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The daughter of Korean immigrants, Sandra Oh started her performance career as a child. She attended the National Theatre School of Canada, and at age 19 had her breakthrough role in the television biopic The Diary of Evelyn Lau (1993). Her performance garnered a Gemini nomination and the 1994 Cannes FIPA d'Or for Best Actress. In 1996, Oh moved to Los Angeles to join the cast of HBO’s comedy Arli$$. Roles in films like Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) and Sideways (2004) followed. She then landed the role of Dr. Cristina Yang in the hit TV series Grey's Anatomy (2005), which garnered her numerous award nominations over the course of her 10 years on the show. In 2018, she found more success as the star of BBC America's spy drama Killing Eve.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/actor/sandra-oh 

Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee is an Indian-born American economist who, with Esther Duflo and Michael Kremer, was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics for helping to develop an innovative experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Banerjee, Duflo, and Kremer, often working with each other, focused on relatively small and specific problems that contributed to poverty and identified the best solutions through carefully designed field experiments, which they conducted in several low- and middle-income countries over the course of more than two decades.

Learn more: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abhijit-Banerjee 

Andrew Yang is a businessman, lawyer and philanthropist whose entrepreneurial endeavors led him to found the nonprofit Ventures for America (VFA), which connects young professionals to innovative companies in economically challenged cities. In late 2017, Yang announced his run for the presidency under the slogan "Make America Think Harder" (MATH) along with his defining policy proposal of Universal Basic Income (UBI), which is a supplemental income offered to American adults to prepare them for the economic challenges incurred by artificial intelligence and automation. Prior to suspending his presidential campaign in February 2020, Yang built a strong digital coalition and attracted a base of loyal supporters called the Yang Gang.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/political-figure/andrew-yang 

Hideki Matsuyama is a Japanese professional golfer who has primarily plied his trade on the PGA Tour, the European Tour, and the Japan Golf Tour. He had created history by winning the 2021 Masters Tournament, becoming the first Japanese professional golfer to have won a men’s major golf championship. As of April 2021, he had also won 2 World Golf Championship titles – WGC-HSBC Champions (2016) and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (2017). At the 2011 Shenzhen Summer Universiade, representing Japan, he had won the ‘Gold’ medal in both the individual event and the men’s team event.

Learn more: https://healthyceleb.com/hideki-matsuyama/ 

Indian actress Priyanka Chopra won the Miss India pageant when she was in high school, and she soon followed it by taking the 2000 Miss World pageant as well. On the heels of that international success, Chopra turned her sights to the film world and became a huge star in the Bollywood system. She made a splash on American television with the FBI drama Quantico.  Chopra's international fame allowed her to star in more prominent Indian films, including Bajirao Mastani (2015), which became one of the biggest box-office hits in India. The following year she produced and made a brief appearance in the Marathi-language dramedy Ventilator, another critical and commercial success.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/actor/priyanka-chopra  

Dr. Michio Kaku is a theoretical physicist, bestselling author, acclaimed public speaker, renowned futurist, and popularizer of science. As co-founder of String Field Theory, Dr. Kaku carries on Einstein’s quest to unite the four fundamental forces of nature into a single grand unified theory of everything.  Beyond his numerous bestselling books, he has also been a featured columnist for top popular science publications. Dr. Kaku was also one of the subjects of the award-winning documentary, ME & ISAAC NEWTON by Michael Apted.

Learn more: https://mkaku.org/home/about/ 

Lydia X. Z. Brown is an advocate, organizer, educator, attorney, strategist, and writer. Their work focuses on addressing state and interpersonal violence targeting disabled people living at the intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality, faith, language, and nation. They are Policy Counsel for Disability Rights and Algorithmic Fairness for the Privacy and Data Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, and Director of Policy, Advocacy, and External Affairs for the Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network. In 2018, NBC featured Lydia as one of 26 Asian Pacific American breakthrough leaders for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Learn more: https://autistichoya.net/bio/ 

