Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Karan Brar, Sway Bhatia, and Leela Ladnier share first time they felt represented on screen

Young AAPI Disney stars such as Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Karan Brar, Sway Bhatia, and Leela Ladnier might be poised to take over Hollywood soon, but they still distinctly remember the first time they felt represented on screen.

To celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, Disney+ partnered with EW and Gold House for a panel with the stars, co-hosted by Bing Chen, president and co-founder of non-profit organization Gold House, and moderated by EW's Lacey Vorrasi-Banis, to discuss the important month, AAPI representation in Hollywood, and more.

"I don't really remember having distinct Asian heroes in my life or seeing people on screen that I really related to on that level," says Lee, who is starring in the upcoming Disney+ reboot of Doogie Howser, Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. For her, Crazy Rich Asians changed that. "I wanted to be Gemma Chan," she says.

Brar agreed that he also didn't feel represented on screen growing up, but the first time he remembers feeling that way was watching Dev Patel in Slumdog Millionaire. "It was in the media and he was in the media everywhere. I think that was the first time I connected the dots of, 'Oh, someone that looks like me can be in those predominantly white spaces,'" the Mira, Royal Detective star said.

For The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers star Sway Bhatia, though, it was different because she grew up with Bollywood. "I had a whole world of people that I was able to look up to. It may not have been in this country that I'm currently in, but just having something like Bollywood that I can look up to... it's full of people who look like me," she said, citing Priyanka Chopra as one such example.

Ladnier, who cited Brar as one of the AAPI actors she was inspired by, said part of the reason she's so happy to be an AAPI star in Hollywood now is because she didn't have a lot of examples in her youth. "Unfortunately, I can relate to not having too many characters that I can relate to as a young girl that weren't stereotypical or feeding offensive content," she said. "But getting to be in a show with [Brar] now [on Mira, Royal Detective], I think it's come so full circle for me. Just watching the first Indian kid on Disney and now there's this whole show celebrating our culture," she said.

Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Lars Niki/Getty Images; Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images; Frazer Harrison/Getty images Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Karan Brar, Sway Bhatia, and Leela Ladnier

For these four young stars, those pop culture moments were inspiring, and it's not lost on them that they are now playing an important part in empowering others through AAPI representation.

"I've experienced firsthand the empowerment and inspiration that is felt when you see people that look like you doing the things that you want to do," Lee said.

She continued, "It's so exciting to see all of you, who are doing just that. You're connecting with these young people around the world and showing them through the screen that they can be and do whatever they want, not despite, but because of who they are and what they look like and the life that they've led."

For more with Lee, Ladnier, Brar, and Bhatia watch the full panel above.

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