Asian Stars Big in USA?
 

Seeing how hikki and BoA are having english release in the states...really got me wonderin if any asian stars have actually made it big in the West???

Jackie Chan and Jet Li :B

and Rain fangirls say he is the most famous asian in the entire world too...

Zhang Ziyi
Chow Yun-Fat
Ang Lee
Michelle Yeoh
Yo Yo Ma- He was born in France but he is Asian.

^ah Yo Yo Ma...I swear they use his music for like every Asian inspired movie.

I don't really know how to define it the term "Make it big" so I'm just going to list people I think the common person would recognize lol

Ken Watanabe, Zhang Ziyi, definitely, she's quite big in the fashion world too. She's been featured as a model in Vogue, and she was at the Met Superhero thing last year...

the cast of Memoirs of a Geisha :laugh a lot of those actresses have been in multiple movies...though people probably don't know them by name...except maybe Michelle Yeoh

and...

hmmm....lol

that guy from harold and kumar? I forgot both their names actually lol

as far as music goes...I have no idea...Bjork? does she count?


It really depends on where you go doesn't it...If you live where there's a large Asian population...there's a greater chance you'll know of more people...

N*E*R*D?

Tila Tequila?

Sandra Oh?
Bruce Lee

^yep
--
lol @ bjork...
she's not asian, although she appears to be...
growing up, she was teased for having the appearance of being asian
however, she is Icelandic.

let's see, there's:
----
Ming Na
Lucy Liu
Tsai Chin
James Hong
Bai Ling
Brenda Song

^ oh you added Brenda before me...AND HOW COULD I FORGET BAI LING? She is amazing :laugh

Adding to the list uh..

Yoko Ono
Brenda Song?
PUFFY? (their cartoon is pretty popular I think?)
Steve Aoki and his sister Devon are quite well known also.

Tila Tequila !!!! Hahaha

Tila Tequila's probably the biggest right now. XD

not too sure, but i think tata young and anggun are pretty famous

and also jolin, she made a concert there, wasnt she?

I wish Zhou Xun would make it big in the West... she >>> Zhang Ziyi. >(

Did the movie 'The Banquet' ever air in the US?

Zhang Ziyi...

But I haven't heard from her in some time now, is she still making movies?

oh is she? I heard somewhere that she was half asian or something.
Can you put up pictures....cause....the only person from your list I recognize is Lucy Liu :laugh

^ sure thing, kiddo...
I just add lucy liu's photo just in case some people may not know how she looks...

here we go!:
btw, I forgot to add another special asian star....VERA WANG!

oh yeah! VERA WANG omg. :thud can't believe I forgot her.

and yeah...omg how did you remember all their names?

maybe it's just me, I'm bad with names, but I know all their faces...

except for Bai Ling...except her name is actually familiar :laugh google.

edit: omg that chick is SKINNY.

Are you just making wild guesses? None of those people are "big" in the United States. I don't even know who the hell "anggun" is. Some of the names I'm seeing in this thread are not, by any means, examples of Asians that are "big" here. I would say these ones are:

-Lucy Liu
-Jackie Chan
-Jet Li
-Chow Yun Fat
-Julie Chen
-Vera Wang (her gowns and perfume are definitely popular)
-Sandra Oh
-Brenda Song (sorta)
-Zhang Ziyi (kinda, if people can actually remember her name)
-Tila Tequila (lolz)
-Yoko Ono (known, but usually hated)
-Ang Lee (Brokeback was huge, so I'm sure plenty of people know his name)

^I've only heard of like 3 of those people. What crowd is "Chow Yun Fat" popular with? LOL.

^Srsly. I've only seen him unknowingly in Crouch Tiger Hidden Dragon aka the Bible of Martial Arts movies and I didn't think his acting was that good. =/ Now that he's in the DB movie, he's getting recognition from DB fans who are saying they aren't going to see the movie but know they are going to go see it because their inner weebooness can't resist it. :rolleyes

hm a lot of people know of Chow Yun Fat ..
and i've maybe heard of 10 or 15 of these people.

not many people know of Jolin, a few ... but mostly only the asians.


Sandra Oh is definitely famous though! *love her*

Brenda Song, she's the youngest and my favorite.

Big Asian stars? Bruce Lee count? (He's dead, but he was/is pretty famous) Kristin Kreuk is half-Korean, but I don't think she's "big". Fergie is half-Filipino, but they're not usually considered as Asian.

What? But we definitely consider ourselves Asians over here :P Ah well, the British call Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Bangladeshi, etc. Asian, so I guess it depends on where you're coming from.

Monique Lhuillier. It seems like everyone's wearing her these days.
Amy Tan. She was pretty popular back in the day.

Who is Julie Chen? I've heard of everyone, but not her.

Fergie is not half-Filipino. She's 1/4 Mexican.

Also, Filipinos are usually considered Asian. The only ones I've ever met who don't consider themselves Asian are SoCal 3rd generation Filipinos who don't know what they're talking about when they call themselves Pacific Islander.

