We can safely say 2024 was another important year for Asian representation. With historic award show wins (namely, Beef and Shōgun dominating awards season) to Asian excellence at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and Manny Jacinto being the moment, there were plenty of Asian representation wins this year.
So let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of the top Asian representation moments in 2024.
A year of history-making wins
This year, Asians made history through a number of amazing wins. In TV, Beef and Shōgun both led in wins and nominations at various award shows. Beef stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun winning Emmys at the 2024 awards ceremony for their performances—and Wong being the first Asian woman to win an Emmy for a leading role.
Wong and Yeun also won Golden Globes for their Beef performances—Wong was again, the first Asian actress to win in the category.
Shōgun cinched a history-making 18 Emmys, the most won by any show in a single season, and became the first non-English-language show to win best drama and stars Hiroyuki Sanada and Anna Sawai were the first Japanese actors ever to win Emmys.
In music, Karan Aujla became the first Punjabi artist to win at the Junos and singer Sofronio Vasquez became the first Filipino to win The Voice.
Taiwanese American drag queen Nymphia Wind was crowned the winner of season 16 of Rupaul’s Drag Race, becoming the first East Asian contestant to win the franchise.
Indian director Payal Kapadia’s film All We Imagine As Light won the Grand Prix, one of the Cannes Film Festival’s most prestigious prizes, making her the first Indian to win this honour. Kapadia is also the first Indian woman to be nominated for Best Director at the Golden Globes.
While these historic wins are cause for celebration, they’re also a reminder of how little representation there was in the past and how much further we have to go: it’s mindblowing that it took until 2024 for these wins to happen.
D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai uses the Emmys to spark important conversations
Best known for playing Bear Smallhill on FX’s Reservation Dogs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai made history as the first Indigenous actor nominated in the Emmys leading role category. At the awards ceremony this year, Woon-A-Tai took the opportunity and exposure to draw attention to an important issue in his community: he took to the red carpet sporting a red handprint over his mouth. According to Native Hope, the red handprint is a symbol of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) movement and represents “all the missing sisters whose voices are not heard” and the “silence of the media and law enforcement in the midst of this crisis.”
“This epidemic has been ignored for far too long and has devastated the lives of countless Indigenous people,” he tells Vogue. “I’ve been waiting for the right moment to make this statement, and when I received the Emmy nomination, I felt an obligation to use the opportunity to spark these conversations.”
So many food controversies
We Asian people take food seriously—so it’s not a surprise when 2024 was filled with food-related controversies. Earlier in the year, chef David Chang caught heat for trying to trademark “chili crunch.” Chang’s company, Momofuku, sells a product called chilli crunch, a chilli oil with crispy bits in it. This year, Momofuku sent out a number of cease-and-desist letters to other Asian-owned businesses that used “chili crunch” in their branding, claiming trademark infringement.
Chili crisp and chili oil condiments have been popular for ages—this is like trying to claim ownership over something as common as ketchup. Many in the Asian community and food community have called Chang out for acting like he invented chili oil and targeting fellow Asian entrepreneurs. The whole Chang chili fiasco brought up something surrounding Asian representation generally: having meaningful Asian representation is useless if we push others out of the way. (P.S. see our roundup of Asian-owned chili crunches here.)
Later in the year, Simu Liu was a dragon (investor) on Dragon’s Den, the Canadian version of Shark Tank. One of the businesses, a Quebecois company called Bobba, pitched a “healthier” bottled version of bubble tea. Liu called the two business owners out for cultural appropriation and the whole thing became a trending topic online. This controversy brought up great points about cultural appropriation versus appreciation and biases surrounding cultural products, especially as South Asian Dragon Manjit Minhas chose to back Bobba and received a lot of online hate for it.
Brat summer
When Indian British artist Charli XCX dropped her sixth studio album Brat in the June of this year, it became a bonefide cultural moment. Suddenly, Brat green was everywhere, and brands and celebrities were hopping on the train by creating their own versions of the Brat cover. Brat entered the political arena when Charli XCX tweeted “kamala IS brat,” leading presidential nominee Kamala Harris to rebrand her campaign’s socials with Brat-themed banners. It’s been a long time coming for Charli XCX, who’s been in the music industry for nearly a decade. Despite having certified hits, Brat is Charli’s true break out moment—and we love to see it.
