Hollywood has a new guest list — and this time, it doesn’t involve yet another reboot, a multiverse crossover, or white guys named Chris. Instead, Variety and Gold House just unveiled their 2025 8 API Up Next in Entertainment list, and folks, it’s about damn time someone pulled a “Crazy Rich Asians” on the industry’s gatekeeping.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t your token diversity round-up with a side of “Look, we found one Asian person who isn’t a doctor or convenience store owner!” No, this is a flex. It’s Gold House and Variety arm-in-arm, essentially saying, “Hollywood, meet the future. She speaks three languages, writes her own screenplays, climbs mountains for fun, and is absolutely done waiting for your approval.”
Let’s dig into the 8 honorees, because each one is a walking mic drop.
1. Han Gi-Chan – The K-Drama Heartthrob Who Just Queered the Rom-Com Game
First up, Han Gi-Chan, a Korean actor with the cheekbones of a K-pop idol and the career choices of someone out to rewrite genre rules. He’s starring in The Wedding Banquet, a retelling of Ang Lee’s classic — except this time, the script isn’t afraid of gay people, green cards, or Bowen Yang being the romantic lead.
Han’s role? Min, the heir to a chaebol fortune who has to fake a marriage to keep the family money while hiding his sexuality. Basically, it’s Succession meets Schitt’s Creek with subtitles and better fashion. Han says landing the role was “a dream,” but let’s be honest: Hollywood should be the one pinching itself.
Also? The cast hangs out watching Korean “Mamma Mia.” Try topping that energy, Marvel.
2. Zarna Garg – Stay-At-Home Mom-Turned-Comedy Juggernaut
Zarna Garg didn’t just pivot careers — she catapulted out of lawyering, motherhood, and TikTok obscurity to become the accented, bindi-wearing comedian America didn’t know it needed. Her kids pushed her into stand-up, and she’s been dunking on stereotypes (and mediocre comedians) ever since.
Her special One in a Billion hit Amazon. The next one? Practical People Win — coming to Hulu, just in case you needed a business plan with your punchlines. She casually notes her memoir is tied with the Bible on Goodreads. And honestly? The Bible could never tour with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
Zarna is what happens when hustle meets humor and business acumen. She calls Kevin Hart her “short king god,” and if that doesn’t scream self-awareness, nothing does.
3. Jacqueline Kim – The Agent Who Will Out-Negotiate the Devil
Jacqueline Kim is not here to take your script to brunch. She’s here to build empires — one deal at a time. This UTA agent reps everyone from Marlon Wayans to Beef’s Young Mazino, and she’s the kind of Hollywood power player who can name-drop Vikander, Fassbender, AND “Squid Game” in the same sentence without blinking.
Her vibe? Strategy with soul. She looks for clients who have “a real point of view,” which is polite Hollywood code for “Don’t pitch me a recycled coming-of-age story starring a white kid with a dead dad and a dog.”
Kim’s influences? Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Rory McIlroy. If you don’t think she could close a seven-figure deal while sinking a birdie, think again.
4. Paul Kim – The YA Exec Whispering Sweet Capitalism Into Gen Z’s Ear
Paul Kim is the SVP of Unwell Network and television’s answer to a Gen Z translator. His current gig includes working with Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper, proving he’s either a visionary or dangerously good at pretending to understand TikTok slang.
He’s championing YA like it’s the next MCU, but with less CGI and more feelings. Think XO, Kitty but across an entire slate of TV shows that actually reflect modern teens — not just “hot 30-year-olds pretending to be 17.”
Also, BookTok is apparently influencing his pitch meetings, which is both inspiring and mildly terrifying. He lists Bo Burnham and Bong Joon Ho as inspirations, which is probably the only time you’ll see those names in the same sentence unless Netflix has a Parasite: The Musical in the works.
5. Dichen Lachman – From Sci-Fi Siren to Existential Badass
You might know Dichen Lachman as the mysterious Gemma on Severance, but if you think that’s all she can do, you haven’t been paying attention. She's part Tibetan, born in Nepal, raised in Australia, and Hollywood didn’t know what to do with her for years — so she did it all.
Lachman’s resume includes Altered Carbon, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and Jurassic World. But it’s Severance where she’s making Emmy voters sweat. She’s juggling multiple identities within one character like it’s a casual Tuesday.
She also wants to be in a Western. Just imagine: Dichen Lachman in a cowboy hat, squinting into the desert sun, with a pistol and an existential monologue. Let’s go, Netflix.
6. Brandon Perea – Imax Poster Boy With Nothing to Prove, But Everything to Do
Brandon Perea’s been in Nope and Twisters, which means he’s already seen more UFOs and tornadoes than most storm chasers and conspiracy theorists combined. But despite being blown across Imax screens, Hollywood still doesn’t know where to slot him.
Filipino and Puerto Rican, he’s a reminder that casting directors still short-circuit when someone doesn’t fit the “ethnically ambiguous but not too ambiguous” checkbox.
Perea says he wants to be a chameleon — and also do backflips. He’s an actor who can jam skate, golf, and probably do your taxes if you asked nicely. But for now, he’s just waiting for Hollywood to catch up to what the rest of us already see: a leading man who can actually lead — and leap.
7. Chase Sui Wonders – The Indie Darling Ready to Burn Down the System (With Jokes)
Chase Sui Wonders didn’t just arrive; she carved her way into the Hollywood psyche with a wink, a sharp pen, and a middle finger to every mold she was ever asked to fit.
She’s currently starring in The Studio, holding her own against Seth Rogen and Catherine O’Hara, aka comedic titans. Her character is Quinn, a slightly off-kilter executive who makes chaos look chic. Wonders loves “women who are a degree off-center.” Same.
She’s also got her own scripts in the works. She wrote for the Harvard Lampoon, which means she can drop a nihilistic joke about the economy and make it land funnier than your favorite sitcom. Her inspirations include her mom and Hirokazu Kore-eda. Translation: emotional intelligence with a side of cinematic revenge.
8. Amy Wang – The Satirical Filmmaker Who Dragged Her Trauma to SXSW and Won
Amy Wang won the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize at SXSW this year with her directorial debut Slanted, a film that punches you in the racial identity, then buys you a drink to talk about it.
Raised in Australia, Wang wanted to be white as a kid. Now she’s making movies that dismantle that very urge with humor, grit, and genre weirdness. Think Sorry to Bother You meets Parasite meets your unresolved immigrant childhood trauma.
Her list of influences reads like a Criterion Collection playlist: Fincher, Haneke, Scorsese, Denis Villeneuve. You get the idea — she’s here to make films that leave audiences stunned, sobbing, or philosophizing about capitalism.
Next on her list? Characters who are deeply flawed, morally grey, and incapable of giving you a satisfying ending. You know, like real people.
Final Thoughts: Variety and Gold House Aren’t Playing Nice — And That’s a Good Thing
This year’s 8 API Up Next list isn’t a diversity checkmark or a puff piece. It’s a reorientation. It’s proof that the future of entertainment won’t be built on legacy hires and studio nepotism — it’ll be built by the Zarnas, the Chases, the Brandons, the Amys.
These creators, performers, and dealmakers aren’t asking permission anymore. They’re not sitting politely at the back of the metaphorical theater hoping for a supporting role. They’re producing, directing, starring, and selling out the damn venue.
And guess what? The stories they’re telling aren’t “Asian stories.” They’re the stories — universal, magnetic, genre-breaking, deeply human.
So the next time Hollywood wants to hold a roundtable on “inclusive storytelling,” they should start by booking these eight — and maybe let them run the panel.
The revolution will be subtitled. And probably scored by Bo Burnham.