compiling a list of characters of chinese descent

[bantha_fodder]

HEY SO.

I need a list of characters who are Chinese/of Chinese descent in English language texts. So far I have:

Jubilation Lee
Cho Chang
Huang (from SVU)
Isabella (from the recent Miami Vice movie)
Whoever Michelle Yeoh played in Tomorrow Never Dies


...


I would appreciate any and all assistance with this.

Comments

[baggers.livejournal.com]

Harry Kim from ST:Voyager. Actually, he might be Korean. And...

Pen, I honestly have no clue if half the people I keep thinking of are Chinese or not. *fails*

That said, Sandra Oh has specifically said she thinks it's perfectly acceptable for her to play someone of any Asian ethnicity, and not just Korean. I'd actually meant to ask you for your take on that.

[skywardprodigal.livejournal.com]

I think Harry's Korean.

[bantha-fodder.livejournal.com]

Well, you can tell me, and I can guess. :o)

I actually have real issues with "insert Asian ethnicity X here" actors playing "insert Asian ethnicity Y here" characters. I think I talked about it a bit when Memoirs of a Geisha came out last year, particularly the predominance of Chinese actors playing Japanese characters. There are so many amazing Japanese actors out there, why should Chinese actors get those roles? I am aware that Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi playing those two roles added a certain (famous, well-known) element to what was supposed to be a Hollywood movie. But at the same time, the issues that I have raise other issues.

For example, Eva Green is a French actress, and she played an Englishwoman in Casino Royale. But that didn't upset me anywhere near as much as the previously mentioned Memoirs of a Geisha. I will be honest, I have never examined this discrepancy in my own responses very closely. I think it's partly because Eva played such a delightful Englishwoman, I liked her very much; and I think it's partly because I dislike so much (personally) being catagorised as 'Asian;' I'm Chinese, and sort of Malaysian, if we must go there, and I'm Australian. But being catagorised as Asian makes me part of a mass that shouldn't really be combined together, and hmm.

I am not sure if I have made sense. In answer to your question re: Sandra Oh's comment, I think my answer must be: I wish she wouldn't. But at the same time, if any actor can successfully portray a Chinese character, or a Japanese character, or a Polish character or whatever, and not be of that ethnicity, then that's kind of cool, too.

I am going to stop here before I trip over my words, and before I start to make even less sense.

[baggers.livejournal.com]

You make plenty of sense, Pen. I understand the conflicting opinions. I, personally, have a thing about foreigners playing Australians, basically for the same reason of there being so many fantastic Australian actors etc. At the same time, I really don't care about anyone playing Americans, and I won't lie, I find non-English European countries interchangeable (See: Lena Olin playing a Russian or an Italian) and I guess the same applies to Asian countries as well. I think maybe it is probably the same for most people with the primary... identity, if you will, they associate themselves with.

[baggers.livejournal.com]

Just to be clear, what I am saying is I think most people are probably a little clingy about their own specific ethnic group within the wider group it is associated with (Chinese within Asian, Italian within European, etc etc), but other regional groups and the different specific groups within it are of less personal concern.

I know I am a giant hypocrite because I don't care about Australian's playing other nationalities/ethnicities despite not liking other people playing Australians, which was why I wondered what your opinion was on Sandra Oh's comment, primarily in relation to your original question: just because the actor is whatever nationality/ethnicity, how likely should someone assume the character is also?