- Amy Tan
Amy Tan is an American writer whose works explore mother-daughter relationships and what it means to grow up as a first generation Asian American. In 1993, Tan's adaptation of her most popular fiction work, "The Joy Luck Club", became a commercially successful film. She has written several other books, including "The Kitchen God's Wife", "The Hundred Secret Senses", and "The Bonesetter's Daughter", …
- Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee (November 27, 1940 - July 20, 1973) was a martial artist, philosopher, instructor, and martial arts actor widely regarded as the most influential martial artist of the 20th century. Born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong, Lee is best remembered for the presentation of Chinese martial arts to the non-Chinese world.
- Maxine Hong Kingston
Maxine Hong Kingston is an American writer. She was born as Maxine Ting Ting Hong to a laundry house owner in Stockton, California. She was the first of six children to be born in the United States. Her parents had two children before coming to this country. She is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley where she graduated with a BA in English in 1962. Her works often reflect on her cultural heritage and blend fiction with non-fiction.
- Wen Ho Lee
Wen Ho Lee (born December 21, 1939) is a Taiwanese-born American scientist who worked for the University of California at the Los Alamos National Laboratory and was accused of stealing secrets about the U.S.'s nuclear arsenal for the People's Republic of China (PRC) in December 1999. After investigators dropped these original accusations, the government conducted a new investigation and charged Lee with improper handling of restricted data, …
- Michael Chang
Michael Te-Pei Chang (張德培; Pinyin: Zhāng Dépéi; born February 22 1972, in Hoboken, New Jersey, USA) is an American former professional tennis player. He is best remembered for becoming the youngest-ever male winner of a Grand Slam singles title when he won the French Open in 1989 at the age of 17. Utilizing tremendous speed and strong determination, …
- Vincent Chin
Vincent Chin (1955 - June 23, 1982) was a Chinese American industrial draftsman murdered in 1982 in the United States, in the Detroit, Michigan enclave of Highland Park by two white autoworkers, Chrysler plant superintendent Ronald Ebens and his recently laid off step-son, Michael Nitz. Raised in Detroit, Chin was the adopted son and the only child of Bing Hing Chin and Lily Chin.
- Joan Chen
Joan Chen Chong (Mandarin Pinyin: Chén Chōng; Cantonese: 陳沖/Chan Chung; Cantonese IPA: ; Jyutping: can4 cung1; Yale: chan4 chung1) (born as Chen Chong on April 26, 1961, in Shanghai, China) is a Chinese American actress, film director, screenwriter and producer, best known for her roles in "The Last Emperor", "Twin Peaks", "Red Rose, White Rose", "Saving Face", …
- Lisa See
Ms. See's new novel once again delves into forgotten history. Peony in Love takes place in 17th-century China in the Yangzi River delta. It's based on the true story of three "lovesick maidens," who were married to the same man - one right after the other, not one reaching age twenty. Together they wrote the first book of its kind to have been written and published anywhere in the world by women. (The lovesick maidens were part of a much larger phenomenon.
- Iris Chang
Iris Shun-Ru Chang (March 28, 1968 - November 9, 2004) was an American historian and journalist. She was best known for her best-selling 1997 account of the Nanking Massacre, "The Rape of Nanking". She committed suicide on November 9, 2004, after a depressive episode resulting from a nervous breakdown.
- Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang (born January 12, 1949) is a Chinese American film director. Born in Hong Kong, he studied film and television at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. "Chan Is Missing" (1982) and "Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart" (1985) established his reputation. He is best known for the independent features "Smoke" (1995) and "Anywhere But Here" (1999). He is married to a former Miss Hong Kong, Cora Miao, …
- Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong (January 3, 1905 - February 2, 1961) was the first notable Chinese American Hollywood actress. Born Wong Liu Tsong in Los Angeles, California, a daughter of a laundryman, she began playing bit parts as a teenager in the early days of Hollywood.
- Leland Yee
Leland Yee (born 1948 in China) is a California State Senator in District 8. Yee's district includes the western half of San Francisco and parts of San Mateo County. Previously, Yee was the California State Assemblyman for the 12th Assembly District and the Supervisor of San Francisco's Sunset District. In 2004, Assemblymember Yee became the first Asian American to be appointed Speaker pro Tempore, …
- Gary Locke
well im a down to earth guy who loves life.
