American television series with Asian leads
American television series with Asian leads/co-leads means a scripted American television series that features an actor of Asian ancestry as the series' leading actor portraying the series' protagonist or a main character. One of the earliest examples dates back to 1951 with Anna May Wong a classic Hollywood-era movie star with her TV show The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong.[1] Typically, the characters portrayed are Asian American, although the actor or actress may sometimes be Canadian, British, or Australian.
List of television series
1950s
- The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (Protagonist portrayed by Anna May Wong)
1960s
- The Green Hornet (1966) (Bruce Lee)
- Hawaii Five-O (Ensemble cast with Kam Fong, Gilbert Lani Kauhi)
- Star Trek (Ensemble cast with George Takei)
- The Courtship of Eddie's Father (Main character portrayed by Miyoshi Umeki)
1970s
- The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (Protagonist portrayed by Keye Luke)
- Mr. T and Tina (Protagonist portrayed by Pat Morita)[2][3]
- Kung Fu (Co-leading characters portrayed by Philip Ahn and Keye Luke, and multiple guest actors)
- Quincy, M.E. (Ensemble cast with Robert Ito)
- Barney Miller (Ensemble cast with Jack Soo)
- Happy Days (Ensemble cast with Pat Morita)
1980s
- Ohara (Protagonist portrayed by Pat Morita)
- Sidekicks (Protagonist portrayed Ernie Reyes Jr.)
- 21 Jump Street (Esemble cast with Dustin Nguyen playing one of the main characters)
- Gung Ho (Protagonist portrayed by Gedde Watanabe)
- Bring 'Em Back Alive (Ensemble cast with Clyde Kusatsu)
- Island Son (Ensemble cast with Clyde Kusatsu)
1990s
- Saved by the Bell (protagonist portrayed by Mark-Paul Gosselaar)
- All American Girl (Protagonist portrayed by Margaret Cho)[4][5][6]
- Vanishing Son (Protagonist portrayed by Russell Wong)
- Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Protagonist played by Dean Cain)
- Martial Law (Protagonist portrayed by Sammo Hung)[7]
- The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo (protagonist portrayed by Irene Ng)
- Mortal Kombat: Conquest (protagonist portrayed by Paolo Montalban)
- Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Ensemble co-lead played by Thuy Trang)
- ER (Ensemble co-lead played by Ming-Na Wen, Parminder Nagra)
- Star Trek: Voyager (co-lead played by Garrett Wang)
- The Burning Zone (Ensemble co-lead played by Tamlyn Tomita)
- The Single Guy (Ensemble cast with Ming-Na Wen)
- Space Rangers (Ensemble cast with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa)
- Nash Bridges (Ensemble cast with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Kelly Hu)
- Crusade (Ensemble cast with Daniel Dae Kim)
- Space: Above and Beyond (Ensemble cast with Joel de la Fuente)
- V.I.P. (Ensemble cast with Dustin Nguyen)
2000s
- Black Sash (Protagonist portrayed by Russell Wong)
- Relic Hunter (Protagonist portrayed by Tia Carrere)
- American Dragon: Jake Long (Protagonist portrayed by Dante Basco)[8]
- Avatar: The Last Airbender (Ensemble cast with Dante Basco and Mako)
- Jackie Chan Adventures (Protagonist portrayed by James Sie)
- Aliens in America (Co-Lead portrayed by Adhir Kalyan)
- Inconceivable (Protagonist portrayed by Ming-Na Wen)
- Cashmere Mafia (Ensemble co-lead portrayed by Lucy Liu)
- Aaron Stone (Protagonist portrayed by Tania Gunadi)
- Lipstick Jungle (Ensemble co-lead portrayed by Lindsay Price)
- Eastwick (Ensemble co-lead portrayed by Lindsay Price)
- Samurai Girl (Protagonist portrayed by Jamie Chung)
- The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (Protagonist portrayed by Lara Jill Miller)
- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (Major starring character portrayed by Brenda Song)
- Lost (Ensemble co-leads played by Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Naveen Andrews, and Ken Leung)
