The U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit is the most prestigious gathering of dealmakers, thought leaders, and content creators in the U.S. and Asian entertainment industries. Now in its 13th year, this signature Asia Society Southern California event, originally created as a forum for filmmakers from the U.S. and China to collaborate, has expanded to a conference analyzing the trends and forces transforming entertainment – across all of Asia and beyond film to television, digital streaming and content, music, and gaming.
In 2019, the Entertainment Game Changer Awards was introduced, extending the global Asia Society’s highest honor to our Summit in Los Angeles. Each year, the Summit attracts the most important and interesting speakers in U.S. and Asian entertainment.
In 2022, the annual event will take place on October 30, at Skirball Cultural Center.
Honorees:
2022 Asia Entertainment Career Achievement Awardee
Janet Yang
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences | President
An Emmy Award and Golden Globe-winning Hollywood producer, Yang is President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the first Asian American and fourth woman to hold the position.
Yang has worked with some of the most formidable directors and actors in the world. She came to prominence through her collaboration with Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun (Warner Bros). That was followed by a long partnership with multiple Academy Award-winner Oliver Stone—where she served as Executive Producer on the iconic The Joy Luck Club (Disney), and as a Producer on the Golden Globe-winning The People vs. Larry Flynt (Columbia Pictures).
Her most recent credit is as an Executive Producer on the Oscar-nominated animated feature, Over the Moon. Based on her original story, the film was directed by legendary animator Glen Keane and released on Netflix in 2020.
Among her many other credits are: the Sundance award-winning Dark Matter with Meryl Streep; The Weight of Water (Lionsgate) directed by Academy Award winner Kathryn Bigelow with Academy award winner Sean Penn; Fox’s High Crimes with Morgan Freeman; a Chinese adaptation of the acclaimed Disney franchise High School Musical; cult favorites Zero Effect, by Jake Kasdan, and Shanghai Calling with China Film Group.
Yang has been named one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” by the Hollywood Reporter.
Yang began her career by running the first distribution company to market Chinese films into North America. She also brokered the reintroduction of American cinema to the Chinese marketplace on behalf of several studios after a decades-long hiatus.
Committed to fostering global understanding, Yang is a co-founder of Gold House, the non-profit collective of influential Asian cultural leaders; a long-standing member of the Committee of 100, an organization of the most prominent Chinese-Americans; and an advisory board member of Asia Society Southern California where she also chairs its highly regarded US-Asia Entertainment Summit.
Yang has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Variety, South China Morning Post, Harper’s Bazaar, as well as on numerous television and radio shows across the US and Asia such as NPR, CCTV and Beijing TV. She is frequently asked to consult on projects and sought after for public speaking engagements.
Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Yang holds a B.A. from Brown University in Chinese studies and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. She was also recently appointed as a Presidential Fellow at Loyola Marymount University.
Entertainment Game Changers
88rising
88rising is a record label, management and marketing company who supports and promotes Asian and Asian American creatives and communities since its founding in 2015. The label is behind some recent hits including Joji’s Glimpse of Us.
Inaugurated in 2018, 88rising hosts Head in the Clouds music festival, held in Los Angeles and will be expanding to Jakarta and Manila this December.
In May 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 88rising’s hours-long livestream festival Asia Rising Forever, drew an estimated eight million viewers across social media platforms.
88rising collaborated with director Destin Daniel Cretton on the hit Marvel movie, Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings on its groundbreaking soundtrack featuring a roster of 88rising artists.
In April this year, the label-conceptualized set “Head in the Clouds Forever” took stage at Coachella featuring artists that include “K-Pop Queens” 2NE1, Indonesian rapper Rich Brian, Chinese super star Jackson Wang, and J-Pop legend Hikaru Utada and “proved to be Weekend One’s biggest surprise hit.” (Billboard.com)
88rising has grown since its founding as a music collective, and designs curated lifestyle products surrounding the label’s artists. They are also working on television and film projects.
Sean Miyashiro
Founder and CEO, 88Rising
Sean Miyashiro is the founder and CEO of internationally-renowned music and media company 88rising, whose mission is to amplify Asian and Asian-American talent and youth culture across the globe. He’s been profiled by the New Yorker, the New York Times, NPR, Billboard, Business Insider, and many more. Since founding 88rising in 2015, Miyashiro has transformed the music world, redefining what a record label can be. In addition to their work cultivating a diverse roster of Asian talent, 88rising has a hand in a myriad of internationally successful endeavors – thanks to Miyashiro’s boundless vision and ambition.
Ms. Marvel
Marvel Studios
"
Ms. Marvel," launching on Disney+, is a new series that introduces Kamala Khan—a 16-year-old Pakistani-American growing up in Jersey City. A great student, an avid gamer and a voracious fan-fiction scribe, she has a special affinity for superheroes, particularly Captain Marvel. But Kamala struggles to fit in at home and at school—that is, until she gets super powers like the heroes she’s always looked up to. Life is easier with super powers, right? Iman Vellani stars as Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel; the cast also includes Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer and Nimra Bucha. Episodes are directed by Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Meera Menon and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
Sherry Cola
Comedian, Writer, Actress
Named “One to Watch” by People Magazine, “11 Asian American Comics Who Need to Be on Your Radar” by Entertainment Weekly and highlighted as an entertainer who represents the vast spectrum of storytelling across the industry on the 2022 Power of Pride list from Variety, comedian, actress, writer, and prodigious talent Sherry Cola has emerged as a rising star in the entertainment industry. From starring in scripted dramas to showcasing her creative expertise in blockbuster comedies, and performing hilarious original stand-upsets on stage, Cola has proven she can do it all. Cola currently stars on Freeform’s critically acclaimed, hit drama series “Good Trouble.”
Cola regularly produces new material as a stand-up comedian, recently opening for Arsenio Hall and Ronny Chieng. She performs regularly at Laugh Factory, The Ice House, Hollywood Improv and The Comedy Store and recently filmed an episode of “Funny Dance Show” for E! (2020) alongside Jackie Tohn, Solomon Georgio and London Brown.
Cola is passionate about discussing the inequalities that exist within her Asian and LGBTQ communities. She also recently worked with the National Women’s Law Center (Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund) for AAPI Equal Pay Day, to discuss wage gaps and the recent Asian hate crimes in the U.S.
Bowen Yang
Comedian, Writer, Actor
Bowen Yang is a comedian, writer, and actor based in Brooklyn, NY. He is currently a multi Emmy-nominated cast member on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, where he wrote for one season before moving on-screen. He can also be seen recurring on Comedy Central’s AWKWAFINA IS NORA FROM QUEENS and in Paramount’s THE LOST CITY, starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. Bowen stars in the recently released Searchlight Pictures comedy FIRE ISLAND, and will star next in Universal Pictures’ BROS with Billy Eichner. This past year Bowen was featured in TIME 100.
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