FEATURED ACTORS - Place to discover the stories that illustrates the dreams, troubles, goals and passions of the Asian Pacific American communities!

The musical number with Virginia Wing was directed by Jorn H. Winther, a five-time Emmy nominee for ABC TVs All My Children, and director of the now legendary, original, David Frost--Richard Nixon TV Interviews, in 1977, and choreographed by Wakefield Poole, who began his career as a dancer on Broadway, became Assistant Director/Choreographer to Tony and Emmy Award-winner Joe Layton [No Strings on Broadway; The Barbara Streisand Specials on TV] and subsequently went on to revolutionized the adult film industry when he produced and directed the landmark male-adult film Boys in the Sand [1970] and its sequels. The song Gotta Dance! by Hugh Martin is from the 1948 Broadway musical Look Ma, I'm Dancin! [book by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee]; I Wont Dance has music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, Jimmy McHugh, Otto Harbach and Dorothy Fields.

PATRICK ADIARTE - Filipino-born Mr. Adiarte began his career on Broadway as a Royal Child in Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein's The King and I. He portrayed the Crown Prince Chulalohngkorn in the 1958 film version of that show, starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. That same year he returned to Broadway in Rodgers & Hammerstein's next new musical, Flower Drum Song, as Wang San. He recreated the role in the 1961 film version with the Gene Kelly choreographer. Other film credits include Blake Edwards High Time starring Bing Crosby and Tuesday Weld [1960], John Goldfarb, Please Come Home starring Shirley MacLaine, and he starred in Step Out of Your Mind [1966] which costarred a young Kelly [Carole] Bishop [A Chorus Line] and Leland Palmer [All That Jazz]. On television, he was a regular on Hullabaloo (Recorded three singles on the RSVP label that included Five Different Girls and Herb Bernstein-produced We Gotta Stick It Out that sounded similar to Herb's other project - Laura Nyro's original of Wedding Bell Blues), he starred in Dancing: A Man's Game, a landmark Omnibus episode [1958], The Enchanted Nutcracker [as The Prince], and guest starred on series including It Takes a Thief, Ironsides, Bonanza [as Swift Eagle a Native American in the Warbonnet episode, 1971], The Brady Bunch, Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, and as Ho-Jon on numerous episodes of M.A.S.H. In the late 70s, he retired from performing to become a successful photographer.

PHILIP AHN - Korean American pioneer and actor
NAVEEN ANDREWS - Naveen William Sidney Andrews was born on the 17th of January, 1969, in London, England. At the age of 16, Naveen attended London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama at the same as Ewan McGregor and Davis Thewlis. Naveen's first role was in Hanif Kureshi's film, "London Kills Me". In 1993, Naveen was nominated by the Evening Standard Drama Awards as Most Promising Newcomer for his part in "Wild West".For the BBC's "The Buddha of Suburbia", he was nominated for Best Actor at the San Remo Film Festival. This talented actor with the expressive eyes recently gained the role of Sayid Jarrah in the popular television series "Lost".
PUN BANDHU - (also known as Pun Punyaratabandhu) this Thai-American is an actor and Tony Award winning Broadway Producer. He graduated from the Acting Program at The Yale School of Drama in 2001. Highlights include the world premiere of AR Gurney's "Far East" (Williamstown Theatre Festival), The world premiere of Len Jenkin's "The Birds" (Yale Rep), the world premiere of John Pielmiere's "Voices in the Dark" (George St. Playhouse), The world premiere of Theresa Rebeck's "The Bells" (McCarter Theatre Center). TV credits include Law and Order: Criminal Intent, SVU, All My Children, Sesame St. Guiding Light, and currently, a recurring role as Albert Perry on "One Life to Live". He formed a production company in 2004, ZenDog Productions, and received a Tony for producing "Glengarry Glen Ross" on Broadway starring Alan Alda and Liev Schreiber.
TYSON BECKFORD - actor and famous male model whose African/Asian appearance (Father: Jamaican/Panamanian, Mother: Chinese/American) has drawn considerable attention.
DEAN CAIN - Actor (whose father is half Japanese and half White while his mother is White) is best known for his TV portrayal of Superman attended Princeton. This actor, who was signed by football's Buffalo Bills, is currently the host for TBS' Ripley's Believe It Or Not.