- Grey's Anatomy (Ensemble co-lead played by Sandra Oh)
- The Big Bang Theory (co-lead played by Kunal Nayyar)
- Star Trek: Enterprise (co-lead played by Linda Park)
- Law and Order: SVU (series regular BD Wong)
- Glee (ensemble co-leads: Jenna Ushkowitz, Harry Shum, Jr., Darren Criss)
- Heroes (ensemble co-leads: Masi Oka, Sendhil Ramamurthy)
- FlashForward (Co-lead portrayed by John Cho)
- Battlestar Galactica (Ensemble co-lead played by Grace Park)
- Community (Ensemble cast with Danny Pudi and Ken Jeong)
- Stargate Universe (Ensemble cast with Ming-Na Wen)
- Vanished (Ensemble cast with Ming-Na Wen)
- Parks and Recreation (Ensemble cast with Aziz Ansari)
- Off Centre (Ensemble cast with John Cho)
- Codename: Kids Next Door (Ensemble cast with Lauren Tom)
- My Life as a Teenage Robot (Protagonist portrayed by Janice Kawaye)
2010s
- The Walking Dead (Ensemble cast with Steven Yeun)
- The Magicians (Ensemble cast with Arjun Gupta and Summer Bishil)
- Miracle Workers (Ensemble co-leads played by Geraldine Viswanathan and Karan Soni)
- Marco Polo (Majority of cast is Asian)
- Champions (Ensemble co-leads played by Josie Totah and Mouzam Makkar)
- Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (Ensemble cast with Naveen Andrews)
- Jessie (Ensemble cast with Karan Brar)
- Bunk'd (Ensemble cast with Karan Brar and Nina Lu)
- Bizaardvark (Ensemble co-leads played by Madison Hu and Olivia Rodrigo)
- Coop & Cami Ask the World (Ensemble cast with Albert Tsai)
- Liv and Maddie (Ensemble cast with Tenzing Norgay Trainor)
- Descendants: Wicked World (Ensemble cast with Booboo Stewart and Dianne Doan)
- Iron Fist (Ensemble co-lead played by Jessica Henwick)
- The Defenders (Ensemble cast with Jessica Henwick and Élodie Yung)
- Powerless (Ensemble co-leads played by Vanessa Hudgens and Danny Pudi)
- Legion (Ensemble cast with Navid Negahban and Lauren Tsai)
- The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (Ensemble co-lead played by Darren Criss)
- Falling Skies (Ensemble cast with Moon Bloodgood and Peter Shinkoda)
- Warrior (Ensemble co-leads played by Andrew Koji, Olivia Cheng, Jason Tobin, Dianne Doan, Joe Taslim and Hoon Lee)
- The Terror: Infamy (Majority of cast is Asian)
- Wu Assassins (Majority of cast is Asian)
- Origin (Protagonist portrayed by Sen Mitsuji)
- The Good Place (Ensemble co-leads played by Manny Jacinto and Jameela Jamil)
- The Man in the High Castle (Ensemble co-leads played by Joel de la Fuente and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa)
- Killing Eve (Protagonist portrayed by Sandra Oh)
- Selfie (Protagonist portrayed by John Cho)
- Sunnyside (Ensemble co-leads played by Kal Penn, Joel Kim Booster, and Poppy Liu)
- Elementary (Protagonist portrayed by Lucy Liu)
- Hawaii Five-0 (Ensemble cast with Daniel Dae Kim, Grace Park, Masi Oka)
- Fresh Off the Boat (Ensemble co-leads played by Hudson Yang, Constance Wu, Randall Park, Forrest Wheeler, and Ian Chen)[9]
- Nikita (Protagonist portrayed by Maggie Q)[10]
- Marry Me (Protagonist portrayed by Lucy Liu)
- Outsourced (Majority of cast is Asian)
- Supah Ninjas (Protagonist portrayed by Ryan Potter)[11]
- Sullivan & Son (Protagonist portrayed by Steve Byrne)
- Beauty & the Beast (Protagonist portrayed by Kristin Kreuk)[12]
- The Mindy Project (Protagonist portrayed by Mindy Kaling)[13]
- Twisted (Protagonist portrayed by Avan Jogia)
- The 100 (Ensemble co-lead portrayed by Bob Morley)
- Quantico (Protagonist portrayed by Priyanka Chopra)[14]
- Dr. Ken (Protagonist portrayed by Ken Jeong)
- Master of None (Protagonist portrayed by Aziz Ansari)[15]
- Into the Badlands (Protagonists portrayed by Daniel Wu and Aramis Knight)[16]
- Brown Nation (Majority of the cast)[17]
- Andi Mack (Protagonist portrayed by Peyton Elizabeth Lee)
- The Night Of (Protagonist portrayed by Riz Ahmed)
- I Feel Bad (Protagonist portrayed by Sarayu Blue)
- Fairly Legal (Protagonist played by Sarah Shahi)
