MovieChat Forums > Searching (2018) Discussion > First asian lead since Bruce Lee

First asian lead since Bruce Lee


I think that’s a long time for Hollywood to take a gamble on an asian carrying a movie.

(Jason Scott Lee, who played Bruce Lee and Jungle Book, was part Chinese, part Hawaiian, so partial credit. )

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Jackie Chan?

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Okay, I will give you that! But he is more of a Chinese cross over star as well.

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Emma Stone

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Crazy Rich Asians didn't have Asian leads?
I am assuming you mean theatrical releases created solely by a US company because we have had many Asians leads since Bruce Lee.

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That would be roles only playable by Asians so different.

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Bruce Lee gained his stardom from doing films in Asia as a martial artist/actor, Jet Li and Jackie Chan have both featured prominently in American cinema for years since his death and are easily comparable to Bruce Lee.

You should probably go to your original post and put down the standards you have for this as it seems to adjust as people post responses.

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I agree.

This appears just another expression by a victim of the race pimps in the US media.

How many caucasian leads are there in Chinese-made films?

Probably about as many as caucausian US Basketball players.

See? if you try, anyone can cry "racism."

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Are we not counting Jet Li as well? He was the lead in a lot of Hollywood movies. Same goes for Chow Yun Fat.

Also, are we only counting male Asian leads because there have been Asian female leads in the past.

Oh, and what about the Harold and Kumar movies John Cho did alongside Kal Penn who is also Asian? They were co-leads, so I'm not sure if that meets your criteria.

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Cross over martial artists. Talk about reinforcing a stereotype!

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Harold and Kumar are not martial arts movies (and to be fair, you brought up Bruce Lee so it's weird that you are now saying martial arts actors don't count).

Also, are we only counting male Asians because I can name a few non-martial arts Asian leads who are female.

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yeah - if so, why do you count bruce lee???

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BS everyone knows Neil Patrick Harris was the real lead in all of the movies LOL

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So did everyone just forget this guy or what?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sessue_Hayakawa

Kintaro Hayakawa (June 10, 1886 – November 23, 1973), known professionally as Sessue Hayakawa, was a Japanese actor. He was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the silent film era of the 1910s and 1920s. Hayakawa was the first actor of Asian descent to achieve stardom as a leading man in the United States and Europe. His "broodingly handsome" good looks and typecasting as a sexually dominant villain made him a heartthrob among American women during a time of racial discrimination, and he became one of the first male sex symbols of Hollywood.

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Do you know what the word "since" means?

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Beat me to it.

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