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson was born into a professional wrestling family. An injury ended his college football career, so he entered the ring with the World Wrestling Federation. As "The Rock," he famously feuded with wrestler Steve Austin and won the WWF/WWE Heavyweight title numerous times. Johnson then parlayed his wrestling fame into a film career, appearing in projects like 2001's The Mummy Returns and 2010's Tooth Fairy. Later projects include the HBO series Ballers and leading roles in The Fast and the Furious and Jumanji franchises and the voice as demigod Maui in Moana.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/actor/dwayne-johnson  

As women around the world speak out against sexual harassment and unfair treatment, Tina Tchen continues to support the movement through her legal activism. Even though she was once the Assistant to President Obama and Chief of Staff to First Lady Michelle Obama, she now serves as the President and CEO of TIME’S UP Now and the TIME’S UP Foundation. Tchen and her colleagues founded the TIME’S UP Legal Defense Fund to connect survivors of sexual harassment with a network of lawyers and resources.  Tchen’s role is to focus on achieving justice for women on a daily basis. 

Learn more: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/tina-tchen 

Bong Joon-Ho is a South Korean filmmaker known for the meticulous directing, social critique, blending of genres, and quick tonal shifts in his movies, many of which he also co-wrote. Bong’s film, the darkly comic horror movie Gisaengchung (2019; Parasite), took aim at the cruelty of social and financial inequity with a tale about a poor family that infiltrates a wealthy family by working as servants. Hailed by many critics as a masterpiece, it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and became the first foreign-language film to receive the Academy Award for best picture. It also earned the Oscar for best international feature, and Bong received Oscars for directing and for co-writing the screenplay.

Learn more: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bong-Joon-Ho 

Yao Ming is a Chinese basketball player, who became an international star as a centre for the Houston Rockets of the NBA. The 7-foot 6-inch Yao was drafted by the Houston Rockets with the first overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft. In the 2002–03 season he was voted by fans to start for the Western Conference in the All-Star Game and was a unanimous selection to the league’s All-Rookie team. With his soft shooting touch and deft passing ability, Yao earned all-star honours in each of the following six seasons and helped the Rockets to play-off appearances in five seasons.

Learn more: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yao-Ming 

American journalist and news anchor Connie Chung became the first woman and first Asian to co-anchor CBS Evening News.  In June 1993, CBS announced that Chung was to become co-anchor of the nightly news broadcast, alongside longtime lead Dan Rather. Chung was only the second woman ever to hold one of the main network anchor chairs. The Emmy and Peabody award winner has worked at CBS, ABC, NBC and CNN. 

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/media-figure/connie-chung 

Judge Lance Ito attended law school at UC Berkeley. After a stint in private practice, Ito joined the L.A. district attorney's office in 1977. He was appointed L.A. County Superior Court judge in 1989, and six years later he presided over the O.J. Simpson murder trial. The trial, broadcast on live TV, became a national obsession and made Ito a celebrity. He remained a judge for another 20 years, before retiring in 2015.

Learn more: https://www.ourbiography.com/lance-ito/ 

Michelle Kwan is a five-time world champion figure skater and two-time Olympic medalist. A serious injury forced her to withdraw from the 2006 Olympics. While she didn't officially retire, Kwan decided to focus on her education after the 2006 Olympics. She enrolled at the University of Denver to complete her undergraduate degree. She also began her diplomatic work around this time. The U.S. State Department named her a public advocacy envoy, which involved traveling to different countries to share her experiences with others.  Kwan served as TV correspondent for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/athlete/michelle-kwan 

Jason Momoa began modeling after high school, which soon led to an acting career. After long-running roles on Baywatch Hawaii and Stargate: Atlantis, Momoa landed the role of Khal Drogo on HBO's Game of Thrones, which debuted in 2011. That same year Momoa was featured in the title role of the new Conan the Barbarian movie. He has remained busy through film projects and the TV adventure drama Frontier, as well as his selection for the role of DC Comics superhero Aquaman on the big screen.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/actor/jason-momoa 

Chloé Zhao is a Chinese filmmaker known primarily for her work in independent U.S. films.  On April 25, 2021, Zhao won the Best Director Oscar for directing Nomadland, becoming the first woman of color to win the award and the second woman to win. Zhao was also the first woman to get four Oscar nominations in a single year, in the Best Film Editing, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories.

