playing *** middle aged Chinese immigrant woman jumping through the multiverse while trying to fix her taxes. Actress Michelle Yo's talent in the movie, everything everywhere all at once has not gone unnoticed. I am paying attention. This blew my mind, I have never seen *** movie like this before in my life. I couldn't believe it got made. I was simultaneously crying and laughing hysterically throughout Yo's leading performance as Evelyn Wong earned her *** Golden Globe, *** Sag award and an Oscar nomination for best actress, *** category of which no Asian actress has won. It's been *** long time coming for yo and other Asian actresses in Hollywood. So why have there been so few nominations? Let's rewind to see the actresses who paved the way. before yo, actress Merle Oberon was the first Asian nominated by the Academy for best actress based on her role in the 1935 film, The Dark Angel. However, no one realized her achievement because Oberon who was born in 1911 in Mumbai hid her mixed South Asian heritage to evade laws that banned interracial relationships in the 19 thirties, the movie industry adopted the haze code banning actors of different races from kissing on screen because in those days, you know, the leading lady always has to have *** leading man and the leading man was always *** white man. So Meryl Oberon, um if she wanted to have *** career, she had to hide the fact that she was of mixed South Asian heritage with her identity. Hidden Oberon rose to stardom with over 50 screen credits to her name. In the same time period, actress Anna May Wong dealt with discrimination. First hand, Born in 19 oh five in Los Angeles *** rose to fame during the silent film era and became the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood The New York Times called the actress, one of the most unforgettable figures of Hollywood's great days in her obituary in 1961. So when news came out that M G M was going to adapt the Good Earth, *** story about *** family of Chinese farmers in China, you would have thought Wong would land the role when the first casting was announced it was Paul Muni in yellow face playing the Chinese man. Then There was no way for Anna May Wong to play the wife because it would depict an interracial couple. Even though he was supposed to be Chinese, it was terrible because she auditioned for it and she really went public with letting people know she wanted to play, she wanted to play the woman at the center of this film. The role was instead given to white actress Louise Reiner, who later won an Oscar for her role. Back then, white actors were often cast in caricatured Asian roles. *** tradition known as yellow face that is mostly now condemned. why actors like Reiner use makeup to darken their faces and use prosthetics and costumes to appear Asian. The makeup man transforms Mr Astor into *** Chinese Mandarin. And as *** result of the Haze, Code *** was left with supporting roles and was pigeonholed into stereotypes like the madam butterfly and dragon lady, She starred in *** silent film, The Toll of the Sea. And if you watch this movie, you're struck, it's, it's *** retelling of the madam butterfly story. So it's already kind of racist and it's about, you know, an Asian woman who self sacrifices so that her, you know, child will be raised by her illicit white lover. And on the other hand of the spectrum is the dragon lady trope portraying Asian women as strong, deceitful, violent and sexually alluring. In *** 1933 interview, Wong said she was tired of the part she had to play. Why is it that the screen Chinese is nearly always the villain of the piece and so cruel, *** villain, murderous, treacherous, *** snake in the grass. We are not like that, By 1920 *** left Hollywood for better opportunities in Europe. She scored lead roles in several films in Berlin and London. She financed movies and starred with Japanese American male stars of the time and she made stories set in Chinatown and around the globe. In 1951 she played the lead role that was written for her as *** detective in the prime time TV series, The Gallery of Madame Liu Song. Wang's fight for more dignified and authentic portrayals of Asian women in film continues to inspire *** new generation of storytellers. For creative writing. Professor Mei Lee Chai, the 2022 movie, everything everywhere all at once showcases an authentic story that uplifts its Asian female characters instead of stereotyping them. Michelle Yo and everything everywhere. All at once, she is the center of every universe and she has the agency and she's the one who has to figure out how to save the universe and her family. And also Stephanie Shu's character is really revolutionary as well because Stephanie Chu who becomes the biggest baddest act in the universe but not because she's evil but because she's been hurt, right? She's been rejected and she's not hyper sexualized. She's *** queer woman of *** lot of agency and I just also the costumes and everything everywhere all at once are so wonderful because the characters are allowed to be people first and not these kind of hyper sexualized. Um Vixens Chai also points to the movie Mnari written and directed by Lee Isaac Chung that was based on his family stories as *** Korean American family growing up in Arkansas, right? That's not *** story we get to see and we see the awesome grandmother who is not not *** stereotype, she's not weak, she's not um *** victim. And the Korean actress who played her won the best supporting Oscar for that. And but that didn't come from Hollywood that come from an Asian American creating writing and pushing for these stories We've come far from the treatment wong and dirt in the golden age of Hollywood. But yo's win won't be the last for the Asian community because you know, we want to shatter that ceiling and never have it come back together again. But I hope that we can tell more and more of our own community stories with Asian Americans behind the camera in front of the camera and producing and writing. Um and that's the only way real change is going to happen. This award proves we can tell our own stories in on our own terms and embrace something as simple but as important as our given names