On January 11, 2010 - the $55 million Madame Tussauds Hollywood located next to Grauman’s Chinese Theatre launched its month’s long Chinese New Year’s Celebration by the wax figure unveiling of Asian superstar and international film icon Jackie Chan. He will be joining the ranks of Alfred Hitchcock, Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogard and other film legends.

Chan, who is also a popular singing star in Asia, is an active philanthropist and film buff and reveres comedians Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd.

He was appointed a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is also the recipient of the top French Chevalier des Arts Award and an MBE (Member of the British Empire) from the Queen of England.

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JACKIE CHAN - Worldwide Superstar from Hong Kong who is one of the most well-known stars (and director, having directed 20+ films since 1980) in films today and is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin. He began his career in the early 1970s and worked as a stung co-ordinator for Bruce Lee prior to becoming a star. Jackie's charity, the Jackie Chan Foundation USA - JC Foundation was founded in Hong Kong in 1987, an organization which provides scholarships to young people for their education and training in the arts, and it also funds a wide range of projects including programs in hospitals. His renown stunt team includes Brad Allan (Bradley James Allan), Anthony Carpio, Chris Chan, Chan Man-ching, Chan Tat-kwong, Andy Cheng, Johnny Cheung, Danny Chow, Joe Eigo, Fung Hak-o, Hon Chun, Louis Keun, Benny Lai, Rocky Lai, Lai Sing-kwong, Ben Lam, Chris Lee, Lee Chun-kit, Nicky Li, Ken Lo (also known for working as Chan's personal bodyguard), Mars (Cheung wing-fat), Pang Hiu-sang, Poon Bin-chung, Tai Bo, Bruce Tong, William Tuan, Wan Faat, Sam Wong and Paul Wong He was also part of the "Seven Little Fortunes that included Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Corey Yuen and Yuen Wah. Whilst attending the opera school under the tutelage of the Sifu Yu Jim Yuen, the students all adopted the name surname Yuen. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002. Click HERE to read an interview. Jackie's future plans to start a stuntmen school in China, supporting noteworthy charities, making films, etc. His latest films include Will Smith's remake of The Karate Kid, Chinese zodiac and Little Big Soldier.

VIC CHAO - Upcoming actor seen in The Division, Jag, Boston Legal, Monk, The Practice and in Ms. Congeniality 2
LARRY CHING - Prominent Singer/Dancer in San Francisco's famed "Forbidden City."
JOHN CHOO - He has appeared in Manzanar: An American Story, Better Luck Tomorrow, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, American Pie, Chris/Paul Weitz's See This Movie/In Good Company and Margaret Cho's Big Bam and Celeste - along with performing with his band "Left of Zed."
STEVEN CHOW - Actor/comedian (Stephen Chiau, Chow Sing-Chi) is the highest paid actor in 50+ Asian films through movies such as Shaolin Soccer, Fight Back to School (1991), The Royal Tramp (1992), God of Cookery (1996) and Kung Fu Hustle. Read a recent interview by clicking HERE.
MARK DACASCOS - Upcoming Actor/Martial Artist star
WILLIE FUNG - Chinese character actor Willie Fung spent his entire Hollywood career imprisoned by the Hollywood Stereotype Syndrome. During the silent era, Fung was the personification of the "Yellow Peril," never more fearsome than when he was threatening Dolores Costello's virtue in Old San Francisco (1927) and in Lost Horizon (1937). In talkies, Fung was a buck-toothed, pigtailed, pidgin-English-spouting comedy relief, usually cast as a cook or laundryman. He's worked with Hal B. Wallis, Darryl F. Zanuck, Franz Waxman, Keye Luke, Richard Loo, Barbara Stanwyck, Randolph Scott and Robert Young.
MARK-PAUL GOSSELAAR - Actor (whose mother is Indonesian and father who is Dutch) is best known for playing "Zack Morris" on the TV series Saved By the Bell - along with Hyperion Bay, D.C. and N.Y.P.D. Blue. He's appeared in telefilms such as NBC's Princess and the Marine, Dying to Belong, Born in Exile, Necessary Parties, For the Love of Nancy, Wedding in Las Vegas, and She Cried No. His featured film credits include Dead Man on Campus and the independent film Sticks and Stones, Three Blind Mice, Specimen, Under a Killing Moon, and White Wolves.
SESSUE HAYAKAWA - Pioneer actor who achieved great success (along with his wife - Tsuru Aoki) during the movie industry's "Golden Age." Click HERE to read more about this actor.
KEITH COOKE HIRABASHI - World Champion Martial Artist and Actor (whose mother is Japanese and father is of Scottish descent) has been seen in National Security (2002), Lost Time (2001), Mortal Kombat (1995), Mortal Kombat 2 (1997), Beverly Hills Ninja (1997), and King of the Kickboxers (1991). Today he teaches at Los Angeles' Champions Martial Arts.
JAMES HONG - Actor who has been in countless films for many years.
SAMMO HUNG - Well-known martial arts actor was the star in the CBS show "Martial Law."
TONY JAA - He was born to elephant trainers in the northeast province of Surin. His second film is titled "The Protector." Thailand's Tony Jaa (Phanom Yeerum) uses his daredevil energy, Muay Thai (ancient Siamese boxing discipline) and grace to obliterate action-movie clichés in the pummeling, exhilarating Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior while continuing the tradition of Bruce Lee, Jet Li and Jackie Chan. He's a throwback to kung-fu film's early days, when stars and stunt men alike took a licking and kept on kicking.
DUANE "THE ROCK" JOHNSON - Pro Wrestler and action hero sets his target on drama who has appeared in films such as Gridiron Gang.
AAMIR KHAN - Prominent India-based actor for almost 20 years
DANIEL DAE KIM - Fast-rising Korean American actor appearing on ABC's "Lost" in 2005. Read his interview by clicking HERE
BEN KINGSLEY - This acclaim actor (whose father is Indian and mother is British) starred in the role of Mahatma Gandhi, gangster Meyer Lansky in Bugsy, Holocaust survivor Itzhak Stern in Schindler's List, Feste in Twelfth Night - among numerous other parts.
BURT KWOUK - funny version of Bruce Lee known by his character "Cato Fong" in the Pink Panther movies
BRUCE LEE - A legend that didn't have a chance to bloom!
WILL YUN LEE - seen in What's Cooking, Witchblad and Die Another Day.