Learn more: https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-oscars-2021/2021/04/25/988816124/chloe-zhao-is-the-first-woman-of-color-to-win-oscar-for-best-director  

Chung Ju Yung founded Korea's Hyundai Group, which remained his country's most powerful chaebol, or family-run conglomerate, for years. Chung's assemblage of corporate entities, which he was said to run by relying heavily upon his famous iron will, included the automaker Hyundai as well as large construction, shipbuilding, and electronics concerns. In his later years, Chung entertained political ambitions and ran for president of South Korea.

Learn more: https://biography.yourdictionary.com/chung-ju-yung 

Iconic actor, director and martial arts expert Bruce Lee was a child actor in Hong Kong who later returned to the U.S. and taught martial arts. He starred in the TV series The Green Hornet and became a major box office draw in The Chinese Connection and Fists of Fury. Shortly before the release of his film Enter the Dragon, he died at the age of 32 on July 20, 1973.  With the posthumous release of Enter the Dragon, Lee’s status as a film icon was confirmed.  Lee’s legacy helped pave the way for broader depiction of Asian Americans in cinema.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/actor/bruce-lee 

Michelle Wie became a world-class golfer before the age of fifteen.  She is a phenomenal, powerful golfer who has the strength and skills to match many professional players, including a number of men. In 2004 she competed in a men's event, the Sony Open, part of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) tour. While she missed the second-round cut by just one stroke, she did end up beating forty-six men. During the summer of 2004 she was part of the U.S. team that won the prestigious Curtis Cup.

Learn more: https://www.notablebiographies.com/news/Sh-Z/Wie-Michelle.html 

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the multiple Emmy®-award winning chief medical correspondent for CNN. Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon, plays an integral role in CNN's reporting on health and medical news for all of CNN's shows domestically and internationally, and regularly contributes to CNN.com.  He has won several awards for his humanitarian efforts and the John F. Kennedy University Laureate award. 

Learn more: https://www.cnn.com/profiles/sanjay-gupta-profile  

Chien-Shiung Wu was a Chinese-American nuclear physicist who has been dubbed "the First Lady of Physics," "Queen of Nuclear Research" and "the Chinese Madame Curie." Her research contributions include work on the Manhattan Project and the Wu experiment, "which contradicted the hypothetical law of conservation of parity." During her career, she earned many accolades including the Comstock Prize in Physics (1964), the Bonner Prize (1975), the National Medal of Science (1975), and the Wolf Prize in Physics (inaugural award, 1978). Her book Beta Decay (1965) is still a standard reference for nuclear physicists. 

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/scientist/chien-shiung-wu 

David Chang is an American restaurateur, author, and TV personality, best known as the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group. Chang has a culinary degree from the French Culinary Institute. He worked at Mercer Kitchen and various other restaurants before finally opening his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar. He is widely known for popularizing modern Asian cuisine and has won the James Beard Award seven times. He is the creator, host, and producer of the Netflix series ‘Ugly Delicious’. Chang appeared in Time Magazine’s list of ‘100 Most Influential People’ in 2010.

Learn more: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/david-chang-14547.php 

Mindy Kaling is an American actress, writer, and producer. She is known for appearing in the hit sitcom ‘The Office’ as well as for starring in her own TV show, ‘The Mindy Project.’ This ‘Emmy’ award-nominated actress has also acted in a number of movies. Kaling is one of the most popular female comedic personalities in Hollywood. She has received many honors and accolades till date. In 2012, she was named by ‘Time’ magazine in the list of ‘100 Most Influential People in the World.’ The following year, she was named in the list of ‘50 Coolest and Most Creative Entertainers’ in Hollywood by ‘Entertainment Weekly.’

