# Asian-American actresses on primetime network TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791 "2003-04-01T21:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/21 "2003-04-02T07:47:24Z")
Reiko Aylesworth, Michelle on _24_- is she at least part-Asian? I can’t seem to find much on her. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/22 "2003-04-02T09:22:34Z")
One of the “Slayers-in-Training” on _Buffy_ is Asian. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/23 "2003-04-02T09:26:21Z")
Suzanne Whang, an LA stand-up comic, is pretty ubiquitous in shows like _VIP_ and _Strong Medicine._ I went to high school with her! ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/24 "2003-04-02T22:03:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > \*\*Actors? Actresses? What’s the difference? \*\* In that case, the ex-principal (and, obviously, his son) on Smallivlle. And Chau (Chow?) from Off Centre. And, um, that kid from That 80s Show. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/25 "2003-04-02T22:15:56Z")
And Dean Cain (Lois & Clark, Ripley’s Believe it or Not) who’s 1/2 (IIRC) Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2003, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/26 "2003-04-02T23:00:38Z")
Dean Cain is a quarter Japanese. **BobT** : > [@](#): > > Actors? Actresses? What’s the difference? The former are male, whereas the latter tend to be female. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/27 "2003-04-03T04:41:27Z")
Dean Cain’s quarter Japanese? I never would have guessed. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/28 "2003-04-03T04:55:35Z")
You don’t really notice it until you’re told, and then you can see it. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/29 "2003-04-03T20:14:36Z")
Yeah, it’s in the hair. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![InTransit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47774/32.png) [@InTransit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InTransit)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2003, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/30 "2003-04-03T21:48:03Z")
If we’re going to branch out and hijack, consider: Keanu Reeves Pheobe Cates Tia Carrera All have some Asian blood in them. Thanks for clarifying actor vs. actress, **Fiver**. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/31 "2003-04-04T04:58:58Z")
Plenty of character actors playing doctors are Indian, though I couldn’t tell you their names :D. ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/32 "2003-04-04T05:05:06Z")
**InTransit** : > [@](#): > > Thanks for clarifying actor vs. actress, **Fiver**. 😃 \*\* I’m here for you, buddy. ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/33 "2003-04-04T07:17:30Z")
Apparently Ming Na wasn’t enough for ER - tonight they introduced another Asian female doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Doctor\_Goo\_Fee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Goo_Fee)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/34 "2003-04-04T07:34:37Z")
Fortunately, Asian-American women make up for their scarcity in prime-time entertainment by holding down about 70% of all local TV news reporter jobs (or at least it seems like that sometimes). ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/35 "2003-04-04T09:03:36Z")
Anybody know why that is, exactly? Is it the easy-on-the-eyes factor (I’ll admit to having a certain bias here)? Or are they somehow just _that_ much more trustworthy than eveyone else? Hijack? What hijack? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/36 "2003-04-04T10:51:22Z")
Kellye Nakahara played the rather chubby Nurse Kellye on _M_A_S_H\* as far back as 1973, so it’s not _all_ about “easy-on-the-eyes”, nor it is it exclusively a recent phenomenon. Nakahara is from Hawaii and identified her character’s ethnic background in one rather forced scene that I’ll quote as best I can from memory: Alan Alda: We need a [larger aortic graft for this critically-ill patient] Nakahara: Doctor, I’m half-Japanese and half-Hawaiian. Can you put in terms I can understand? Alda: A small egg roll. Nakahara: That, I can understand. We don’t have one that big. France Nuyen (who _is_ easy on the eyes) is of French-Vietnemese ancestry . Her credits include two seasons of _St. Elsewhere_ and the original _I Spy_ TV series. Plus she got Captain Kirk to fall in love with her, so she deserves special mention just for that. Kim Miyori also had two seaons on _St. Elsewhere_ (though earlier than Nuyen’s, which kinda suggests they were deliberately going for demographic casting). ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791/37 "2003-04-04T11:47:06Z")
> [@](#): > > **France Nuyen (who is easy on the eyes) is of French-Vietnemese ancestry . Her credits include two seasons of St. Elsewhere and the original I Spy TV series. Plus she got Captain Kirk to fall in love with her, so she deserves special mention just for that.** She was also Bloody Mary’s daughter in _South Pacific._ where she took ‘easy on the eyes’ to a much higher level. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/asian-american-actresses-on-primetime-network-tv/165791.md?page=1)