Have you noticed the significant increase in Korean-American actors and actresses on TV and movies lately?  Have you noticed there are more men than women in Hollywood?  You would think that there would be more women in front of the camera because let’s be honest, Korean women are great to look at which makes sense in such a visual medium.  Not that the Korean men aren’t studs but who doesn’t like looking at a Korean women?  They are undeniably beautiful women.  Then again, I guess it does take more than just looking good in front of a camera to make it in Hollywood.

This is a an anecdotal story I’m going to share and it does not provide any empirical evidence as to why there are more Korean guys than gals on the screen.  However, it does suggest something.  In my earlier days living in NYC, I roomed with actors and guys who worked at a movie studio.  I was the odd man out because I had a regular job unrelated to the entertainment industry.  I once asked one of my buddies if he ever saw Asian guys out on the audition circuit.  He quickly responded, “Are you kidding me?!  Those guys get more work than most actors out there.”  Huh?! What?  He continued to tell me that though there are only a few roles seeking Asian male faces, there were even less auditioning for them and he suggested that I just give acting a try – even though I had very little acting talent.  Well, to best illustrate this perception, let’s do a quick roll call here.

Ladies on a TV show or in a film in 2009
Smith Cho, Moon Bloodgood, Grace Park, Jamie Chung, Kelly Choi, Margaret Cho, Jenna Ushkowitz, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Price & Yunjin Kim

Guys on a TV show or in a film in 2009
Daniel Henney, Tim Kang, Ken Jeong, Aaron Yoo, John Cho, Rex Lee, C.S. Lee, Justin Chon, Rick Yune, Sung Kang, Rain, Lee Byung Hun, Daniel Dae Kim & James Kyson Lee

We may have missed a few folks but these are the Korean-Americans who were in a prominent role in their film or show.  Now 14 to 10 in favor of the men doesn’t seem like a big difference, but if we were to count up the hours of coverage or viewer impressions, then we would see the greater disparity. We don’t have time to count up every second and sum it all up but here are a couple proxies.

Weekly TV program comparison: Tim Kang, Ken Jeong, Rex Lee, John Cho, C.S. lee, Daniel Dae Kim and James Kyson Lee are in key roles on current weekly network television shows.

Movies: Only Moon Bloodgood and Jamie Chung were in big screen films this year versus John Cho, Aaron Yoo, Ken Jeong, Justin Chon, Rick Yune and Sung Kang.  And don’t forget that Hollywood is really gambling with Ninja Assassins and the predominantly Korean cast with Rain as the lead role.

So what are we trying to say?  Simple observations suggest that America is becoming more accepting of the Asian male and there are more opportunities for them.  But what about the ladies?  My conclusion is that there’s that much more competition on the female side of the fence where they’re competing against more open non-ethnic/racial specific roles.  Though they may be going on casting calls for Asian-American woman between 25-30, they’re also going on casting calls for (all) women between 25-30.  I thoroughly root for all the Korean women on the big and small screen, but I wish there were more of them up there.   Don’t you?

Korean-American actors own Thursday night television this fall.  On Thursday night, four Korean-American actors were in very prominent roles on four major TV shows on the major networks.  It’s must see TV on Thursday night!

• John Cho plays FBI agent Demetri Noh in ABC’s heavily promoted TV show FlashForward, which premiered at 8pm EST.  Note: His fiancé in the series is portrayed by Gabrielle Union!
• Sandra Oh plays Dr. Cristina Yang in Grey’s Anatomy.  She happened to be nominated this past weekend for an Emmy Award.  Grey’s Anatomy is back for its sixth season premiere at 9pm EST on ABC.
• Ken Jeong is in the new NBC comedy Community as the Spanish teacher Senor Chang.  It premiered last week and the show starts at 9:30pm EST on NBC.  Ken Jeong was finally introduced on the show as the cantankerous Spanish teacher.  Hilarious!
• And finally, Tim Kang is in the second season premiere of The Mentalist, the biggest hit from last television season.  He plays agent Kimball Cho and the show kicks off at 10pm on CBS.
• Well, if you really want to keep it going, Elizabeth Kim is a contestant on CBS’ Survivor and Brian Tee is a guest star on the season premiere of C.S.I.

That’s right, you can watch almost all of them between 8pm to 11pm on Thursday night, with the exception of the overlap between Sandra Oh and Ken Jeong going head to head at 9:30.  They’re all represented across 3 of the 4 major networks: ABC, NBC, CBS.  What’s up Fox?  No Love for the Koreans?  I know Bobby Lee is on MADtv, but that’s Saturday night.   Btw, it doesn’t stop there.  More Koreans will be be seen on other shows that have yet to premiere.  EXCITING!!! For more on these Korean-American actors on Korean Beacon, click on the name: Tim Kang, John Cho, Sandra Oh, and Ken Jeong. You can follow Korean Beacon on Facebook and Twitter.

So which Korean actors were at the Emmys on Sunday night?  Hmmmm?!  How about Sandra Oh who was nominated for Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for Grey’s Anatomy.  Rex Lee who plays Lloyd on HBO’s Entourage.  And of course there was the Korean couple from ABC’s Lost: Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim.   Here are a few video clips from TV Guide’s coverage of the Emmy’s.  And the beauty Lindsay Price graced the red carpet, who is formerly of Lipstick Jungle and now the new show Eastwick.

Diana Son’s play “Satellites” was first seen in New York at the Public Theater with Sandra Oh (of Grey’s Anatomy fame) playing the character of Nina.  This interesting play is now in Baton Rouge and it’s about “a Korean-American architect; her husband, an out-of-work, dot-com producer who’s African American; an older across-the- street neighbor, black, who pre-dates hyphens and a past middle-aged Korean nanny who’ll happily die just plain Korean.”  What?!  Huh?  Read>