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There was good reason to celebrate this first week of January as the power of Asia and America’s creative economies were on full display at the Golden Globes Awards ceremony.
How distant our celebrations in the United States and across the Indo-Pacific region now seem amid the devastation of large parts of Los Angeles by wildfires. Yet, when the 82nd Golden Globes Awards ceremony concluded in Los Angeles on January 5, there were so many Asian and Asian American achievements to celebrate.
This included much greater global visibility for actors, directors and creative content from Japan to Korea to India and beyond. In the prior year, much attention was focused on Filipino-American comedian Jo Koy in his role as host of the 81st awards.
Today, the L.A. neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades and Altadena have been pretty much burned to the ground. Heartbreaking scenes of fire-ravaged neighborhoods and impacted families are shared on social media. Tens of thousands of Los Angelenos have faced evacuation orders, thousands of homes have been destroyed — including those of some of our own family members and friends — and Hollywood’s film industry has been disrupted in a manner perhaps once only conceived of as part of a fictitious disaster movie.
The images filling our screens from the United States’ second largest city, however, have been all too real.
Traditionally, the Golden Globes kick off an awards season that culminates with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Oscars ceremony a few months later. This year the Oscars — if not cancelled — will no doubt be reimagined, perhaps scaled back or transformed into a tribute, fundraiser and benefit for firefighters, first responders and the tens of thousands who have lost homes or even loved ones.
The 2025 Manila International Film Festival, scheduled for January 30 to February 2 in Hollywood’s iconic TCL Chinese Theater, has been postponed due to the wildfires. The to-be-rescheduled event reportedly will honor frontline workers and volunteers, including Filipino first responders, battling the wildfires.
The festival’s chairman and co-founder Omen Ortiz released a statement. “We are devastated by the tremendous impact of the wildfires on many people, including the Filipino community,” Ortiz said. “At this time, as we pray for the people experiencing trauma and loss, we ask all to continue supporting the fire relief efforts.”
Excellence for Asian creatives
Amid a city reeling from the fires, we also pause to share these pre-wildfires reflections from the Golden Globes:
It was a groundbreaking evening of firsts and excellence for Asian and Asian American creatives at the 82nd Annual Golden Globes, with Japan’s Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano and Hiroyuki Sanada all winning awards and global attention. The epic samurai series Shogun swept all four categories it was nominated for, while Ali Wong became the first actress ever to win back-to-back Globes for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series, or a Motion Picture Made for Television.
Anna Sawai also made history as the first Asian actress since 1981 to receive the Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series – Drama award, and director Jon Chu’s Wicked took home the coveted Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement. Even Asian culinary brilliance was front and center as Chef Nobu Matsuhisa (of Nobu Restaurant fame) crafted a bespoke menu for the glittering ceremony. Presenters of Asian and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) heritage, including Awkwafina, Ke Huy Quan, Mindy Kaling, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and Auliʻi Cravalho, further underscored the evening’s diverse representation.
Other Asian and AAPI nominees included Payal Kapadia for Best Director for All We Imagine as Light, which was also nominated for Best Non-English Language Film; Moana 2 for Best Animated Feature; Twisters, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, for Best Cinematic and Box Office Achievement; Squid Game Season 2 for Best TV Series – Drama; and Maya Erskine for Best TV Actress – Drama.
Despite missing out on a Golden Globe win, Squid Game 2 had already taken the world by storm. The Korean drama had reached the No. 1 spot globally after its release on December 26, 2024, becoming the first series to debut at No. 1 in all of the more than 90 countries where Netflix is available. The blockbuster series is currently No. 2 on the streaming platform’s list of Most Popular Non-English Shows of All-Time, only behind season 1 of Squid Game.
As a community, we should extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Golden Globes voting body of 334 entertainment journalists representing 85 countries around the world. It’s a milestone to see so many talented Asian and AAPI actors recognized for portraying characters of depth, substance, and strength.
In 2021, we raised concerns in a NextShark article about how that year’s Golden Globes failed to address the alarming rise in anti-Asian hate. A few weeks later, we hoped the Oscars — whose theme was “Stories Matter” — would take the lead, but our community’s stories were largely overlooked. This oversight reflects the long history of entrenched Asian stereotypes manufactured by Hollywood “fromportraying Asian women as timid, submissive and over-sexualized side plots to emasculating Asian men as effete, ridiculous, comic relief sidekicks or inscrutable, sinister villains.”
Pushing for more
Now, three years later, it is clear some progress has been made. With Asian and AAPI artists finally receiving well-deserved recognition, we celebrate these successes while continuing to push for more opportunities and representation in Hollywood — and beyond.
One memorable aspect of the evening was the heartfelt humility displayed by the charismatic actors Tadanobu Asano and Anna Sawai. Asano, relatively new to many American viewers, introduced himself by saying, “Wow…maybe you don’t know me. So, I’m an actor from Japan.” Meanwhile, Sawai gave one of the night’s shortest speeches, graciously thanking voters and playfully conceding that she would still “vote for Kathy Bates any day.” Later on Jimmy Kimmel Live, she added, “I’m no Demi Moore… No one knows me. They don’t want to hear who I want to thank.”
While some will interpret their words as shockingly self-effacing, they also reflect the cultural backgrounds and personal journeys of two global stars who are not yet household names in the United States. These types of moments celebrate the diversity of acceptance speeches—reminding us that not everyone embraces the spotlight in the same way. In many parts of Asia and the Pacific, modesty and collective recognition can play a more prominent role than the individual spotlight we often see in Hollywood.
However, it is important to remember that the US entertainment industry can be a fiercely dog-eat-dog environment. It is undeniable that speaking up and owning one’s accomplishments is an important part of breaking through. So, in a competitive and noisy industry, it is crucial that we as audience, talent and community, champion and uplift Asian and Asian American voices when they do take the stage.
The Los Angeles fires underscore the critical need to come together in unity and common cause to provide solace and support for the rebuilding of a beautiful and creative city, while celebrating the diversity of communities that breathe life into its resilient spirit. – Rappler.com
Drue Kataoka is Founder & CEO of Drue Kataoka Art Studios | www.Drue.net. Curtis S. Chin, a former U.S. Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, focuses on the creative economy as part of his work as Chair, Senior Fellows at the Milken Institute. Follow Drue on instagram at @DrueKataoka and Curtis on X at @CurtisSChin
