Asian Americans drive viewership but remain invisible in Hollywood: report

Asian Americans are watching, streaming and spending more than ever, yet remain largely unseen on screen, a new report from The Asian American Foundation has found.

Released Tuesday, the 2025 Reframing Representation report concludes that Asian Americans are among the most underrepresented groups in film and television, despite holding $1.3 trillion in buying power and making up 6% of the U.S. population. Backed by proprietary Nielsen data and interviews with Hollywood executives, the study argues that authentic representation is not only overdue but also one of the industry’s most overlooked business opportunities.

Research cited by The Asian American Foundation from the USC Norman Lear Center’s Asian Representation in Streaming report shows that Asian actors made up 3.8% of lead roles on broadcast television, 3.2% on streaming platforms and 1.9% on cable. TAAF’s analysis adds that only 6% of Asian characters in the top 100 works appeared in leading roles and that when depicted, they were often isolated or stripped of cultural context.

The foundation’s 2025 STAATUS Index found that 42% of Americans could not name a single famous Asian American, while those who could frequently cited martial artist archetypes. The findings echo earlier research by the Geena Davis Institute, CAPE and IW Group, whose May study reported that Asian and Pacific Islander leads appeared in only 5.1% of top-grossing U.S. films, almost entirely confined to animation and action titles.

The foundation also outlines the economic potential of Asian American audiences as one of the fastest-growing consumer groups in entertainment, accounting for 9% of total U.S. box office sales and 19% for Asian-led films such as “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Nearly half of survey respondents said they would spend more on film and television if their experiences were portrayed authentically. To address these disparities, advocates recommend expanding Asian and Asian American narratives across genres, elevating emerging talent into leading roles and treating inclusion as a long-term business strategy rooted in audience demand rather than token representation.