Lee Isaac Chung is a writer and director who grew up in Lincoln, Arkansas, on a small farm in the Ozark Mountains. His first feature film was the Rwandan family drama “Munyurangabo,” which premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival to great acclaim. His other feature films are “Lucky Life,” “Abigail Harm,” and “I Have Seen My Last Born.”

His most recent film, “Minari,” won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.

Chloé Zhao is a Chinese writer, director, editor and producer. Her feature debut, SONGS MY BROTHERS TAUGHT ME, premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. Her second feature, THE RIDER, premiered at Directors Fortnight at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and was awarded the Art Cinema Award. Her third film, NOMADLAND, premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival and was awarded the Golden Lion. The film and Chloé also earned the industry’s highest acclaim including Golden Globe®, BAFTA, DGA, PGA Awards and 3 Academy Awards®, including Best Director, Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Best Picture.

Alan Yang is a writer, director, and producer. He is the co-creator, executive producer, and director of the Netflix series MASTER OF NONE, for which he received the 2016 Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Comedy Series, becoming the first Asian-American recipient in the award’s history. The show has been nominated for twelve Emmys and three Golden Globes and was the recipient of a Peabody Award, two AFI Awards, and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Comedy.

Yang is also the director, writer, and producer of TIGERTAIL, an intergenerational Taiwanese-American family drama inspired by his own family’s story. He serves as an executive producer of the critically-acclaimed Apple TV+ anthology series LITTLE AMERICA and co-created the WGA-nominated Amazon Prime Video series FOREVER, starring Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, and Catherine Keener. Yang also directed the music video for Jay-Z’s MOONLIGHT, starring Lakeith Stanfield, Tessa Thompson, Tiffany Haddish, Jerrod Carmichael, and Issa Rae.

Previously, Yang was a writer, co-executive producer, and director for PARKS AND RECREATION, for which he was nominated for an Emmy in 2015. He can also be seen on-screen in episodes of PARKS AND RECREATION playing bass in Mouse Rat, the rock band fronted by Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt).

With a 15 year break between her two films, Alice Wu knows life isn’t lived linearly.

A former computer scientist, she designed software for Microsoft until her late twenties, when she left the tech world to become a filmmaker. Her debut feature SAVING FACE (2005) made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival where it was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. The critically-acclaimed film played in theaters worldwide and garnered several festival accolades.

Alice’s second film, THE HALF OF IT, won the Founder’s Award at the Tribeca Film Festival before it was released on Netflix in 2020. The script was a 2018 selection for the prestigious Black List and has been nominated for Best Screenplay for the Independent Spirit Awards.

Between these two films, Alice has just been living her life: spending time with her family, perfecting her scone recipe, teaching and studying long-form improv. This is perhaps why she is known for humanistic comedies that feature Asian, immigrant, and queer characters caught in unexpected circumstances.

Diane Paragas is an award-winning writer/director, editor, cinematographer and producer of narrative features, documentaries and commercials.

In 2019, Paragas completed her debut narrative feature, Yellow Rose, about an undocumented Filipino-American teen pursuing a dream to become a country music singer. The film won over a dozen Grand Jury and Audience Awards. Yellow Rose is the first Filipino-American film to be distributed by a major Hollywood studio and will be released by Sony Pictures in the near future.

Paragas is currently in pre-production for a bold feature documentary about a wrongfully convicted illegal immigrant called “The Three Lives of David Wong” that uses puppetry to tell its story. Paragas is also developing The Lizard Garden, a magical realism film set in Japanese occupied Manila during WWII.

Ms. Paragas is a 2020 recipient of the prestigious Creative Capital Award and an inaugural fellow of the Geena Davis Institute.

Yeun Sang-yeop, known professionally as Steven Yeun, is a South Korean-born American actor.

Yeun initially rose to prominence for his roles as Glenn Rhee in the television series The Walking Dead (2010–2016) and Ben in the film Burning (2018). The latter earned him critical acclaim and several accolades. He also starred in and executive produced Minari (2020), earning him critical acclaim and a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor, becoming the first Asian American actor to receive this honor. He also became the first Asian-American actor to be nominated at the Screen Actors Guild for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role.

Yeun has also appeared in the films I Origins (2014), Okja (2017), Sorry to Bother You (2018), The Humans (2021) and Nope (2022), and has voiced main characters in television series such as Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016–2018), Tales of Arcadia (2016–2021), Stretch Armstrong and the Flex Fighters (2017–2018), Final Space (2018–2021), Tuca & Bertie (2019–2022), and Invincible (2021–present).

Dev Patel is a British actor. He began his career playing Anwar Kharral in the E4 teen drama Skins (2007). His breakthrough came with the leading role of teenager Jamal Malik in Danny Boyle’s drama Slumdog Millionaire (2008), for which Patel was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Patel’s career expanded with leading roles in the comedy-dramas The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015), the science fiction thriller Chappie (2015), and a supporting role in the HBO series The Newsroom (2012–2014). For his performance as Saroo Brierley in the drama Lion (2016), Patel won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He subsequently starred in the independent films Hotel Mumbai (2018), The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019) and The Green Knight (2021), and made his directorial debut with the action film Monkey Man (2024).

