Gold House has revealed its list of the 100 Most Impactful Asians of the Year, and it honors a number of politicians, entrepreneurs, athletes and entertainers.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star Simu Liu were among those honored in the A100 List, which is unveiled every May as part of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
Gold House, which is a nonprofit collective of Asian and Pacific Islander founders, creative voices and leaders, acknowledges individuals who stand out in business and finance, activism, advocacy and politics, entertainment, lifestyle, media and journalism, sports and health and technology and innovation.
The sports and health honorees included tennis champion Naomi Osaka, UFC Strawweight World Champion Weili Zhang and NFL’s leading scorer Younghoe Koo.
The entertainment industry has the most number of honorees, including writer, director and producer Alice Wu, director Bao Nguyen, director Destin Daniel Cretton, Kelly Marie Tran and Lee Isaac Chung. Musicians Joji, Anderson .Paak, Olivia Rodrigo, Saweetie and Blackpink, and actors Ian Alexander, Olivia Munn, Bowen Yang, Riz Ahmed and Auli’i Cravalho made the list as well.
Meanwhile, alongside Harris, U.S. representative Andy Kim, Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote (APIAVote) executive director Christine Chen and “Minor Feelings” author Cathy Park Hong were among those recognized in the activism, advocacy and politics category.
For business and finance, among the honorees were Sequoia Capital partner Alfred Lin, Square CFO Amrita Ahuja, AT&T Business CEO Anne Chow and Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt.
Gold House aims to elevate Asian voices and their cultural impact on society. It is working on reshaping public opinion through affirming media portrayals. Bob Iger, Daniel Dae Kim, George Takei, Lea Salonga, Lisa Ling, Michael B. Jordan and Michelle Yeoh were among the panel of judges this year.
“Our leaders can no longer just be great — they must be good. They can’t just represent us in celebration — they must also elevate us when we’re in pain,” Bing Chen, president and co-founder of Gold House, said in a statement to Variety. “That’s why this year’s Gold House A100 List spotlights leaders who were excellent in achievement and eminent in activism. This is, in so many ways, the fight for our lives — and we need fighters who see that.”
Liu said in a statement that he was honored to have been “recognized by my community” as he took pride in his Asian and Canadian heritage.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked on a number of definitive projects within the Asian diaspora, and have been a direct benefactor of the efforts of organizations like Gold House,” he said.
“I’m fiercely proud of my Asian American/Canadian heritage, and I’m extremely excited to continue showing the world what it means to be unapologetically Asian. I want an Asian American movie to break a billion dollars at the global box office. But just one is not enough. I want to see more; I want to see seconds, and thirds, and fourths, and fifths. We cannot settle for just ‘firsts.'”
Oscar nominee Ahmed, who was born to a British-Pakistani family, was also honored to be part of the list. He also expressed his excitement in using his profession and company to promote Asian culture.
“It feels great to be part of this list alongside all these incredible people. I’m excited to play my part alongside them in helping to stretch culture and take audiences with us to new places, both as an artist and through my company Lefthanded,” he said.
Check out the video Gold House released below.