- David Henry Hwang
David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is a contemporary American playwright who has risen to prominence as the preeminent Asian American dramatist in the U.S. He was born in Los Angeles, California and was educated at Stanford University and the Yale School of Drama. His first play was produced at the Okada House dormitory at Stanford and he briefly studied playwriting with Sam Shepard and Maria Irene Fornes.
- Helen Zia
Helen Zia (1952 -) is an American journalist and scholar who has covered Asian American communities and social and political movements for decades. She was born in New Jersey to first generation immigrants from Shanghai. She entered Princeton University in the early 1970s and was a member of its first graduating class of women. As a student, Zia was among the founders of the Asian American Students Association.
- I. M. Pei
Ieoh Ming Pei (b. April 26, 1917), commonly known by his initials I. M. Pei, is a Pritzker Prize-winning Chinese American architect, known as the last master of high modernist architecture. He works with the abstract form, using stone, concrete, glass, and steel. Pei is one of the most successful architects of the 20th century.
- Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma (b. October 7, 1955) is a French-born American cellist of world renown and the winner of multiple Grammy Awards.
- Frank Chin
Frank Chin (born February 25 1940) is an American author and playwright. Frank Chin was born in Berkeley, California, but was raised to the age of six by a retired Vaudeville couple in Placerville, California. At six his mother brought him back to the San Francisco Bay Area to live in Oakland Chinatown. He attended college at the University of California, Berkeley. He received an American Book Award in 1989 for a collection of short stories, …
- Maya Lin
Maya Ying Lin (born October 5, 1959) is an American artist who has become known for her work in architecture. However, she is not a legally registered architect. She is the niece of Lin Huiyin. Her best known work is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
- Jennifer 8. Lee
Jennifer 8. Lee is a "New York Times" reporter for the Metro section. She spells her middle name "8." (with both the digit and the period) on paper, but on her New York driver's license, it is spelled as "Eight". She is considered a master of the "conceptual scoop". Many Chinese and Japanese names contain numbers written in characters.
- Laurence Yep
Larry mostly does the recommendation, but whoever recommends, we have a meeting and agree, then call up the author to make a contract, etc. Yes, they are on the rise. Because the egos of the celebrities are so big, and the big publishers think they can sell a ton and make a buck. Which has proven often to be true. "There is no accounting for taste," said the man when he saw the monkey eating glue....
- Gish Jen
Gish Jen (born Lillian Jen, named for the actress Lillian Gish, in 1955 in Long Island, New York) is a contemporary American writer. Several of her short stories have been reprinted in "The Best American Short Stories". Her piece "Birthmates", was selected as one of "The Best American Short Stories of The Century" by John Updike. Her works include three novels, "Typical American", "Mona in the Promised Land", …
- Ha Jin
Jīn Xuěfēi is a contemporary Chinese-American writer using the pen name Ha Jin (哈金). Ha Jin was born in Liaoning, China in 1956. His father was a military officer, and Jin joined the People's Liberation Army in 1969 during the Cultural Revolution. In 1981 he graduated from Heilongjiang University with a Bachelor's degree in English studies, and three years later obtained his Masters in Anglo-American literature at Shandong University.
- Alice Wu
Alice Wu is an American film director and screenwriter. Alice Wu was born and raised in San Jose, California, where she graduated from Los Altos High School. In 1990, she received her B.A. in Computer Science from Stanford University. Two years later, she completed her Master's degree in Computer Science at Stanford. Before being a filmmaker, Wu worked as a software engineer for Microsoft in Seattle. She then left the corporate world to pursue a filmmaking career full time.
- Judy Yung
Judy Yung is professor emerita in American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in oral history, women's history, and Chinese American and Asian American history. She is author of "Island: Poetry and History of Chinese Immigrants on Angel Island, 1910-1940" (1980), …
- Michelle Kwan
Michelle Wing Kwan is an American figure skater and media celebrity who has won nine U.S. championships, five world championships, and two Olympic medals. She has remained competitive for over a decade and is the most decorated figure skater in U.S. history. Known for her consistency and expressive artistry on ice, she is widely considered to be one of the greatest figure skaters of all time despite having never won an Olympic gold medal.
