AXA: Almost Famous Asians

Saturday, April 19, 2008

More thoughts on the AXA awards down at Asia Pacific Arts from last week:

What exactly is Asian Excellence? According to the Asian Excellence Awards Committee, Asian Excellence = Asian face + mainstream notoriety. Good acting, non-stereotypical roles, and representing Asian American experiences are all not required to get nominated and walk the red carpet. Those who win the awards, to AXA's credit, tend to have done more than just be a recognizable Asian face in American pop culture. For example, last year, Kal Penn's crisis-of-desiness performance in The Namesake beat out Jet Li's predictable action role in Fearless.
Read the full article here - originally written for AZN Television's Outspoken blog on the topic of "Asian American Awards Shows".