Awkwafina, John M. Chu, Sandra Oh, And Hasan Minhaj Among Those Honored On Gold House’s A100 List Of Most Influential Asians
May marks the start of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and there is no better way to celebrate it than by giving shine to the most influential Asians and Asian American & Pacific Islanders and their accomplishments. The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) collective Gold House, the group that launched the #GoldOpen campaign, have unveiled its second annual A100 List, which champions trailblazing members of the AAPI community and the transformative contributions to entertainment, fashion, lifestyle, technology, business, social activism and politics from the past year.
Among the honorees on the film and TV side are Golden Globe-winning Killing Eve actress Sandra Oh, comedian and Patriot Act host Hasan Minhaj as well as Crazy Rich Asians‘ Awkwafina and Jon M. Chu. Emmy winning The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story actor Darren Criss also made the list along with master of tidying up and TV show host Marie Kondo and soon-to-be late night TV host Lilly Singh. Celebrity chef David Chang also made the cut along with K-Pop group BTS, CEO & Co-Founder, Baobab Studios Maureen Fan; Co-Head of TV and COO, Amazon Studios Albert Cheng; WME partner Theresa Kang-Lowe and U.S. Senator and presidential hopeful Kamala Harris.
Related stories
ABC Receives Top Score For Asian American Representation On TV, Fox Fails
This year marks Gold House’s inaugural “A1”, a vote among the A100 for the single most impactful Asian in culture from the last year. Votes can be submitted on the A100 website through May 15. The A1 honoree will be announced at the end of May.
Gold House is comprised of successfully-exited company founders, A-list creative voices, and C-suite leaders across media and entertainment, lifestyle, technology, and business. The Honorees were chosen through a rigorous selection process with a selection committee that consists of a mix of Gold house members, Asian nonprofit leaders and a selection of luminaries of different ethnicities and backgrounds. The committee includes Janet Yang (Producer, Joy Luck Club), Jerry Yang (Founder, Yahoo!) Steve Chen (Founder, YouTube), Center for Asian American Media (CAAM), Coalition for Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE), East West Players, Visual Communications, Olympian Michelle Kwan, Sarah Kate Ellis of GLAAD, Academy Award-Winning actor & producer Forest Whitaker, former chairman of Walt Disney Studios Rich Ross, founder of Summit Jeff Rosenthal and others.
The full A100 list can be read here. Featured highlights of the A100 List include:
Creative Voices & Athletes
Awkwafina (Actress, Comedian, Musician)
BTS (Musician)
Darren Criss (Actor, Musician)
Hasan Minhaj (TV Personality, Comedian, Journalist)
Lilly Singh (Actress, TV Personality)
Marie Kondo (Author, TV Personality)
Jon M. Chu (Director)
Naomi Osaka (Tennis Player)
Nathan Chen (Figure Skater)
Sandra Oh (Actress)
Samin Nosrat (Chef, Author, TV Personality)
Phillip Lim (Designer)
Prabal Gurung (Designer)
Founders & Entrepreneurs
Amanda Nguyen (CEO & Founder, Rise & Rise Justice Labs)
Chieh Huang (CEO & Founder, BOXED)
David Chang (Chef & TV Personality)
Jen Rubio (Co-Founder & Chief Brand Officer, Away)
Katrina Lake (CEO & Founder, Stitch Fix)
Kevin Lin (Co-Founder, Twitch)
Maureen Fan (CEO & Co-Founder, Baobab Studios)
Nathaniel Ru (Co-Founder, Sweetgreen)
Shiva Rajaraman (Chief Product Officer, WeWork)
Leaders
Albert Cheng (Co-Head of TV and COO, Amazon Studios)
Betty Liu (Executive Vice Chairman, New York Stock Exchange)
Dara Khosrowshahi (CEO, Uber)
Dhivya Suryadevara (CFO, General Motors)
Hamdi Ulukaya (CEO, Chobani)
Kamala Harris (U.S. Senator and 2020 Presidential Candidate)
Dr. Leana Wen (President, Planned Parenthood)
Mark Tatum (Deputy Commissioner & Chief Operating Officer, NBA)
Michelle Lee (Editor-in-Chief, Allure Magazine)
Raj Kapoor & Emily Nishi (Chief Strategy Officer and Chief People Officer, Lyft)
Satya Nadella (CEO, Microsoft)
Saikat Chakrabarti (Chief of Staff to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)
Sun Chow (Chief Product Officer, Lululemon)
Theresa Kang-Lowe (Partner, William Morris Endeavor)
AAPIs represent 7% of the total U.S. population and outpace the nation’s general population in income, educational attainment, and population growth, according to a Nielsen report in 2018. The AAPI community have also experienced rapid growth and buying power of any U.S. ethnicity and tend to out-consume the general population in both traditional and new media.
Follow the success of Asian-led films such as Crazy Rich Asians, Searching and Aquaman Gold House’s #GoldOpen announced a new partnership with AMC Theatres earlier this year to help continue their initiative of championing Asian films. The first-of-its-kind partnership with AMC is designed to streamline group movie-going, theatre buyouts and bulk regular-price ticket purchasing through a ticket buying system that includes a dedicated ticketing web page, purchasing support, and special events throughout the year.
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