- Arthur Dong
Arthur Dong (born October 30, 1953 in San Francisco, California) is an American documentary filmmaker. He is Chinese American and his work combines the art of the visual medium with an investigation of social issues, examing topics such as Asian American history and identity, and Gay oppression.
- Kelly Hu
Kelly Ann Hu is an American actress and former fashion model.
- Michelle Krusiec
With her acclaimed performance as a gay Manhattan surgeon Michelle Krusiec proves that she can play intriguing characters as well as stereotypical bimbos. ... ichelle Krusiec is full of surprises. Start with her name. It's jarring to have it paired with features of a full-blooded Taiwanese. When Michelle was five her natural parents gave her up for adoption to her aunt who is married to an American surnamed Krusiec. The couple brought Michelle to the States.
- James Yee
James J. Yee (born c. 1968) is an American, former United States Army chaplain with the rank of captain. He is best known for being subject to an intense investigation by the United States, but all charges were later dropped. Yee, a Chinese American, was born in New Jersey and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1990. Shortly afterward, he converted from Christianity to Islam in 1991, undergoing religious training in Syria and meeting his wife, …
- James Hong
James Hong is an American actor and the ex-president of the Association of Asian/Pacific American Artists (AAPAA).
- Nancy Kwan
Nancy Kwan (born May 19 1939) (Cantonese: Kwan Ka Shin) is an American actress, who played a pivotal role in the acceptance of actors of Asian descent in major Hollywood film roles. Widely praised for her beauty, Kwan was considered a major sex symbol in the 1960s.
- Ed Jew
Edmund "Ed" Jew is a third generation San Franciscan and a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 4, which comprises most of the Sunset District. His grandfather emigrated from China around the turn of the century. By 1927, his grandfather James Jew had established the well known Canton Flower Shop in Chinatown and became a distinguished leader in the Chinese community.
- Ming-Na
Ming-Na Wen (born November 20, 1963) is an American actress. She has been credited with and without her surname, but most credits since the late 1990s have been without her surname.
- Jerry Chih-Yuan Yang
Jerry Yang Chih-Yuan (born November 1968) is a Taiwanese American entreprenuer, co-founder with David Filo and CEO of Yahoo! Inc. He is also one of the two Chief Yahoo!s and board director of the company. As of 2007 his net worth is estimated to be US$2.2 billion and is ranked 432nd among the world's richest people according to Forbes.
- Martin Yan
Martin Yan (甄文達; Pinyin: Zhēn Wéndá; later 殷文達; pinyin: Yīn Wéndá; note that 甄 and 殷 are both pronounced "Yan" in Cantonese) (born 1948) is a Chinese-born American chef and actor who hosts the award-winning national cooking show "Yan Can Cook". He currently resides in Hillsborough, California, south of San Francisco, and is married to Susan ("Sue") with twin sons, Colin and Devin.
- Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang is an American journalist and music critic on hip-hop music and culture. His writings have appeared in publications such as "URB", "The Bomb", "San Francisco Chronicle", the "Village Voice", the "San Francisco Bay Guardian", "Vibe", "Spin", "The Nation", and "Mother Jones", as well as in his history of hip-hop, "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation", …
- John Liu
John Liu is a New York City elected official, currently serving on the New York City Council representing District 20. He was elected in 2001 to represent northeast Queens (Flushing, Queensboro Hill, Mitchell Gardens, Kissena Park, Harding Heights, Auburndale, part of Whitestone) and was re-elected in 2005.
- David Ho
David Da-i Ho (born November 3, 1952) is a Taiwanese American AIDS researcher famous for pioneering the use of protease inhibitors in treating HIV-infected patients with his team.
- Ken Leung
Ken Leung (born January 21, 1970) is an American actor. Leung was born in New York City and raised in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side of the city. His family subsequently relocated to Midwood, Brooklyn where he grew up before finishing high school in Old Bridge, NJ. He attended New York University as a University Scholar and discovered acting in his junior year.