Dev Patel’s Monkeyman swung the star to new heights
Actor Dev Patel made his directorial debut this year with Monkeyman, an action/thriller flick that’s been in the works for years. Set in India, Monkeyman follows a young boxer who uncovers a way to infiltrate the city’s elite. Aside from being a gloriously fun film with a lot to say, Monkeyman was a big moment for Patel who used the press tour surrounding the film to talk about South Asian representation and how Patel’s notoriously difficult road to making this project is just one example of how hard it is for artists of colour to create works for and about them.
Asian excellence at the 2024 Paris Olympics
Asian excellence was on full display at the 2024 Paris Olympics with some old and new faves stealing the spotlight with their historic moments and wins. Iconic moments include Korean Canadian Phil Wizard winning the first-ever gold medal in breakdancing, Manu Bhaker becoming the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal in shooting, Korean sharp shooter Kim Ye-ji going viral for her badass demeanour and Suni Lee winning Olympic gold with Team US in the Women’s Artist Team All-Around.
Additionally, Team Palestine’s entrance in the opening ceremonies was an especially powerful moment, with its eight Olympians (Palestinians from across the globe) competing in honour of their ancestral roots.
Manny is the moment!
2024 was the year that the world finally woke up and appreciated Manny Jacinto in all his glory. The Filipino Canadian actor gained newfound fame for his role as Qimir in the Star Wars series The Acolyte, and let’s just say it made the Internet thirsty (and rightfully so!). News also broke that Jacinto was cast in the Freaky Friday sequel, Freakier Friday, as Lindsay Lohan’s husband. We can’t wait to see more of our man in 2025!!
Jenn Tran as the first Asian Bachelorette
After 21 seasons, The Bachelorette finally cast its first Asian lead: Jenn Tran. While we were incredibly excited for this (long overdue) moment, the entire season was, well, a mess. Not only was there minimal Asian representation in terms of suitors for Tran, but the show continued its pattern of doing a terrible job of vetting the contestants, leaving Tran with some slim pickings.
In the end, Tran picked Devin, who ended up breaking up with her via phone call shortly after. But hey, at least our girl seems happy lately, with rumoured suitor (and Dancing with the Stars partner), Sasha Farber.
Diwali Barbie
Barbie released its first-ever Diwali Barbie doll designed by renowned Indian designer, Anita Dongre. This marked the first time Barbie has collaborated with an Indian designer to honour a culturally significant festival such as Diwali. The doll was styled wearing a choli top, a floral Koti vest and a lehenga skirt embroidered with a mix of dahlias, jasmine and Indian lotus. She also donned a bindi, golden bangles and gold earrings.
Celebrities standing in solidarity with Palestine
A number of Asian celebrities used their platform to call for a ceasefire in the genocide in Palestine, using big moments in 2024 to draw attention to the cause. At the Oscars, Eugene Yang and Riz Ahmed arrived wearing “artists for ceasefire” buttons and protesters blocked the red carpet, delaying the ceremony.
At the Canadian Screen Awards, Asian Canadian creatives like Amrit Kaur and Vivek Shraya used their acceptance speeches to draw attention to the genocide in Gaza.
“To be an artist, it is my job to feel and to empathize,” Kaur said in her acceptance speech for Best Actress, Drama for her role in Queen of My Dreams. “And for those of you who are telling us artists not to speak up in fear of losing jobs, in fear of losing careers, in fear of losing reputation, you are telling us not to be artists. I want to say to you people that I am an artist and I refuse to sacrifice and live in the hatred of humanity. Ceasefire now. Free Palestine.”
A landmark year in K-Pop
K-pop has long been dominating the charts, but this year, a number of big stories broke through. Just some of the big moments include Blackpink’s Rosé dropping her debut album (and the chart-topping “APT.” with Bruno Mars), Lisa performing at the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Seventeen being the first K-Pop act to perform at Glastonbury and NewJeans making headlines as they fight for their autonomy in their ongoing legal battle. We’re looking forward to what else K-pop artists have in store for us in 2025!
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