Here Are 26 Asian Actors You Should Know

Behold, 26 Incredibly Talented (and Handsome) Asian Actors Who Deserve to Be Leading Men

May 5 2021 by Monica Sisavat Solís

It's not often enough that you see an Asian actor cast as the lead in a movie or a TV show. Historically, if an Asian actor is asked to be a part of a project, the role is usually a supporting one or falls under an offencive trope. Asian men are often asked to play the stereotpical nerd, the doctor, or the best friend, but almost never are they cast as the leading man or enviable love interest. But guess what, Hollywood? They can do both.

Thanks to critically-acclaimed films like Crazy Rich Asians, Minari, and Nomadland, we've slowly started to see a bit of progress when it comes to Asian representation in Hollywood, but we still have a ways to go. As an Asian American myself, frankly, I'm tired of seeing the same old Ryans and Chrises; it's important that I see characters who look like me and who I can relate to on screen. Please do better.

Ahead, check out some of the best Asian actors out there right now.

Image Source: Getty / Rich Fury

1. Dev Patel

Age: 31
Where you've seen him before: Patel starred in 2007's Skins, 2008's Slumdog Millionaire, 2010's The Last Airbender, 2018's Hotel Mumbai, and 2019's Modern Love.
Where to see him next: He'll be appearing alongside Alicia Vikander
and Joel Edgerton in the A24 film The Green Knight, and will be making his directorial debut with Netflix's Monkey Man.

Image Source: Getty / Lia Toby

2. Max Huang

Age: 32
Where you've seen him before: Most recently, Huang starred as Kung Lao in Mortal Kombat, but he's also appeared in 2016's Time Raiders and the 2019 short No Way Out.
Where to see him next: He'll be starring in the 2021 Chinese action thriller Snafu.

3. Rahul Kohli

Age: 35
Where you've seen him before: Kohli played Ravi Chakrabarti in the iZombie TV series, Jack Spheer in Supergirl, and Owen in The Haunting of Bly Manor.
Where to see him next: He'll be appearing on Netflix's Midnight Mass TV series.

Image Source: Getty / Erika Goldring

4. Ross Butler

Age: 30
Where you've seen him before: Butler has made a name for himself with roles on Teen Wolf, Riverdale, K.C. Undercover, 13 Reasons Why, and of course, 2021's To All the Boys: Always and Forever.
Where to see him next: The actor will be taking on the role of Eugene Choi in 2023's Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

Image Source: Getty / Phillip Faraone

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5. Charles Melton

Age: 30
Where you've seen him before: Melton has appeared on Glee and American Horror Story, but he's most recognised as Reggie Mantle from Riverdale.
Where to see him next: He'll be starring alongside Michael Shannon and Alexander Ludwig in the drama Swing.

Image Source: Getty / Jacopo Raule

6. Andrew Koji

Age: 33
Where you've seen him before: The actor is most recognised for his roles in 2013's Fast & Furious 6 and 2016's Hall of Mirrors.
Where to see him next: You can see him in this year's Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins and the upcoming Bullet Train film with Brad Pitt and Sandra Bullock.

Image Source: Getty / Christopher Jue

7. Ludi Lin

Age: 33
Where you've seen him before: Lin was Zack in 2017's Power Rangers, Captain Murk in 2018's Aquaman, Lance in 2019's Black Mirror, and most recently, Liu Kang in 2021's Mortal Kombat.
Where to see him next: He'll be playing Michael Hong in the upcoming movie The Disappearance of Mrs. Wu.

Image Source: Getty / Axelle/Bauer-Griffin

8. John Cho

Age: 48
Where you've seen him before: From 2004's Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle to 2009's Star Trek to 2018's The Searching, Cho has starred in a variety of projects throughout the years.
Where to see him next: Catch him as Spike Spiegel in the upcoming Cowboy Bebop series.

Image Source: Getty / Emma McIntyre

9. Harry Shum Jr.

Age: 39
Where you've seen him before: Shum Jr. has had roles on Glee, Step Up 2: The Streets, Shadowhunters, and Crazy Rich Asians.
Where to see him next: The actor will star as Owen Lin in the upcoming rom-com Love Hard.

Image Source: Getty / Matt Winkelmeyer

10. Chris Pang

Age: 36
Where you've seen him before: Pang's most notable role to date has been as Colin Khoo in 2018's Crazy Rich Asians, but he's also appeared in 2019's Charlie's Angels and 2020's Palm Springs.

Image Source: Getty / Brent Lewin

11. Ronny Chieng

Age: 35
Where you've seen him before: The actor has appeared in 2018's Crazy Rich Asians, 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong, and Dwayne Johnson's TV series Young Rock.
Where to see him next: He'll be appearing in the upcoming films Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Image Source: Getty / Presley Ann

12. Ki Hong Lee

Age: 34
Where you've seen him before: Lee is best known for his role as Minho in Maze Runner, but he's also appeared on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and the Spider-Man TV series.

