Kelly Hu, Dante Basco, Michael Copon on Asian representation in Hollywood

Alexa Villano

This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Kelly Hu, Dante Basco, Michael Copon on Asian representation in Hollywood

Rappler

The 3 celebrities are among the guests of this weekend's TOYCON 2018 happening at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City

MANILA, Philippines – American actors Michael Copon, Dante Basco, and Kelly Hu are among the celebrities in attendance for this weekend’s TOYCON 2018 happening at the SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia Arena 

The 3 stars also happen to have Asian blood in them – Michael and Dante trace their roots to the Philippines, while Kelly has Chinese ancestry.

During a press conference on Friday, June 8, the 3 shared their views on how opportunities are now opening up for Asian actors in Hollywood.

Michael, best known for his roles in Power Rangers Time Force and One Tree Hill, said: “I think you know it’s a blessing. Right now, being ethnic is actually a good thing. When I was starting of in the year 2000, I lose a lot of roles because of being of ethnic background. So I’m glad it’s actually switching over now. Even in [American Dragon], he (Dante) can attest [to] this because roles like that, [American Dragon], High School Musical, a lot of them weren’t hiring two Filipinos, two ethnics as the leads. So we happen to lose roles because of that.”

Michael, whose father’s family is from Cavite, said the Asian community in Hollywood is a small one such that he would often see Dante during auditions. Nevertheless, Michael considers it a blessing to be able to represent his heritage in Hollywood. 

BLUE RANGER. Michael Copon is known for his roles in 'Power Rangers: Time Force' and 'One Tree Hill'

Dante, one of the first Filipino-American actors to make it in Hollywood, is best known for his role as Rufio from the movie Hook, and as the voice of Prince Zuko in the television series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

“At this moment, being Asians in America and in Hollywood, we’re in the highest profile that we’ve ever had in Hollywood since the the beginning of Hollywood, since the beginning of Asians in America. And we’re nowhere near where we need to be as far as representation and telling our stories. We’re all very excited in our community to have Crazy Rich Asians coming out,” he said, referring to the movie adaptation of the book series with the same title. 

Citing the success of The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, Dante said that now more than ever, more Asians should step forward to tell their stories themselves. 

“Coming forward now as a new age of media, there has to be more stories of us Asians telling our experience of ourselves, because there’s nowhere they know us like we know ourselves,” he said.

RUFIO. Dante Basco says he's excited about the 'new era' of Asians representation in the international scene

Meanwhile, Kelly, who was born and raised in Hawaii, pointed out the lack of Asian men playing lead roles on US television and in films.

“It is a new era, and yes, there are more Asians onscreen than ever before. However, and I’m probably the only one who can say this, there still needs to be representation of Asian men in romantic leads. You are still not seeing any of that. And that’s because there’s just no respect out there for Asian men in our country (US) unfortunately. We’re still a minority. And I’m sure that doesn’t exist in your country because everybody is Filipino.

“But in America, it still exists and there’s still a lot to fight for,” said the actress, who is best known for her roles as Lady Deathstrike in X-Men 2 and Cassandra the Sorceress in The Scorpion King. 

RESPECT. Kelly Hu points out the lack of Asian men playing lead roles on US television and in films

Michael echoed Kelly’s sentiment, recalling the many times he’s been cast as a Latino.

“I even fought to be known as a Filipino and [they would say], ‘No you’re going to be Spanish.’ So most of the stuff you see me play an Español, But I don’t even speak Spanish,” he said. 

This is one of the reasons why Michael went into producing his own movies. Like Dante, he also encouraged Asians and Filipinos to tell their own stories.

“We need to keep writing our stuff because we know our stuff the best,” he said. – Rappler.com

Add a comment

Sort by

There are no comments yet. Add your comment to start the conversation.

Summarize this article with AI

How does this make you feel?

Loading
Download the Rappler App!
Sleeve, Clothing, Apparel

author

Alexa Villano

Alexa is one of Rappler's Lifestyle and Entertainment reporters, covering local entertainment news to a wide range of topics from beauty pageants to reality shows.