Asian Representation in Movies Climbs 12.5 Percentage Points in 16 Years, Study Finds

Between Everything Everywhere All at Once, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Raya and the Last Dragon and this summer's Past Lives and Joy Ride, there has been a huge boost in AAPI (Asian American and Pacific Islander) representation in film — a leap from 3.4% in 2007's sampling of top 100 grossing films to 15.9% in 2022's sampling, according to a new study.

Not only has there been a rise in on-camera talent, but more Asians are working behind the scenes, too.

"Asian directors are at an all-time high in 2021 and 2022, which can account for the significant on-screen increases pertaining to Asian speaking characters," researchers at the University of Southern California's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative wrote in their annual Hollywood diversity report.

Meanwhile, the percentage of white people with speaking roles has decreased from 2007 to 2022, giving more people of color and others from minority demographic backgrounds a chance at being a main character, rather than an extra, on the big screen.

However, the researchers, as well as study leader Dr. Stacy L. Smith, noted that progress has stalled for nearly every group in Hollywood but Asians.

For example, among the top 100 grossing films in 2022, 32 titles had no Black women in speaking roles, 61 had no Latinas in speaking roles, 95 had no Middle Eastern/North African women in speaking roles, 99 had no Pacific Islander women in speaking roles, and zero featured a speaking role for an American Indian woman. (Forty-four of 2022's top releases had no Asian women in speaking roles.)

"It is clear that the entertainment industry has little desire or motivation to improve casting processes in a way that creates meaningful change for girls and women," Smith said in an accompanying statement to the press. "The lack of progress is particularly disappointing following decades of activism and advocacy."

"When we look beyond gender and race/ethnicity, it is clear that Hollywood’s problems with inclusion are even more pronounced for the LGBTQ+ and disability communities," Smith added.

The study notes that only 2.1% of speaking roles in 2022 went to LGBTQ+ characters and 1.9% going to characters with disabilities. Billy Eichner's LGBTQ comedy Bros had four of the five speaking transgender roles among the films in 2022's movie title sampling (80% of 2022's movie roles for trans people were in Bros).

"The lack of progress in these areas suggests that executives and content creators are relying on practices that continue to marginalize and exclude talented voices from all backgrounds," Smith said.

The 2023 USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report can be read here.