Harry Shum Jr. is an actor, singer, dancer, and chroeographer best known for his roles as Mike Chang on Fox’s “Glee” and Magnus Bane on Freeform’s “Shadowhunters,” for which he won the People’s Choice Award for Male TV Star of 2018. Harry also starred as Charlie Wu in “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018) and appeared in the films “Step Up 2: The Streets” (2008), “Step Up 3D” (2010), “White Frog” (2012), “Revenge of the Green Dragons” (2014), and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny” (2016); the Hulu web series “The Legion of Extraordinary Dancers” (2010–2011); and the YouTube Red series “Single by 30” (2016).

In the last year, what has been your proudest accomplishment?

Being a part of a project like "Crazy Rich Asians" which was more than just entertainment and was instead a cultural movement, in addition winning the People's Choice Awards "Male TV Star of the Year" for "Shadow Hunters" are my two proudest accomplishments from the past year.

How has your ethnic identity impacted you personally or your career?

Your ethnicity, your ethnic background you can’t change. So the more you discover about it, the more you can shape who you are. You have to find that balance and for me, it's take a long time to do that. And finally, seeing the change that has happened in the industry and seeing people embrace themselves and others is the hope of the future of this industry. So you try and find things that speak to you and are authentic to you. For me, that's how this whole process has been and it's still a journey that I'm looking forward to expanding.

Who are some of your biggest supporters and trusted advocates throughout your journey?

Even the smallest advice or the smallest gesture can have a large impact on someone. I remember there was this dancer/choreographer who stayed 10 minutes after a class to answer questions and I asked about resumes and the whole process about auditioning as I didn't know anything about that. To have some sort of knowledge being passed down and a little bit of confidence that "I can do that" had a huge impact on me. It really changed the course of whether I was going to go back to college or go to LA to pursue this.

Eva Noblezada was nominated for a Tony Award this past year for starring on Broadway in Hadestown. It was her second Tony nomination in two Broadway roles, following her earlier nod in the title role in Miss Saigon in 2017. She’ll soon be seen as the lead in Diane Paragas’ award-winning Sony Pictures film, Yellow Rose. She was previously a lead in Hadestown at the National Theatre in London after starring in the West End revivals of Miss Saigon and Les Miserables. Noblezada was a high school student in Charlotte, NC, when she was discovered by casting director Tara Rubin at the 2013 Jimmy Awards in NYC.

Youn Yuh-jung is a South Korean actor, whose career in film and television spans over five decades. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a British Academy Film Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and a nomination for a Critics’ Choice Movie Award. She has starred in many South Korean television series and films.

She gained international recognition for her role in Minari. Her critically acclaimed portrayal of Soon-ja in the film made her the first Korean actress to win a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a British Academy Film Award, and an Academy Award, as well as the first to be nominated for a Critics’ Choice Movie Award, all in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Multiple award-winning actress and singer Lea Salonga is renowned across the world for her powerful voice and perfect pitch. She is best known for her Tony Award winning role in Miss Saigon. In addition to the Tony, she has won the Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards, in the field of musical theatre. She was also the first Asian to play Eponine in the musical Les Misérables on Broadway and returned to the beloved show as Fantine in the 2006 revival. Many fans of all ages recognize Lea as the singing voice of Princess Jasmine from Aladdin and Fa Mulan for Mulan and Mulan II. For her portrayal of the beloved princesses, the Walt Disney Company bestowed her with the honor of “Disney Legend”.

Most recently, Lea starred in the critically acclaimed Sony musical-drama YELLOW ROSE and stars in the Netflix animated series CENTAURWORLD. She is currently filming the first season of Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin (a reboot of the popular series) for HBO Max. In August 2020, Lea released her single “Dream Again” and in November Lea Salonga: Live with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from Sydney Opera House aired as part of Great Performances on PBS. A live album of the performance was subsequently released by Broadway Records.

Lea’s 2019 The Human Heart Tour saw sold-out audiences and record-breaking sales across North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. On Broadway, Lea most recently starred in the 2018 Broadway revival of Once on This Island as the Goddess of Love, Erzulie. The show’s return to the Broadway stage earned a Tony Award for “Best Revival of a Musical” and also garnered Lea and the cast a Grammy nomination for “Best Musical Theater Album.”

Lea has toured all over the world, performing sold out concerts in such locations as the Sydney Opera House, 02 Arena, Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Singapore’s Esplanade , Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Hong Kong Cultural Center ), Queen Sirikit Convention Center in Bangkok and Carnegie Hall in New York.She was also the first artist to sell out two shows at Brigham Young University’s deJong Concert Hall in Provo, Utah since The Kings Singers in 2009.

An avid techie and gamer, Lea divides her time between Manila, Philippines with her family and the United States.

Priyanka Chopra is one of the few international stars who’s successfully crossed over to multiple cross-cultural audiences. Born in Jamshedpur, India, she won the Miss India pageant while still in high school, soon followed by becoming one of five Indian women to become Miss World in 2000. Priyanka has starred in over 50 international films, and is currently most recognized for her breakthrough lead performance in ABC’s “Quantico” and in supporting roles in recent films such as “Baywatch and “Isn’t It Romantic.”

As a philanthropist, she has worked with UNICEF since 2006 and was appointed as the national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Child Rights in 2010 and 2016, respectively. She continues to promote social causes such as environment, health and education, and women’s rights, and is vocal about gender equality and feminism.