List of notable Asian Americans

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This page is a list of notable Asian Americans.

1 Politics
2 Law
3 Business and Industry
4 Sports
5 Arts and Architecture
6 Music
7 Entertainment
8 Science
9 See also
10 Footnotes

[edit] Politics

1956 - Dalip Singh Saund became the first Asian immigrant elected to the U.S. Congress upon his election to the House of Representatives.
1959 - Hiram Fong became the first Asian American elected to the U.S. Senate.
1959 - Daniel Inouye became the first Japanese American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1962, he became the first Japanese American elected to the U.S. Senate. As of 2006, he is the Senate's third-most senior member.
1964 - Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first Asian American women to serve in Congress, as a representative of Hawaii; she ended up serving 12 terms
1974 - George Ariyoshi became the first Asian American governor in the United States when he was elected Governor of Hawaii.
1984 - Shien Biau Woo became the first Asian American statewide officer in the Northeast, when he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Delaware.
1990 - Daniel Akaka was elected to the U.S. Senate from Hawaii.
1992 - Tony Lam became the first Vietnamese American elected to office when he was elected to the Westminster, California city council.
1993 - Martha Wong was the first Asian American elected to the Houston City Council (1993 - representing District C). In 2003, she became the first Asian American woman elected to the Texas State Legislature.
1994 - Ben Cayetano was elected Governor of Hawaii.
1996 - Gary Locke was elected the first Asian American governor in the mainland United States in November 1996 and became Governor of Washington in January 1997.
1999 - Gordon Quan became the first Asian American male elected to the Houston City Council (1999) in a citywide (at-large) council seat. He was also Houston's first Asian American Mayor Pro Tem, 2002-2004.
2000 - Norman Mineta became the first Asian American in the U.S. Cabinet when Bill Clinton appointed him Secretary of Commerce, serving in that post until 2001, when George W. Bush appointed him to another Cabinet post (Secretary of Transportation), serving until 2006.
2001 - Elaine Chao became the first Asian American woman and the first Chinese American in the U.S. Cabinet when George W. Bush appointed her Secretary of Labor.
2001 - John Liu became the first Asian American elected to the New York City Council (representing Flushing, Queens).
2002 - Upendra J. Chivukula became the first Asian American elected to the New Jersey General Assembly.
2002 - Mee Moua became the first Hmong American elected to any state legislature. A Democrat representing St. Paul's East Side, she is the highest ranking Hmong American elected official in the United States.
2004 - Bobby Jindal was elected the first Indian American congressman from Louisiana.
2004 - Masur Javed "M.J." Khan became a Houston City Councilmember.
2004 - Jimmy Meng became the first Asian American elected to the New York State Legislature.
2004 - Van Tran was elected a Republican member of the California State Assembly and is the first Vietnamese American to serve in any state legislature.
2004 - Hubert Vo, a Vietnamese immigrant, became the first Vietnamese American elected to the Texas Legislature.
2005 - Mike Honda, U.S. Congressman from California's 15th congressional district, became the highest-ranking Asian American member of the Democratic National Committee, as the party's Vice Chair.

[edit] Law

For a list of Asian Americans who are or have served as judges, see List of Asian American jurists.

Viet D. Dinh was a United States Assistant Attorney General and a key drafter of what became the USA PATRIOT Act.
Heather Fong is the first Asian American woman to head a major metropolitan police department (San Francisco, California).
Harold Hongju Koh is dean of Yale Law School.
Fred Korematsu was a prominent resister of Japanese American internment.
Dale Minami is an attorney who helped reverse Fred Korematsu's criminal conviction.
Frank H. Wu is dean of Wayne State University Law School.
Bruce Yamashita is an attorney and U.S. Marine Corps officer who worked to expose racial discrimination within the Corps.
John Yoo served in the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel and was a drafter of what later became known as the "torture memo."

[edit] Business and Industry

Alfred Chuang, founder and CEO of BEA Systems
An Wang founded Wang Laboratories in June 1951.
Jen-Hsun Huang co-founded the NVIDIA corporation in 1993.
Jeff Yang co-founded A Magazine in 1989 and is a columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Jerry Yang co-founded Yahoo! Inc. in 1994.
Andrea Jung serves as Chairman and CEO of Avon Products.
Vinod Khosla was a founding CEO of Sun Microsystems and is a successful general partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers.
Sabeer Bhatia co-founded Hotmail
Min Zhu, co-founder and former president and chief technical officer of WebEx.

[edit] Sports

Michael Chang won tennis' French Open in 1987.
Tiffany Chin won the US Figure Skating Championship in 1985.
Amy Chow won gold and silver medals in gymnastics during the 1996 Olympics.
Norm Chow is the currently offensive coordinator for the Tennessee Titans after helping lead USC to several NCAA championships as the offensive coordinator there.
Bryan Clay won the silver medal in the 2004 decathlon and was the sport's 2005 world champion.
Natalie Coughlin Olympic gold medalist in swimming
Toby Dawson won a 2006 Olympic bronze medal in Men’s Freestyle Skiing.
Victoria Draves won gold medals in the 1948 platform and springboard events.
Evelyn Kawamoto Olympic bronze medalist in swimming.
Ford Konno Olympic gold medalist in 1500-meter freestyle
Tommy Kono Olympic gold medalist in weightlifting
Michelle Kwan has won nine national championships and five world titles, as well as two Olympic medals (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002).
Jeanette Lee pool player
Sammy Lee became the first Asian American to earn an Olympic Gold Medal, when he won in platform diving in both 1948 and 1952.
Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947-48 season, when he played for the New York Knicks.
Hikaru Nakamura became the youngest American ever to earn the titles of National Master (age 10) and International Grandmaster (age 15) in chess.
Dat Nguyen was an All-American linebacker at Texas A&M University and later became the first Vietnamese American in the National Football League.
Apolo Anton Ohno won five Olympic medals in short-track speed skating (two gold) in 2002 and 2006, as well as a world cup championship.
Yoshinobu Oyakawa Olympic gold medalist in 100-meter backstroke
Harold Sakata won a weightlifting silver medal in the 1948 Olympics
Eric Sato won Olympic gold medalist in volleyball
Liane Sato won Olympic bronze medalist in volleyball
Sonya Thomas is one of the world's top competitive eaters.
Hines Ward was the MVP of Super Bowl XL while playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Michelle Wie golfer
Tiger Woods
Kristi Yamaguchi won three national figureskating championships, two world titles, and the 1992 Olympic Gold medal.