A lot of people don't really consider Filipinos Asian because of the history of people who have been there, most importantly the Spanish. They are still Asian I believe though. I think they are kind of mixed aren't they?

Pacific Islander :laugh

Chow Yun Fat is big in the US...in his way I guess. He's been in a bunch of movies and has made a ton of cash lol He's known amongst the actors and producers and stuff. So I guess he's big.

Amy Tan is huge! She's like, the Asian literary Queen here.


No one knows Jolin Tsai...that chick doesnt even compare to the others.

And Sandra Oh got lucky with Grey's Anatomy and Sideways lol

Did anyone mention Bobby Lee? Does he count since...I think he was born here whatever?

I think someone said Margaret Cho? She's more popular with like people over 30 and lesbian groups. Not a lot of younger people know her, at least here in the Bay Area.

According to the Philippine government, >5% of the population of the Philippines has European blood.

Actually, I've never heard of a Filipino person consider themself "Asian". All the Filipinos (from ones I've met and from what I've read) in Hawai'i don't consider themselves as Asians as well. They get offended when someone classifies them as such. I heard somewhere that Fergie was part-Filipino, so excuse me if I'm wrong.

she is, she's not korean at all lol.

As a fellow 808 resident, I have heard from a lot of Filipinos that they aren't Asian. But they have always been young Fililipino-Americans, never the older generation. Ask someone who's actually from the Philippines; they would probably be offended to be classified as anything other than Asian.

For some reason the younger generation doesn't want to be associated with East Asians, and think that being P.I. is cooler. However, these people don't understand their own ethnic heritage.

Also no, Fergie is 1/4 Mexican. Definitely not Filipino. The other guy in BEP is Filipino, though.

actually my question is

Any big asian stars that are also big in the West??

i.e. not stars like Lucy Liu and Sandra Oh...since they primarily only work in the West

I think this is a crazy for me saying it.

But Hyde from L`Arc~en~Ciel.

If I can recall his solo concert in usa sold out in in mins

you forgot the one who did Lady Deathstrike in X-Men... I love that chick (even if I still don't remember her name :s)

I honestly think either Utada or Ayumi are the two biggest Asian foreign acts in the States. Most people who know anything about Japanese culture know these two.

UGH I can't beleive I forgot Sandra Oh. Others on TV, Kal Penn(Kutner in House),John Cho(Harold and Kumar) and Alec Mapa(Ugly Betty, host of fashion, gossip show)

Also for clarification. The official definition according to the US Census 2000 is
An Asian is a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. It includes 'Asian Indian', 'Chinese', 'Filipino', 'Korean', 'Japanese', 'Vietnamese', and 'Other Asian'

Also Hawaiians are not considered Asians.
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. It includes people who indicate their race as 'Native Hawaiian', 'Guamanian or Chamorro', 'Samoan', and 'Other Pacific Islander'

We are talking about Asians in the US so that might come in handy. Just to provide a benchmark to what is considered Asian in the US.

^That's pretty much what "Asian" is considered everywhere.

I've never met a Filipino American who doesn't consider themselves as azn. That's just ludicrous.

Umm, dur. Hawaiians are definitely not Asian. Lmao. I am Hawaiian (well part) and that is so not Asian.

The chick from X-Men 2 is Kelly Hu. I love her too! I always wanted to look like her, she's so pretty! :luv2 I don't think she's that well known, probably the most during the Scorpion King time.

Does Tiger Woods count? He's definitely part. Haha.

So? Actual statistics have nothing to do with beliefs that are commonplace with the general populace.


There aren't really any stars mimika...

my best guess would be Zhang Ziyi.

Or what kang said. Although I think Hikki is bigger because of all her KH stuff, and all her connections with artists and producers and stuff here.

Nobody's mentioned Michelle Yeoh? :cry (or they have and I missed it) She's my fave Asian hottie!

Well, maybe she's not HUGE, but she's definitely been in a lot of American movies as well, one of the latest being the last Mummy movie. People may also recognize her from Memoirs of a Geisha, Supercop, and, oh, BOND. <3 Her and Zhang Ziyi are probably the two biggest female Asian martial artists (although Michelle would technically be bigger I guess, but Zhang is younger) in the west.

Huh? Government studies have proven that only a small portion of the population has European blood. That's my point. I'm not talking about beliefs or whatever you're saying. I know a lot of Filipinos who are like ~omg im spanish~ just to appear cooler or something, but truth be told there are very few actual mestizos.

^can I just ask...why did you feel the need to come here with a different name?

what difference does it make?


but okay, I understand what you're saying.

bobby lee!! haha. its way easier for asian actors/actresses 2 make it big in the US than for azn singers.

of course... because there's no enunciation problems

most of them are actors or models though

one of my friend has some family relationship with michelle yeoh, but since its too far, she hasnt met her before.

Bjork's not Asian, genius. She's icelandic.

^yes that was pointed out, to which I replied "I heard from somewhere she was half asian"

I don't listen to Bjork. I don't see her music videos, I don't know anything about her. Sorry for bringing her up.

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