- Good Witch (TV series) (Protagonist played by Catherine Bell)
- PEN15 (Protagonist portrayed by Maya Erskine)
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Ensemble co-leads are portrayed by Chloe Bennet and Ming-Na Wen)
- Alex, Inc. (Protagonist portrayed by Tiya Sircar)
- Claws (Ensemble co-lead played by Karrueche Tran)
- Five Points (Protagonist portrayed by Hayley Kiyoko)
- Ramy (TV series) (Ensemble co-lead played by Mohammed Amer, Hiam Abbass, Dave Merheje, May Calamawy, Laith Nakli)
- Runaways (Ensemble co-lead played by Lyrica Okano)
- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Ensemble co-lead played by Vincent Rodriguez III)
- Saturday Night Live (Featured cast member Bowen Yang)
- Mr. Robot (series regular BD Wong)
- Pretty Little Liars (co-lead Shay Mitchell, Janell Parrish)
- Modern Family (co-lead Aubrey Anderson-Emmons)
- 13 Reasons Why (main role Ross Butler)
- Runaways (main role Lyrica Okano)
- Pair of Kings (Main role Kelsey Chow)
- 9-1-1 (TV series) (Ensemble co-lead played by Kenneth Choi)
- Chicago Med (Ensemble co-lead played by Brian Tee)
- The Resident (TV series) (Ensemble co-lead played by Manish Dayal)
- The Good Doctor (American TV series) (Ensemble co-lead played by Will Yun Lee)
- Titans (2018 TV series) (Ensemble co-lead played by Ryan Potter)
- The Night Shift (Ensemble cast with Ken Leung)
- Inhumans (Ensemble cast with Ken Leung)
- Silicon Valley (Ensemble cast with Kumail Nanjiani, Jimmy O. Yang)
- Go On (Ensemble cast with John Cho)
- The Exorcist (Ensemble cast with John Cho)
- Hemlock Grove (Ensemble cast with Joel de la Fuente)
- The Librarians (Ensemble cast with John Harlan Kim)
2020s
- A.P. Bio (Ensemble cast with Mary Sohn and Aparna Brielle)
- What We Do in the Shadows (Protagonist Portrayed by Kayvan Novak)
- WandaVision (Major starring character portrayed by Randall Park)
- Doogie Kameāloha, M.D. (Protagonist portrayed by Peyton Elizabeth Lee and ensemble cast with Jason Scott Lee)
- Amphibia (Protagonist portrayed by Brenda Song)
- Rutherford Falls (Ensemble cast with Jesse Leigh)
- Saved by the Bell (Ensemble cast with Josie Totah)
- Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens (Protagonist portrayed by Awkwafina)
- Never Have I Ever (Protagonist portrayed by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan)
- Dash & Lily (co-lead played by Midori Francis)
- Devs (protagonist portrayed by Sonoya Mizuno)
- Kim's Convenience (ensemble co-leads played by Simu Liu, Andrea Bang, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Jean Yoon)
- Kung Fu (ensemble cast, Protagonist portrayed by Olivia Liang)
- Star Trek: Picard (co-lead played by Isa Briones)
- Yellowstone (main role Kelsey Chow)
- Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (ensemble co-leads played by Alice Lee, Kapil Talwalkar)
- Mythic Quest (Ensemble co-leads played by Danny Pudi, Charlotte Nicdao, Ashly Burch)
- Shadow and Bone (Protagonists played by Jessie Mei Li and Amita Suman)
- The Forty-Year-Old Version (lead character's agent is played by Peter Kim[18])
- Queens the Series (lead actors are Cindy Chu,[19] Spring Inés Peña, and Carolina Do)
- High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (main role Olivia Rodrigo)
- Ms. Marvel (Protagonist portrayed by Iman Vellani and majority of the cast)
- Sex/Life (Protagonist portrayed by Sarah Shahi)
- Gossip Girl (Ensemble co-lead played by Evan Mock)
- Cowboy Bebop (Protagonist portrayed by John Cho)
- Pandora (Ensemble cast with Banita Sandhu and Akshay Kumar)
- Here and Now (Ensemble cast with Raymond Lee)
- Kevin Can F**k Himself (Ensemble cast with Raymond Lee)
- Quantum Leap (Protagonist portrayed by Raymond Lee)
- Beef (Protagonists played by Ali Wong and Steven Yeun)
- Human Resources (Ensemble cast with Randall Park)
See also
References
- "Film reveals real-life struggles of an onscreen 'Dragon Lady' Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine."
