List of Asian Americans

Notable Asian Americans include:

Academia

Science

Steven Chu

Arts/architecture/design

Business and industry

Indra Nooyi

Entertainment

Actors and filmmakers

Aziz Ansari
Dante Basco
John Cho
James Hong
Kelly Hu
Ken Jeong
Mindy Kaling
Nancy Kwan
Bruce Lee
Will Yun Lee
Ken Leung
Justin Lin
Lucy Liu
Pat Morita
Kumail Nanjiani
Sandra Oh
Keanu Reeves
Rob Schneider
Brenda Song
George Takei
Steven Yeun

Choreographers and dancers

Music

Paul Anka
Joe Hahn
Norah Jones
Bruno Mars
Allan Pineda
Mike Shinoda


Groups/bands

Reality TV participants

Fashion

Culinary

  • David Chang, founder of the Momofuku restaurant group and in multiple television shows
  • Joyce Chen, popularized northern-style Chinese cuisine in the United States
  • Cecilia Chiang (江孫芸), founder of the Mandarin Restaurant. Chiang's son, Philip Chiang, is the co-founder of restaurant chain P. F. Chang's China Bistro
  • Roy Choi, creator of the gourmet Korean taco truck, Kogi
  • Cristeta Comerford, White House Executive Chef, won with Bobby Flay in an Iron Chef America challenge
  • Soleil Ho, chef, food writer, host of podcast "The Racist Sandwich", and restaurant critic
  • Eddie Huang, chef and author of Fresh Off the Boat
  • Madhur Jaffrey, James Beard award-winning food and travel writer, and television personality
  • Padma Lakshmi, cookbook author and host of Top Chef and Host of "Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi"
  • Francis Lam, host of The Splendid Table and food journalist
  • Lynja, chef behind "Cooking with Lynja" YouTube channel
  • Emily Kim, creator and host of popular YouTube channel Maangchi, teaching Korean cooking
  • Melissa Miranda, James Beard Award semifinalist chef of Filipino restaurant Musang in Seattle
  • Niki Nakayama, chef and owner of Michelin-starred n/naka restaurant
  • Mutsuko Soma, James Beard Award semifinalist chef specializing in handmade soba, owner of Kamonegi in Seattle
  • Jet Tila, celebrity chef and restaurateur and guest on “Cutthroat Kitchen”
  • Roy Yamaguchi, owner of Roy's Restaurants
  • Martin Yan, chef and food writer, hosted his award-winning PBS-TV cooking show Yan Can Cook since 1982
  • Jennifer Yee, award-winning, James Beard, nominated pastry chef
  • Molly Yeh, cookbook author and blogger

Law

Lance Ito
Fred Korematsu

Literature

Military

Individuals

Eric Shinseki

Foreign military service

News/media/journalism

Politics

Daniel Akaka
Tammy Duckworth
Nikki Haley
Kamala Harris
Daniel Inouye
Bobby Jindal
Andrew Yang

Religion

Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl

Space

This section is a list of astronauts of Asian ancestry who are, by birth or naturalization, American citizens. Sorted by first space flight, then by NASA Astronaut Group (if applicable).

No.ImageName
Birth date
AncestryBirthCommentMissions (Launch date)
1 Ellison Onizuka
June 24, 1946
 Japan  United StatesSelected in 1978 to NASA Astronaut Group 8. First Asian American and first Japanese American in space. Died on the Challenger.STS-51-C (January 24, 1985)
STS-51-L (January 28, 1986)
2 Taylor Gun-Jin Wang
June 16, 1940
Republic of ChinaFirst person of Chinese ancestry and first Chinese American in space.STS-51-B (April 29, 1985)
3 Franklin Chang-Diaz
April 5, 1950
Qing dynasty  Costa Rica  Costa RicaSelected in 1980 to NASA Astronaut Group 9. Joint record holder, since 2002 (with Jerry L. Ross, set two months earlier that year), for most spaceflights by a human.STS-61-C (January 12, 1986)
STS-34 (October 18, 1989)
STS-46 (July 31, 1992)
STS-60 (February 3, 1994)
STS-75 (February 22, 1996)
STS-91 (June 2, 1998)
STS-111 (June 5, 2002)
4 Eugene Trinh
September 14, 1950
 South VietnamFirst Vietnamese American in space.STS-50 (June 25, 1992)
5 Leroy Chiao
August 28, 1960
Taiwan  United StatesSelected in 1990 to NASA Astronaut Group 13. Served on ISS Expedition 10.STS-65 (July 8, 1994)
STS-72 (January 11, 1996)
STS-92 (October 11, 2000)
Soyuz TMA-5 (October 14, 2004)
6 Ed Lu
July 1, 1963
 United StatesSelected in 1994 to NASA Astronaut Group 15. Served on ISS Expedition 7.STS-84 (May 15, 1997)
STS-106 (September 8, 2000)
Soyuz TMA-2 (April 6, 2003)
7 Kalpana Chawla
March 17, 1962
 IndiaSelected in 1994 to NASA Astronaut Group 15. First Indian American in space. Died on the Columbia.STS-87 (November 19, 1997)
STS-107 (January 16, 2003)
8 Mark L. Polansky
June 2, 1956
 Republic of Korea  United StatesSelected in 1996 to NASA Astronaut Group 16. First Korean American in space.STS-98 (February 7, 2001)
STS-116 (December 9, 2006)
STS-127 (July 15, 2009)
9 Daniel M. Tani
February 1, 1961
 Japan  United StatesSelected in 1996 to NASA Astronaut Group 16. Served on ISS Expedition 16.STS-108 (December 5, 2001)
STS-120 (October 23, 2007)
STS-122 (February 7, 2008)
10 Sunita Williams
September 19, 1965
 India  United StatesSelected in 1998 to NASA Astronaut Group 17. Served on ISS Expedition 14/15 and Expedition 32/33. Second female commander of ISS.STS-116/117 (December 9, 2006)
Soyuz TMA-05M (July 15, 2012)
11 Kjell N. Lindgren
January 23, 1973
Taiwan
 United States
TaiwanSelected in 2009 to NASA Astronaut Group 20. Served on ISS Expedition 44.Soyuz TMA-17M (July 22, 2015)
SpaceX Crew-4 (April 27, 2022)
12Sirisha Bandla
1988
 IndiaIndian American sub-orbital, sub-Kármán line, space tourist.Virgin Galactic Unity 22 (July 11, 2021)
13 Raja Chari
June 24, 1977
 India  United StatesSelected in 2017 to NASA Astronaut Group 22.SpaceX Crew-3 (November 11, 2021)
14 Jonny Kim
February 5, 1984
 Republic of Korea  United StatesSelected in 2017 to NASA Astronaut Group 22.

Sports

Other

See also

Footnotes