Happy Oscars Day Here’s Some History About Asians At The Academy Awards:

Happy oscars day here’s some history about asians at the academy awards:

No asian producers have ever won best picture (although six have been nominated)

Ben Kingsley is the only asian to ever be nominated for or win best actor

No asian woman has ever won best actress, and the only time an asian woman has ever been nominated (Merle Oberon in The Dark Angel) was almost a century ago

Out of seven nominated over the years, only one asian has ever won best supporting actor (Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields in 1984)

In 1957, Miyoshi Umeki became the first asian woman to win best supporting actress for her role in Sayonara. No asian woman has won since then, although four have been nominated. 

Ang Lee was the first (and so far only) asian person to win best director, and he’s done it twice. Once in 2005 for Brokeback Mountain, and again in 2012 for Life of Pi. 

No asian has ever won best adapted screenplay, and only two have ever been nominated (Wang Hui-ling and Tsai Kuo Jung for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000).

An asian has never won best original screenplay, but that could change tonight since Kumail Nanjiani is nominated (with Emily V. Gordon) for The Big Sick. He is also the only asian nominated in a major category at this year’s oscars.

I don’t have a profound note to end this on. All I can say is that the system is broken from the ground up. The problem isn’t really that asians aren’t being recognized for the work they do in western media. The problem is that asians generally aren’t being given the chance to do that work in the first place.