- "Pat Morita - Mr. T and Tina cast". Sitcoms Online. Retrieved 2016-04-22.
- "Mr. T and Tina". The New York Times.
- Du Brow, Rick (September 4, 1994). "COVER STORY : True Tales of TV Trauma: 3 Comics Chase Roseanne-dom : Margaret Cho : She's the freshman. But the 25-year-old Korean American has another role to play besides the 'All-American Girl.' Cho is hoping to be a groundbreaker". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- Braxton, Greg (September 14, 1994). "It's All in the (Ground-Breaking) Family : Television: As a sitcom centered on Asian Americans, 'All-American Girl' is being monitored by advocacy groups concerned about racial stereotypes. Welcome to the pressure cooker". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2011-01-14.
- ...Open. "Watch Full Episodes Online of Pioneers of Television on PBS | Margaret Cho on "All-American Girl"". Video.pbs.org. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
- McDonald, William (1998-09-26). "Kung Fu Show Adds Star, Hoping For a Hit". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
- Talia Baugnon (30 September 2014). "Dante Basco talks Hollywood at LMU". Los Angeles Loyolan. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
- Yang, Jeff (May 2, 2014). "Why the 'Fresh Off the Boat' TV Series Could Change the Game". WSJ Blogs - Speakeasy. Retrieved May 14, 2014.
- Yuan, Jada (August 22, 2010). "Hong Kong's Hit Girl". New York. Retrieved August 24, 2010.
- "Supah Ninja's Ryan Potter – My Day My Life". Alloy TV. September 16, 2011. Retrieved January 25, 2013.
- "The CW Finds Its Beauty: 'Smallville's Kristin Kreuk To Star In 'Beauty & The Beast' Pilot". Deadline Hollywood. 16 February 2012. Retrieved 2012-02-19.
- "The Mindy Project is Progress for Indian-Americans—How Could It Not Be?". www.slate.com. 26 September 2012. Retrieved September 26, 2012.
- Cain, Rob (1 October 2015). "Priyanka Chopra Breaks New Ground For Indian Actors In America". Forbes. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
- J. Maureen Henderson. "Is Aziz Ansari's 'Master Of None' The Show That Aging Millennials Have Been Waiting For?". Forbes. Retrieved 22 April 2016.
- Maureen Ryan (12 November 2015). "'Into the Badlands' Review: Daniel Wu brings charisma to action drama — Variety". Variety. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
- Sowmya Rajendran (13 November 2016). "Coming soon on Netflix: Brown Nation, an Indian American sitcom directed by Abi Varghese". The News Minute. Retrieved January 14, 2017.
- Reynolds, Daniel (16 April 2021). "The 40-Year-Old Version's Peter Kim Is Fighting Anti-Asian Racism Onstage". The Advocate (LGBT magazine). Retrieved 29 April 2021.
- Stein, Frankie (18 June 2020). "Why you need 'QUEENS', the Award-Winning Comedy Series, in your life". Retrieved 29 April 2021.
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