Image Source: Getty / Han Myung-Gu

13. Simu Liu

Age: 32
Where you've seen him before: Liu has starred in a handful of projects, including Taken, Blood and Water, and Kim's Convenience.
Where to see him next: He'll be starring as the titular Shang-Chi in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Image Source: Getty / Alberto E. Rodriguez

14. Vincent Rodriguez III

Age: 38
Where you've seen him before: The actor played Josh Chan on the Crazy Ex-Girlfriend series and lent his voice to 2021's Raya and the Last Dragon and Netflix's Arlo the Alligator Boy.

Image Source: Getty / Kevin Mazur

15. Lewis Tan

Age: 34
Where you've seen him before: Most recently, Tan played Cole Young in Mortal Kombat, but he's also been in Deadpool 2, Wu Assassins, and Into the Badlands.
Where to see him next: Tan is playing Lu Xin Lee in Fistful of Vengeance.

Image Source: Getty / Phillip Faraone

16. Kunal Nayyar

Age: 40
Where you've seen him before: Nayyar's biggest role to date has been as Raj Koothrappali in the beloved Big Bang Theory series, but he also worked on 2012's Ice Age: Continental Drift and 2016's Trolls.
Where to see him next: He's currently filming Apple's upcoming thriller Suspicion alongside Mandip Gill, and is gearing up to star in Adam Sandler's Spaceman film.

Image Source: Getty / Stefanie Keenan

17. Sendhil Ramamurthy

Age: 46
Where you've seen him before: The actor has appeared on plenty of TV shows, including Beauty and the Beast, Heroes, New Amsterdam, The Flash, and Never Have I Ever.
Where to see him next: Since Never Have I Ever will be returning for season two, you can catch him as Mohan Venkatesan on the Netflix series.

Image Source: Getty / Taylor Hill

18. Joe Taslim

Age: 39
Where you've seen him before: Taslim has made appearances on 2013's Fast & Furious 6, 2016's Star Trek Beyond, and most recently, Mortal Kombat.

Image Source: Getty / picture alliance

19. Randall Park

Age: 47
Where you've seen him before: Park has practically been in everything from the Fresh Off the Boat series to Always Be My Maybe and WandaVision.
Where to see him next: He'll be voicing Butch in the upcoming Paw Patrol: The Movie.

Image Source: Getty / Amanda Edwards

20. Riz Ahmed

Age: 38
Where you've seen him before: You may know Ahmed as Bodhi Rook in 2016's Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Elias Rahim on The OA series, or Ruben in 2019's Sound of Metal.
Where to see him next: He'll be joining Octavia Spencer in Amazon's Invasion thriller and playing Hamlet in the new Netflix adaptation.

Image Source: Getty / Pool

21. Manny Jacinto

Age: 33
Where you've seen him before: Jacinto has appeared on shows like The Good Doctor and The Good Place.
Where to see him next: His upcoming projects include Top Gun: Maverick and Hulu's Nine Perfect Strangers.

Image Source: Getty / David Crotty

22. Steven Yeun

Age: 37
Where you've seen him before: Most recently, Yeun starred as Jacob in Minari, but you may also know him as Glenn Rhee from The Walking Dead.
Where to see him next: You can catch him in Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans and Stephen Karam's The Humans with Richard Jenkins and Amy Schumer.

Image Source: Getty / Rich Fury

23. Daniel Dae Kim

Age: 52
Where you've seen him before: The actor has made a name for himself in Hollywood with roles on Lost, Hawaii Five-O, Angel, and The Good Doctor.
Where to see him next: He'll be starring on AMC's upcoming Pantheon series, as well as season two of The Hot Zone: Anthrax.

Image Source: Getty / Mat Hayward

24. Remy Hii

Age: 34
Where you've seen him before: Hii has had roles in 2018's Crazy Rich Asians, 2019's Spider-Man: Far From Home, and the Marco Polo TV series.
Where to see him next: You can see him in Netflix's Princess Switch 3 with Vanessa Hudgens.

Image Source: Getty / Joe Scarnici

25. Bowen Yang

Age: 30
Where you've seen him before: In addition to making us laugh on Saturday Night Live, Yang has appeared in 2019's Isn't It Romantic, Broad City, and The Outs.
Where to see him next: He'll be joining Sandra Oh, Michelle Yeoh, and Henry Golding in the Paramount Animation film The Tiger's Apprentice.

Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison

26. Henry Golding

Age: 34
Where you've seen him before: Golding's most notable role to date has been as Nick Young in 2018's Crazy Rich Asians. Since then, he's starred in 2018's A Simple Favour, 2019's Last Christmas, and 2019's The Gentleman.
Where to see him next: He'll be starring alongside Dakota Johnson in Netflix's adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, as well as Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins and The Tiger's Apprentice.

Image Source: Getty / Slaven Vlasic

1. Dev Patel

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