Learn more: https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/mindy-kaling-31274.php 

Jeremy Lin is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player. He is popular for leading the New York Knicks to an unexpected win during the 2010-11 season of the NBA which generated the cultural phenomenon known as “Linsanity”. He has played in the NBA for nine years with teams like New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, and Brooklyn Nets. In 2012, he was featured on ‘Time’ magazine’s list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Learn more: https://playersbio.com/jeremy-lin/ 

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole is perhaps one of the greatest musicians to have come from Hawaii and arguably holds his place in the international hall of world music influential fame. In 1990 Israel concluded work on his first solo album and Ka'ano'i was released. This album went on to win the Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts (HARA) contemporary album of the year.  His most internationally acclaimed song was featured on this album, the compilation of "Somewhere over the rainbow" and "What a wonderful world". It was well known that Israel was a proud Hawaiian nationalist and much of the music produced held a sentiment of Hawaiian heritage, pride and independence. He shared and spread his love for his nation and its music throughout Hawaii and the world until his death in 1997. He received several other HARA Awards including Entertainer of the year in 1994 and Vocalist of the year in 1997.

Learn more: https://www.kamakawiwo.net/israel-biography.php 

Naomi Osaka started playing tennis at the age of 3. She grew up in the United States but holds Japanese citizenship and represents Japan on the court (her mother is from Japan, her father from Haiti). Osaka boasts a 120 mile per hour serve, was the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam title, and became the first Asian tennis player to hold the world's No. 1 rank.  Osaka was preparing to represent Japan at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo before the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the event.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/athlete/naomi-osaka  

Nathan Chen started skating at the age of 3 after watching his two older brothers play hockey. In addition to skating, he competed in gymnastics at the state and regional levels for seven years and previously trained in ballet with Ballet West Academy.  Chen entered his first figure skating competition in 2003. He is a three-time World champion, 2018 Olympic team bronze medalist, 2017 Four Continents Champion, three-time Grand Prix Final Champion and a nine-time U.S. national champion.  

Learn more: https://nathanchen.figureskatersonline.com/bio/  

Hasan Minhaj is an American television host, actor, and comedian who is best known for his show ”Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj.” In 2014, he joined the news satire television program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In April 2017, Minhaj was the featured speaker at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.  That same year, his stand-up special Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King was released on Netflix. It focuses on Hasan’s experience growing up in an Indian American Muslim family. In 2018, Homecoming King was honored with a Peabody Award.  He won his second Peabody Award in 2019 for the ”Patriot Act.”

Learn more: https://famouspeopletoday.com/hasan-minhaj/  

Linda P. Chen is the NYC DOE Chief Academic Officer, overseeing instructional supports for all learners and managing the Divisions of Teaching and Learning, Special Education, and English Language Learners. Before returning to the NYC Department of Education under Chancellor Carranza, Linda served as Vice President for Engagement and Implementation at the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship. 

Learn more:

https://www.schools.nyc.gov/about-us/leadership/doe-leadership-and-offices  

Joseph Tsai is a Taiwanese-Canadian businessman and the co-founder and executive vice-chairman of Alibaba Group Holdings Limited. He was the only western-educated top executive at Alibaba then. Tsai owns around 49% of the Brooklyn Nets National Basketball Association team. He ranks as the 150th Billionaire in the world and 9th in Hong Kong 50 Richest as of 2019.

Learn more: https://www.vyapaarjagat.com/international/joseph-tsai/ 

Film director, producer and screenwriter Ang Lee made his directorial debut with Pushing Hands in 1992. Later films include Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In 2006, Lee became the first Asian to win an Academy Award for best director, for the film Brokeback Mountain. Seven years later, in 2013, Lee picked up his second Academy Award for directing Life of Pi, based on the acclaimed best-selling novel by Yann Martel. The honor marked the first time a director won the Best Director Oscar for helming a 3-D movie. Life of Pi also garnered awards for cinematography, score and visual effects.

Learn more: https://www.biography.com/filmmaker/ang-lee