Telly Leung Performing at FDS Tribute

TELLY LEUNG - This Chinese American founding member (who was named after Telly Savalas) of Jaradoa Theater is a dedicated, discipline and talented actor who has been in productions such as Rent, M. Butterfly, Miss Saigon, Sweeney Todd, Wicked, Pacific Overture and Flower Drum Song - among other credits. This Carnegie Mellon University graduate understands the need to be trained and to constantly hone one's craft by consistently studying to be a successful "Gypsy." Telly was asked "What advice would you have for someone seeking a career in your field?" His reply was "Never stop training and working at your craft…" This actor separates himself from many of the other Asian American actors who understands the responsibility of being trained, constantly training and working with the media while surviving the unfortunate unprofessionalism of others (as what happened during a recent touring Broadway production).

TONY LEUNG (aka Asia's Clark Gable) - Leung (His full name is Tony Leung Chiu Wai, and he's not to be confused with Tony Leung Ka Fai, the actor who appeared in the 1992 film of Marguerite Duras' novel "The Lover.") has been starring in Hong Kong movies for close to 15 years and a muse for Mr. Wong, appearing in all but two of the brilliantly off-beat director's eight features that has resulted in him being one of the biggest stars in Asia.
JET LI - Fast-rising Chinese martial arts star
JOHN LONE - best known Emperor Henry Pu Yi in the Last Emperor.
LARRY LONG (AKA LARRY LEUNG) - He was the youngest of six sons born to a Chinese Australian mother who just happened to be in Hong Kong for his birth. This became a lucky factor when he wanted to immigrate to America, as the quota for Chinese admitted into the United States was greater from Hong Kong than from Australia. In pre-war Australian vaudeville, Larry starred as a tap-soloist with the Tivoli Circuit and Great North China Troupe. After serving in the Australian Navy in WWII, he got himself to America where he headlined at the Forbidden City Night Club in San Francisco and The China Doll in NYC. In the 1950s, he put together an act with his wife - Larry and Trudie Leung, in which they performed at The Palace in NYC, in night clubs across the U.S., USO shows and on the Ed Sullivan TV Variety Show. Larry was in the original Broadway production of Flower Drum Song, Later touring in it as the male lead and director. In the 1960s, he took out his own revue - East Goes West. In the 1970s, he left show business to become a PGA golf professional. He was the golf pro at Old Tappan Golf Course in New Jersey and served as President of the New Jersey PGA Seniors. He is survived by his second wife Minnie-Faye, children Jodi & Larry Jr and his ex-wife Trudie.
KEYE LUKE - Pioneer seen in 100+ films and 30+ t.v. shows in the 1930's.
LEONARDO NAM - Upcoming actor featured in the LA Times

