How filmmakers and actors in Asia and the Asian diaspora are expanding representation

Twenty years after he was a young, struggling actor in Toronto, Thomas Lo is now the one giving young Asian actors their big breaks. He just had to go to Hong Kong to do it.

The Chinese Canadian has been the creative director of one of the island city’s biggest TV broadcasting companies for only a few years, but is already making original English-language content to reach viewers around the world.

“It was a bit of a full-circle moment for me,” Lo told The Associated Press. “You see more Asians but you’re still seeing the same Asians on screen, right? We’re looking for more opportunities on a grander scale and it’s not just in front of the camera. It’s behind the camera as well.”

It’s vastly different to work as an Asian actor in North American hubs — Toronto, Los Angeles, New York — than in those in Asia — such as Hong Kong or Taipei. Actors in Asia don’t as often have to deal with auditioning for stereotypical characters, being the only Asian on a set or getting tokenized. Historically, many Asian American and Canadian actors have even relocated from the West to countries in Asia to find better opportunities in entertainment.

A few film and TV producers on both sides of the Pacific, however, are looking to shake up those dynamics by crisscrossing their show biz ecosystems. The hope is a win-win with fledgling talent in the Asian diaspora gaining global exposure — and Asia-based productions getting wider audiences. For example the Hulu series “Shogun,” which won 18 Emmys, demonstrated a successful collaboration between Japanese and Western cast and crew — which included Japanese Americans.

At the helm of Hong Kong’s Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB), Lo led its first collaboration with an American company — on an