Notable Asians Hall of Fame

Jackie Chan is a good role Asian model. He promotes exercise & being healthy for children. My son has a poster of him that promotes not smoking. He's cartoons always have a good message, and he helps ppl in need when he can. I think he is a great Asian person & should be in the Asian Hall of Fame!

Councilman John Liu, first and currently only Asian Pacific American elected to the New York City Council, represents Asians in the borough of Queens and sits on many committees such as Education, Transportation, Consumer Affairs. 

Thanks, ladies!  those are great additions to the Famous Asians Hall of Fame!

OK, I'm thinking back (going in the "wayback machine" now)...when I was growing up, we didn't have many role models.  There was...um...OK, I got it.
Connie Chung, George Takei, and Pat Morita.  And the Senator from Hawaii...Inouye? 

There's more now, at least a few more faces on TV and in the news. 

Oh, and as far as Asians in politics (where there are very few), what about Gary Locke?  Was the first Chinese-American Governor in the country!  (i didn't know about John Liu, by the way.  Thanks for adding him to the list)!

And who remembers Joyce Chen doing her cooking shows? 

OK, who else?  Let's keep adding to the list! 

--Christina

Hmm.. you know, you mentioned a cooking show, made me remember... "If Yan can cook, so can YOU!" LOL.

I absolutely love Jackie Chan! I think he is a great comedic actor, great stunt-work, and also he seems a very caring person altogether. I like all his movies, old and new.

Yes, Christina, Pat Morita! I also enjoy Ken Watanabe, Chow Yun-Fat and Shu Qi as far as actors.

I am a big reader, and the authors I would include are Anchee Min (I named my cat after her book "Wild Ginger") & Amy Tan.

Oh, and I am in love with Hayao Miyazaki, creator and director of the wonderful cartoon movies such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Spirited Away."

~ Aileen

I have to add one to the Hall of Fame that I only realized was part-Asian last night.
The NBC and Today Show host and reporter, Anne Curry.  She did a segment about caring for her father, and showed a video clip of him with her mother, who was obviously Asian.  So I had to look her up on Wikipedia, and indeed, her Dad was in the Service in WWII, and met her Japanese mother then.

It seems much has been made of Connie Chung being (one of) the first TV news personalities that was Asian, but Anne Curry hasn't been cited as a famous Asian, though I really think she deserves to be on the list!

So I'm adding Anne Curry of NBC News onto the Famous Asians Hall of Fame.

There's more...
Jeff Fatt of the Wiggles. 
Cheryl Burke the professional ballroom dancer of Dancing with the Stars Fame. 

Feel free to add more!    :-)

--Christina

I absolutely LOVE Li Gong as an actress. I also like Ziyi Zhang. As for music, I'm pretty in to the Japanese rock music and LOVE Gackt, Hyde, and the band L'arc~En~Ciel.

[Edit:]  I totally left out the wonderful singer Utada Hikaru who did songs for the game Kingdom Hearts.

i have a not so secret crush on chef Ming Tsai that my boyfriend teases me about.

My nominees and reasons are as follows:

1. Margaret Cho: This woman is one of the funniest women in the biz, and she was also the first asian woman to have her own television show on national TV.
2. Amy Tan: She wrote the book that got Asian women and mothers everywhere to sit down and cry over a bowl of rice, saying "I can soooooooo relate!"
3. Daniel Inouye: The first Asian American Senator.
4. Patsy Mink: The first Asian American Congresswoman
5. Dustin Ngyuen: The only other actor besides George Takei to star in a syndicated television show for more than 3 years.

Hey, Hiddenpoet--I love Ming Tsai too!  :-)

Quoting MamaNaeole:

My nominees and reasons are as follows:

1. Margaret Cho: This woman is one of the funniest women in the biz, and she was also the first asian woman to have her own television show on national TV.
2. Amy Tan: She wrote the book that got Asian women and mothers everywhere to sit down and cry over a bowl of rice, saying "I can soooooooo relate!"
3. Daniel Inouye: The first Asian American Senator.
4. Patsy Mink: The first Asian American Congresswoman
5. Dustin Ngyuen: The only other actor besides George Takei to star in a syndicated television show for more than 3 years.

MamaNaeole--great list!  I had totally forgotten about Dustin Nguyen.  I had to "google" him to remind myself of what show he was on.  You're talking about 21 Jump Street, right? 

Of course, there are a couple Asian actors on the series Lost (I haven't watched it so I don't know their names), and there's Ming Na who has been on ER and  the short-lived Fox series Vanished.  And Lucy Liu was on Ally McBeal. 

I also did not know about Patsy Mink--I "googled" her too, and found out that not only was she the first Asian American woman in Congress, but that she was actually the first non-white woman to serve in Congress! 

Some other celebrities I came up with include:

Haarlem Lee (Singer/Dancer who won the Reality Competition Fame)
Dat Phan (First winner of Last Comic Standing)

Parminder Nagra (plays Dr. Neela Rascotra on ER)

Cheryl Burke, professional ballroom dancer and 2-time champion of Dancing with the Stars.

Oh, and Yao Ming, the professional basketball player. 

I also wanted to add a few names that perhaps aren't as well-known, but their contributions are awe-inspiring:

First, a tribute to two Asian astronauts lost in the two Space Shuttle tragedies:
1986 Challenger: Ellison Onizuka
2003 Columbia: Dr. Kalpana Chawla

Some other Asian Astronauts (who have seen space flight) are:

Dr. Franklin Chang-Diaz (Hispanic/Chinese/American)
Dr. Leroy Chiao
Dr. Ed Lu
Dr. Taylor Wang
Dr. Eugene Trinh
Daniel Tani
and Dr. Chiaki Mukai (the first Japanese Woman to fly in space)

Let's hear it for these Great Asians and their contributions!

--Christina
Group Owner, Asian and Pacific Island Families Forum
Group Owner, SCUBA and Snorkeling Moms