cry from my days as a youth when the best I could hope for were Sulu on the small screen’s Star Trek and Mr. Miyagi on the big screen’s Karate Kid.
Now that we’re in the room, let’s see if we can get to the front of the class.
