Celebrating AAPI Month, 2026
- August Sorenson
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
For our celebration of AAPI month, The Actors Society recognizes the achievements of Nelson Lee (2001), Martha Millan (1997), John Jiang (2024), Grace Shen (1993), and Alexander Hodge (2016).
As this list is by no means complete, we encourage you to keep in touch with us through The Actors Society. We hope to hear from you!
Nelson Lee
For more than two decades Nelson Lee (2001) has built a career defined by range. His seamless movement between blockbuster spectacle and hardened drama is commonplace. In 2024, Lee combined them in Alex Garland’s Civil War, playing reporter and adrenaline-junkie Tony Zhao. He describes the project as one that leaves audiences “unified in shock,” and grateful for its ability to spark conversation long after the final frame.
Lee’s path to acting was anything but linear. Living a Boho lifestyle in Prague after a brief foray into business school, he found himself repeatedly drawn back to performance. When a chance application to the Academy fell on his lap, he auditioned alongside his roommate. Acceptance into the conservatory hardened his resolve.
In navigating productions of vastly different tones and scales–from the sweeping grandeur of Mulan to the intergalactic intrigue of Ahsoka–one thing has become clear: the guy’s a bona fide star. Mulan’s $200 million budget, descension of the “god mic,” and meticulous production design left a lasting impression. The actor’s playground.
Reflecting on his career, he is candid about the industry’s evolution. Early on, many of the roles were steeped in stereotype. He points to shifts following films like Crazy Rich Asians as paving the way. At his core, Lee remains drawn to stories that explore the human condition.
While he embraces the excitement of large-scale franchises, it is the quiet, deeply personal stories that continue to resonate most.
For Lee, whether working on a summer tent-pole or a character-driven drama, the essence remains the same: believe fully in the moment. It’s a philosophy rooted in Academy training.
Martha Millan
Martha Millan (1997) discovered her passion for acting in high school and pursued it at the University of Sydney before moving stateside to attend the Academy’s two-year program. Throughout her career, she’s graced both stage and screen, showcased her versatility in shows like Entourage, Madam Secretary, and Succession, and worked alongside notable co-stars like Jim Parsons and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Millan’s most notable role to date is in the series The Cleaning Lady. The show centers on Thony De La Rosa (played by Élodie Yung), a surgeon formerly employed in Manila now living in the United States. Millan plays Fiona Da La Rosa, sister-in-law and best friend to Thony, undocumented and employed as a Las Vegas cleaning lady.
The cultural impact of the show was felt by Millan, who recognizes its ability to uplift “marginalized voices” and “humanize them in a way people can connect to.” She reflects, “25 years ago, I would never have been able to audition for a leading role…with my heritage.”
In 2016, Millan worked on The OA, the drama sci-fi series featuring Jason Isaacs, Phyllis Smith, and Riz Ahmed. With a star-studded cast, it’s no surprise that Millan recalls this as one of her favorite projects to have worked on.
Truly embodying the term “multi-hyphenated artist,” she has long empowered others, even stepping into the classroom as an acting teacher. “I’m not looking to make child actors…it’s all about kind of just getting them out of their shell, connecting, really building their confidence,” she says. Appearing in many commercials, both in the US and abroad, Millan is one of the worldwide faces of Clairol Natural Instincts and Nooch, an upscale Vietnamese kitchen formerly located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
After The Cleaning Lady came to a close in 2024, Millan dove headfirst into another project, The Gentlemen. The Netflix series directed by Guy Ritchie showcased Millan’s talent in two episodes. With just a few lines, she is electric onscreen. She also dropped into an episode of the second season of Succession, playing across Alan Ruck and Justine Lupe in a pivotal scene.
Millan remains active on both coasts, balancing television work with new creative opportunities as they come. With a continued presence in high-profile streaming projects and a growing body of genre-spanning work, she moves ahead with sustained visibility and a trajectory that shows no signs of slowing.
John Jiang
John Jiang (2024) didn’t set out to be an actor. Not at first. He saw the law as the best way to enact meaningful change in injustice-ridden systems. When he recently took the stage in Julie at the Chain Theatre, he embodied this thesis.
