This is part of our cover series on Asian American YouTube stars.

Writers, producers, actors
The trio behind Wong Fu Productions has come a long way since its first hit online video, Yellow Fever. Ted Fu, 28, Philip Wang, 26, and Wesley Chan, 26, can boast over 150 short films, including At Musing’s End and A Peace of Home, both of which were shown at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, and they show a level of professionalism that’s rare, especially compared to all the other hastily webcam-shot videos posted online. Their ability to produce high-quality shorts means that they’re at the heart of the scores of collaborations produced among Asian America’s creative pool. [Video after the jump] Continue Reading »

From the personal archives of Korean America

Joseph Ileto used to carry around this bag while making his mail rounds in neighborhoods throughout the San Fernando Valley of Southern California. Today it sits in a room in his younger brother Ismael’s house in Chino Hills—and the only letters it carries are ones of sympathy that the Ileto family received after Joseph was killed in a hate crime attack 11 years ago. Although many may remember white supremacist Buford O. Furrow’s infamous shooting spree at the North Valley Jewish Community Center on August 10, 1999, when he wounded three children, a teenager and a grandmother, sadly, too many tend to forget that the only person he killed that day was Joseph Ileto. Continue Reading »

The Brat Pack: (from left) Bart Kwon, Clara Chung, Ted Fu, Megan Lee, Ryan Higa and Joe Jo.

By Elizabeth Eun and Julie Ma
Photograph by Eric Sueyoshi

It all seemed self-indulgent and border-line narcissistic before 2005, uploading videos of yourself belting out pop songs or talking to an invisible audience. But YouTube made it not only acceptable, but also a cultural norm. And while videos of screaming babies and neurotic cats have flooded cyberspace, there’s been a not-so-quiet revolution stirring within the YouTube arena. Asian American artists are practically omnipresent on the video-sharing website, posting clips of themselves and each other singing, dancing, playing instruments and telling jokes. Which anyone can do these days, right? But these artists actually get views. Continue Reading »

By Randall Park

Believe it or not, there was a time when I had difficulty in the dating world. Yes, even I, Randall Park, actor of stage and screen, had bad luck with the ladies. I call this period of my life “The Dark Ages,” and it spanned from when I hit puberty (around 19 years old) to just before I got married (in 2009.) During this time, I was no stranger to phrases like: “Sorry, you’re not my type” (Sally Lawrence, 1992); “I don’t go for guys like you” (Michelle Chan, 1999); “I see you more as a friend” (Isabel Sanchez, 2002); or “Seriously, dude, I’m a lesbian” (Sally Lawrence, again, 2005).

Yes, I was no stranger to heartache. And I had only one person to blame: Gedde Watanabe.

Watanabe was the actor who played Long Duk Dong in the seminal teen film of my generation, Sixteen Candles. He was a bumbling foreign exchange student, butcher of the English language, an emasculated, horny, Oriental Sambo whose every scene was accompanied by the sound of a gong. Seriously. Continue Reading »