[edit] Arts and Architecture

IM Pei, renowned architect
Minoru Yamasaki designed the World Trade Center
Maya Lin designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

[edit] Music

Jeff Chang is a music critic and historian of hip-hop culture.
Jocelyn Enriquez
Yo-Yo Ma renowned cellist
Seiji Ozawa Boston Symphony Conductor
Amerie R&B singers of today.
James Iha, formerly the guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins
Mike Shinoda and Joseph Hahn are successful Asian Americans in the popular rap rock band Linkin Park.
Lea Salonga, singing voice of many Disney leads and Broadway musicals, originally from Philippines
Jin Au-Yeung is credited as being a pioneer in the Asian American hip hop scene.
Cassie is an R&B singer.
Mike Relm is a scratch video DJ who has toured with the Blue Man Group
William Hung is a contestant from American Idol
Magdalen Hsu-Li out bisexual Chinese American singer-songwriter recording artist, poet and artist.

[edit] Entertainment

Keiko Agena, actress
Nadia Ali of the music group iiO
Tsuru Aoki (1892 - 1961), actress
Chang and Eng Bunker (the source for the term "Siamese Twins")
Eric Byler, filmmaker
Tia Carrere, actress
Cassie
Wah Chang (prop designer - famous for designing the original Star Trek communicator and phasers
Joan Chen, actress, director
John Cho, actor
Margaret Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian in 1994.
Michael Copon
Mark Dacascos, actor, of the Crying Freeman and the "Chairman" from Iron Chef America
Kayo Hatta (1958 - 2005), filmmaker
Sessue Hayakawa (1889 - 1973), Academy Award nominated actor
James Hong, actor
James Wong Howe (1899 - 1976), 2-time Academy Award winning cinematographer
Kelly Hu, actress
Vanessa Anne Hudgens, actor
Chad Hugo
David Henry Hwang, Tony winning playwright
Michael Kang, filmmaker
Sung Kang, actor
Daniel Dae Kim, actor
Randall Duk Kim, actor
Nancy Kwan, actress
Bruce Lee (1940 - 1973), martial arts superstar
Chris Chan Lee, filmmaker
Jason Scott Lee, actor
Moon Lee graphic artist, credited with creating the Geisha Look, and popular actor from the eighties into the nineties
Justin Lin, filmmaker
Apl.de.ap (Lindo) of Black Eyed Peas
Bai Ling, actress
Lucy Liu Chinese American actress^[1]
Mako (1933 - 2006) Academy Award and Tony Award nominated actor, founder of East West Players
Ming-Na, actress
Vanessa Minnillo
Pat Morita (1932 - 2005) comedian and Academy Award nominated actor best known for work on Happy Days and Karate Kid
Dr. Haing S. Ngor (1940 - 1996) won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985.
Dustin Nguyen, actor
Julia Nickson, actress
Lisa Onodera, film producer
Kal Penn, actor
Dat Phan comedian, winner of the first season of Last Comic Standing
Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls
Rob Schneider, actor, comedian
James Shigeta, actor
Brenda Song, actress
George Takei actor of Star Trek fame)
Chris Tashima, actor, Academy Award winning filmmaker
Tamlyn Tomita, actress
Jasmine Trias American Idol contestant
Camile Velasco of American Idol
B.D. Wong, Tony Award winning actor
Anna May Wong (1905 - 1961), actress

[edit] Science

Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang received the Nobel laureates in Physics for work in particle physics.
Chien-Shiung Wu, known to many scientists as the "First Lady of Physics".
Har Gobind Khorana shared the Nobel laureate in “Physiology or Medicine” in 1968 for work in genetics and protein synthesis.
Samuel C.C. Ting Nobel laureate in physics for discovering the existence of a new particle called j/psi.
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Nobel laureate in Physics.
David D. Ho, HIV/AIDS researcher
Yuan T. Lee Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
Shiing-Shen Chern mathematician and winner of the prestigious Wolf Prize for his work in differential geometry.
Stephen Chu Nobel laureate in Physics in 1997 for research on cooling and trapping atoms using laser light.
Daniel Tsui Nobel laureate in Physics for contributions to the discovery of the fractional Quantum Hall effect.
Min Chueh Chang, Co-inventor of the birth control pill.
Shing-Tung Yau, mathematician, Fields Medal winner.
Terence Tao, mathematician, Fields Medal winner.
Ellison Onizuka, astronaut on STS-51-C and STS-51-L; died in Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Kalpana Chawla, astronaut on STS-87 and STS-107; died in Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Sunita Williams, astronaut on STS-116 and Expedition 14 to the International Space Station.

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

^ Chamers, Veronica. "Lucy Liu: Embracing a new definition of American beauty", USA Weekend, 2000-01-23. Retrieved on 2006-11-29.

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