# Exciting, charismatic American Asians who are NOT in show business **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 25, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811 "2015-05-25T17:46:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/1 "2015-05-25T17:46:39Z")
[In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18371028&postcount=49)debating admissions procedures a reference is made to the stereotype of the Asian student as a dull grind that universities do not want too many of in a “holistic” education model. > [@](#): > > Are you suggesting that high admission rates of Asians would prevent these things from happening? This is essentially the “Asians are good test-takers but are dull in other facets of life” stereotype. To prove this stereotype is false who are some exciting, expressive and vivacious American Asians NOT in show business? ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/2 "2015-05-25T17:49:50Z")
Tiger Woods. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/3 "2015-05-25T17:53:29Z")
Vera Wang. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/4 "2015-05-25T20:58:35Z")
How about former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki? But really, how many people of _any_ ethnicity not in show business can you name who are “exciting, expressive and vivacious”? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/5 "2015-05-25T21:08:50Z")
Tammy Duckworth. I mean, c’mon, veteran combat pilot for the exciting, politician for the charismatic. What a combo. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/6 "2015-05-25T21:20:47Z")
[Jim Yong Kim](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Yong_Kim) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/7 "2015-05-25T21:23:19Z")
Does sports count as show business? If not: Jeremy Lin Dat Nguyen ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/8 "2015-05-25T21:38:27Z")
Any number of hairdressers, including [Suga](http://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/15/obituaries/yusuke-suga-47-dies-manhattan-hair-stylist.html), and my spouse, who was one of his proteges. And fashion designers such as Hanae Mori. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/9 "2015-05-25T21:50:03Z")
oops. Missed the Asian Americans stipulation. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/10 "2015-05-25T23:31:15Z")
[Vern Yip](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vern_Yip) (an interior designer who occasionally is on TV) [The Shahs of Sunset](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahs_of_Sunset) ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/11 "2015-05-25T23:53:19Z")
I have a few friends who fit the bill but you wouldn’t know them. They also are not the same people who are 98 to 99%ile SAT, near straight As, multiple AP classes, and winners of music and/or science awards who are claiming they are victims of a de facto. The problem with your request is that if someone is not a celebrity then few of us will know them. There are all sorts of Asians in America, including many who are exciting and expressive, verbally gifted, or accomplished in sports. The subgroup who feels discriminated against at Harvard is a very small slice of the multi-flavored Asian American pie and not necessarily representative of the whole, nor does the whole containing all sorts mean that those all sorts also are those who get near perfect SATs/GPAs and are competing for a spot at Harvard. ---
**Author:** ![Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/839c29/32.png) [@Phedre\_no\_Delaunay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phedre_no_Delaunay)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/12 "2015-05-26T02:26:30Z")
[Michio Kaku](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michio_Kaku) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/13 "2015-05-26T02:29:53Z")
Uh, most of my Asian university students. ---
**Author:** ![Scribble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scribble/32/3317_2.png) [@Scribble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribble)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/14 "2015-05-26T02:41:49Z")
[Timothy Liu](http://timothyliu.net/), poet and activist. [David Hwang](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Henry_Hwang), playwright. (I assume that playwrights don’t count as being in showbiz.) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/15 "2015-05-26T02:56:21Z")
My kids. Spend an evening with them and you’ll find them exciting, expressive and vivacious! ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/16 "2015-05-26T03:27:15Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18371028&postcount=49)debating admissions procedures a reference is made to the stereotype of the Asian student as a dull grind that universities do not want too many of in a “holistic” education model. I went to Harvey Mudd College, a top-ranked school with no affirmative action program, where the student body was about 40% Asian American. Based on those I met, I would say that Asian Americans come loud and quiet, passive and aggressive, polite and rude, industrious and lazy, optimistic and pessimistic. I would say the same for any ethnic group. The evidence is clear that Asian applicants to college get rejected where other applicants with the same test scores and GPAs get accepted. Saying that Asian applicants somehow fail in some unspecified “holistic” way is clearly a last-ditch effort by the discriminatory universities to cover their rear ends. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/17 "2015-05-26T03:38:47Z")
Senator Leland Yee has been indicted for gun running. That might qualify him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/18 "2015-05-26T03:48:52Z")
[Albert Yu-Min Lin](http://www.albertyuminlin.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/19 "2015-05-26T04:01:09Z")
[Maya Lin](http://www.makers.com/maya-lin) ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/exciting-charismatic-american-asians-who-are-not-in-show-business/720811/20 "2015-05-26T06:18:12Z")
My sister-in-law-- that is, my brother’s wife. Also, not to as great a degree, but still pretty cool, my son’s first pre-school teacher.