In the late 60’s, Bruce Lee lost the lead role in a project he developed because of white washing. To make it worse, they replaced him with a white guy in yellow face. I have said this before, but I feel forty something years later, Into The Badlands has helped right that wrong. My fellow producers, Stacey Sher, Michael Shamberg, Al Gough, Miles Milar and the studio AMC all insisted that Sunny be Asian. Their insistence made me think “Hollywood” is changing. The reason why I never really pursued a career in the US after 20 years of stardom in Asia was because in the America I grew up in, Hollywood didn’t want Asian stars. So I was happy to remain in a place where my race was not an issue. My people accepted me and made me a star, even though I was not born there, so not only was I grateful but very comfortable with that.(Ever been a minority most of your life and then go to a place where you are suddenly not? Try it! It’s freeing! )My fellow producers, by giving me the lead role on Into The Badlands however, have made me think that things are indeed changing. But I also realize they are outliers.

In the past say ten years, we have seen improvements in the Hollywood’s ethnic landscape. We have seen Asian actors sprinkled into the fabric, more so as adding elements of flavor than anything else, but because of that we are seeing actors like Constance Wu, Sung Kang, John Cho, Kal Penn and Mindy Kaling amongst others bubble their way to the surface. These are people that have been struggling for years to make it right under the noses of the people in power. They may be stars, but they are not global A-list stars yet. It will require many more people in positions of power to make that push, to create opportunities for these people to become actors that can in fact play A-list roles rather than token ones. It requires risk but it also requires their heart being in the right place. It’s difficult but I see progress being made. It’s a long term game.