The bold reimagining of Miss Julie pitted an “old aristocratic tragedy” with modern sensibilities. Strindberg’s tale of “seduction and collapse” reverberates in a contemporary setting: questions of class chaos, gentrification, and identity are at the forefront.
In 2024, Jiang performed in the ambitious interactive piece Of Ashes and Souls, marking his first opportunity to perform entirely in Mandarin in the United States. Adapted from Unheard – Hungry Ghost Festival DLC, a chapter from the Chinese videogame Unheard – Voices of Crime, the ensemble-driven piece was lauded for its immersive staging, linguistic lyricism, and an effortless blend of liveness and interactive storytelling.
Recently, Jiang has been working on The Liftist, a bilingual production spanning four decades. What began as an “intimate domestic argument” divulges into “institutional satire” issuing a cautionary tale about the future of AI in the healthcare industry.
The Liftist was accepted into Hollywood Fringe, slated to perform in the annual festival in early June.
Grace Shen
Grace Shen’s (1993) career reflects an artist shaped by persistence and a deep belief in the power of storytelling. Shortly after graduating, she landed a role as Liat in South Pacific at the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera. For Shen, the stage remains unmatched: the butterflies while waiting in the wings, the rigor of rehearsal, the joy of character-creation. Her career has also afforded her the chance to collaborate with high-profile creatives, including Academy Award-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, whose meticulous and generous creative process left a lasting impression.
At the heart of Shen’s artistic drive is a desire to tell stories centered on family, identity, and human connection. Her father fled China during the Cultural Revolution, studied in Taiwan, and immigrated to Vancouver never to reunite with his family. He is a particularly intriguing subject to her. Drawing from a collection of her parents’ love letters, Shen envisions a deeply personal narrative exploring displacement, longing, and the enduring bonds of family.
Most recently, Shen appeared in the independent film Rosemead starring Lucy Liu, a poignant drama that dives into themes of family and memory. Shen brings a grounded sensitivity to her role, building the intimate portrait of connection and resilience she so expertly does.
While she awaits the release of more work, she remains focused on what’s ahead: continuing to audition, create, and develop stories close to home.
Alexander Hodge
A 2016 graduate, Alexander Hodge has built a successful career as an actor, starring in a wide range of projects in the past decade. Born in Australia, Hodge grew up in what he calls the “Brooklyn of Sydney” to a father of Irish descent and a mother of Chinese heritage raised in Singapore. At first, Hodge was drawn to sport—particularly rugby, one of Australia’s preeminent games—and was involved in this until his early adult life.
His relationship with acting began after his dismissal from a woodworking class in high school. Having the option between taking a drama class or a history class, the choice was easy for him. As Hodge remembers, “I was like, ‘I’m not doing history because I hate writing’… I decided to take drama because I thought it was just make-believe. Found out that it’s not just make-believe…it was the first class I actually ever got an A grade, so I thought, I may as well keep it up.”
One of Hodge’s biggest career moves thus far has been on HBO’s Insecure. Cast as Andrew Tan in season 3 of the series, Hodge instantly became a fan favorite, earning the nickname “Asian Bae” across fan forums with an accompanying viral hashtag. Hodge embraced the moniker with open arms.
Two years before joining Insecure, Hodge was an avid fan of the series. Fresh out of drama school, he was introduced to the show by happenstance in late 2016. It was love at first sight. “I binged every episode that was out—I think it was the first half of the season—and then I was a massive fan of the show ever since,” he later commented. Hodge’s tenure on the show ended in 2020 following the onscreen breakup between his character and love interest Molly Carter.
Alexander Hodge has continued to build a dynamic screen presence across film and television. The release of Which Brings Me to You in 2024 saw him star alongside Lucy Hale, Nat Wolff, and John Gallagher Jr. in a romantic comedy from director Peter Hutchings. He can also be seen in Joy Ride, Adele Lim’s acclaimed comedy, and in a recurring role in Wellmania.
In 2025, Hodge was part of the main cast of NBC’s Grosse Pointe Garden Society, continuing his upward trajectory.
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