top 10 asian american actors
DESCRIPTION
This is a list of the top 10 Asian American actors/actresses of the last few decades in the United States according to the gross earnings of the movies the actors/actresses have been inTRANSCRIPT
TOP 10 ASIAN AMERICAN
ACTORS/ACTRESSES
By Mitch MaiersAMCULT 214.002
Introduction
This is the a list of the top 10 Asian American actors/actresses in the United States
Even though there are not many Asian American actors/actresses in American movies, there are still a few that have been very successful
This presentation will highlight those Asian Americans who have shined in Hollywood
Methods
The list was compiled by researching over 200 Asian American actors/actresses listed on Wikipedia
Each actor was researched to find out which movies they had been in
Then each movie was found to see the total gross sales of the movie
Finally each actor received a total sum of gross sales by adding up the total gross sales for each movie they acted in and the top ten were ranked
If an actor or actress never played a major role in any of their movies they were not counted on the list
Actors, such as Bruce Lee were not included because there is not data on the sales of their movies since their movies were made before movies reported their sales
10. Pat Morita
Total Grosses in US: $521,908,937
Played Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid and The Karate Kid Part II and III
Was born in Iselton, California to Japanese immigrants
Was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the Karate Kid
9. Jet Li
Total Grosses in US: $594,176,709
Played Emperor Han in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Han Sing in Romeo Must Die
Was born in Beijing, China and is a martial artist
Li is an international film star
8. George Takei
Total Grosses in US: $726,104,347
Played Commander Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek I –VI
Takei is a Japenese American actor born in Los Angeles, California
Speaks fluent English, Japanese and Spanish
7. Mako
Total Grosses in US: $766,153,647
Played Admiral Yamamoto in Pearl Harbor
Born in Kobe, Japan His first movie was The
Sand Pebbles in 1966 and he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the movie
6. Ken Leung
Total Grosses in US: $1,006,587,104
Played Kid Omega in X-Men: The Last Stand and Sang in Rush Hour
Was born in New York City
5. Lucy Liu
Total Grosses in US: $1,128,456,083
Played Alex in Charlie’s Angels and O-Ren Ishi (aka cottonmouth) in Kill Bill Volume I and II
Born in Queens, New York by Taiwanese immigrant parents
Went to the University of Michigan
4. James Hong
Total Grosses in US: $1,179,495,058
Has played numerous roles, but most recently as Mr. Wu in The Day the Earth Stood Still
Was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota because his dad immigrated from Hong Kong
Former President of the Association of Asian/Pacific Islander Artists (AAPAA)
3. John Cho
Total Grosses in US: $1,193,553,000
Played Harold in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Sulu in Star Trek
Was born in South Korea
He popularized the slang term “MILF” in his small role in American Pie
2. Keanu Reeves
Total Grosses in US: $1,797,495,058
Played Neo in The Matrix and Jack Traven in Speed
Was born in Lebanon and His father is an American of Hawaiian and Chinese descent
Has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame
1. Jackie Chan
Total Grosses in US: $1,203,452,000
Played Detective Inspector Lee in Rush Hour, and Rush Hour II and III
Was born in Hong Kong Has 10 Best Actor
Nominations and 6 Best Action Choreography Nominations
For More Information…
All of the gross sales information for all of the actors and exactly what the gross of each movie was can be found at http://www.the-numbers.com/people/
The information on the actors biographies can be found by typing in the actor’s name in Wikipedia. We found where each actor was born on Wikipedia.
Conclusion
There are hundreds of Asian American actors and actresses, this study analyzed over 200 of them
The ten people listed above are just a short list and are definitely not the only successful Asian American actors and actresses
It was hard to make the top ten, I challenge you to research other successful Asian American actors and actresses