REVIEW - Lou Diamond Phillips brought a younger and more exciting aura to his portrayal of "King Arthur" in the national tour of the Glenn Casale-directed Lerner and Loewe's Camelot. His skills as an actor made audiences to often overlook the quality of his "talk-sing" quality of his vocals, especially during his solos.

Since Mr. Phillips had just recently joined the cast (replacement for Michael York), it is hoped that Glenn Casale will fine-tune scenes where his "talk-sing" doesn't seamlessly meshed and successful - especially when he is singing with his other cast members who have greater vocal skills. As actors such as Richard Harris (in his portrayal of "King Arthur") and others such as Rex Harrison (in "King & I") - along with Mr. Phillips' success in "The King & I" - the ability to "talk-sing" can be effective. His strongest scenes were on display when his undeniable charisma and ability to connect with the other actors were utilized. It is this reviewer's hope that with additional performances, he will have a better grasp of how to balance the desire to bring a younger and more exciting "King Arthur" while balancing it with the necessary presence of authority, leadership and strength for audiences to believe their "King Arthur" - a strong, confident and compassionate leader. Does Lou Diamond Phillips have this ability. The question is unanswered at the present time. Does he have the ability to do it in the future - yes.

MASI OKA - For actor Masi Oka, Hiro (in NBC's "Heroes) is his biggest role yet - by 2007. He's appeared in movies ("Along Came Polly") and on TV (most notably as the doormat lab tech, Franklyn, in six episodes of "Scrubs"), but never quite to the acclaim he's getting in "Heroes." The 31-year-old Oka is a fan of science fiction and fantasy ("amazing" is how he describes the new season of "Battlestar Galactica"), but he's also had experience working behind the scenes on special effects-filled blockbusters, including the most recent "Star Wars" trilogy and the first two "Pirates of Caribbean" movies. After studying computer science and math at Brown University, Oka graduated and went to work for George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic. He was raised by a single mother, and she felt the Japanese education system, albeit wonderful, keeps you in a certain range. You have to be better than this level but below this level. She saw I was quote-unquote "gifted and talented" in science in particular, and she wanted to come to America, where she felt that would be nurtured, rather than stay in Japan where they'd be satisfied if I was above the mean.

JOONG-HOON PARK - South Korean actor seen in Jonathan Demme's "The Truth About Charlie
LOU DIAMOND PHILLIPS - This actor (whose mother is of Filipino/Hawaiian/Chinese/Spanish descent, while his father is Scottish/White/Cherokee) gained fame with his portrayal of '50s rocker Ritchie Valens in La Bamba . He has also appeared in Stand and Deliver (1988) and received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his performance. In 1988 and 1990, he co-starred with Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland in Young Guns and Young Guns II. In Courage Under Fire, Phillips received a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Supporting Actor and a Lone Star Film and Television Award. He has also appeared on Broadway in an award-winning star turn in "The King and I" (1996) while receiving receiving a Tony Award nomination, New York Outer Critics Circle Award and a Theatre World Award for his performance.
KEANU REEVES - he can be seen in films such as Speed, Matrix, Devil's Advocate and others.
NASEERUDDIN SHAH - New Indian Cinema Icon who was part of Sean Connery's "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
MARTIN SHEEN - Part Filipino a Hollywood celebrity known as Martin Sheen, launched his career as the lead in the Broadway play "The Subject Was Roses" and went on to receive a Golden Globe nomination for his leading role in the film adaptation among his many other roles.
JAMES SHIGETA - Acclaim actor seen in many prominent films such as Bridge to the Sun, Crimson Kimona, Flower Drum Song, Die Hard and Lost Horizon.
EDDIE SHIN - part of "The 80's Show" regular cast
ROBIN SHOU - stuntman and star of the "Mortal Kombat" movies - along with producing the documentary on Hong Kong stuntmen in the film "Red Trousers."

- He was the first Asian American actor who refused to play stereotypical, derogatory roles.

- He also spoke English with no accent. Opened doors for lots of other Asian actors.

- He married an Eastern European model and has three kids, and a granddaughter who lives in San Francisco.

- He was an awesome singer. One of his co-stars of Valentine's Day equated his skillz to Frank Sinatra. In fact, he was recording some super famous songs but ultimately they gave the gigs to people like Stevie Wonder, possibly because that was more marketable.

- He died at the height of his career of cancer.

JACK SOO - (aka Goro Suzuki / October 28, 1916 to January 11, 1979) wass a pioneering American Oakland native entertainer who became the first Asian American to be cast in the lead role in a regular television series Valentine’s Day (1963), and later starred in the popular comedy show Barney Miller (1975-1978. He started as a nightclub singer and comedian, appeared in television shows such as The Jack Benny show, was an announces/stand-up comedian, to his breakthrough role as Sammy Fong singing and dancing in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Broadway play and film version of The Flower Drum Song. This former former internee was forced to change his name in the post WWII era, in order to perform in clubs in the mid-west. Because of his experiences, throughout his career in films and television, Soo refused to play roles that were demeaning to Asian Americans and often spoke out against negative ethnic portrayals. He is symbolic of an earlier Hollywood where stars succeeded in a multitude of artistic mediums, reminiscent of vaudevillian times. Soo injected his life experience into what he called “verbal ethnicity”: taking a perception about a person, in Soo’s case, his Japanese-American ancestry, and standing it on its head. Soo never shied away from his ethnicity and instead used it as fuel for his comedy. One of his most famous scenes in Barney Miller illustrates this technique. As Soo described it: “a fella says to me, ‘You shouldn’t squint so.’ I say, “I’m not squinting.’ And, not moving a muscle, then I add, ‘This is a squint!’ In an interview with TV Guide in 1977, Soo said that he refused roles of houseboys and gardeners because he didn’t want to portray Asians only in that way. As Soo explained, “I’m not putting down domestics. If it hadn’t been for our first-generation Japanese Americans, who were houseboys and gardeners, there could never have been the second-generation doctors, architects --- and actors. I just didn’t want to play domestics on a stage.”

GEORGE TAKEI - Star Trek's Mr. Sulu fights for equal rights for Asian Americans.
KEN WATANABE - he is the son of calligraphy and general-education teachers, began his career on the stage, joining a theater troupe after realizing he wasn't going to cut it as a trumpet player ("I had no talent!"). He quickly transitioned into television roles with the 1982 dramas "Michinaru Hanran" ("Unknown Rebellion") and "Mibu no koiuta," his first samurai series, and became a legitimate star following his role in the 1987 Japanese 50-episode serial drama "Dokuganryu Masamune" ("One-Eyed Dragon Masamune"). It was during the production of (what else?) the samurai epic "Ten to Chi to" ("Heaven and Earth") in 1989, however, that Watanabe was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, and he took time off for treatment. The cancer returned in 1994, but is now in remission. He won the official imprimatur of People magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People" arbiters after he grabbed Hollywood's attention with his Oscar-nominated performance in 2003's "The Last Samurai." Watanabe followed that two years later with the role of the Chairman in "Memoirs of a Geisha," prompting one besotted critic to call him "a majestic hunk." Watanabe married actress Kaho Minami a year ago, and now his brood has expanded to include Minami's 7-year-old son in addition to his daughter, An Watanabe, a 19-year-old model, and actor son Shin Shinitiro, 22.
GEDDE WATANABE - Ogden native is a character actor who has been in 16 Candles, ER (reoccurring role), Mulan 2, Alfie, Mulan, Pacific Overture, Gung Ho and For the Money
B.D. (BRADLEY DARYL) WONG - Talented actor whose credits include Social Grace(directorial debut), Law & Order, Pacific Overtures and others
RUSSELL WONG - This handsome and talented actor is looking for more success.
SIMON YAM - Actor of 170 films last seen in the last Laura Croft movie.
TERENCE YIN - Actor/Singer of 19 films and 2 TV dramas including the last Laura Croft movie.
CHOU YUN-FAT - Best known internationally for his leading roles in John Woo's The Killer and Hard-Boiled, Chow's first American movie is The Replacement Killers.