Bowen Yang sets Emmy record for Asian male performers

Comedian Bowen Yang set a new Emmy milestone for Asian male performers after earning his fourth acting nomination on July 15 in best supporting actor in a comedy series category. This brings his total Emmy nominations to five, including a 2019 writing nomination.

The 34-year-old star joined “Saturday Night Live” as a writer in 2018 and became its first Asian American cast member in 2019. His other notable credits include roles in the series “Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens” and films “Fire Island” (2022), “Bros” (2022), “Wicked” (2024) and “The Wedding Banquet,” among others.

While Yang is now the most-nominated Asian male performer in Emmy history, Sandra Oh remains the leader among all Asian performers with 14 career nominations. The 77th Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony is scheduled for September 14 in Los Angeles where Yang is nominated against Ike Barinholz (“The Studio”), Colman Domingo (“The Four Seasons”), Harrison Ford (“Shrinking”), Jeff Hiller (“Somebody Somewhere”), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (“The Bear”) and Michael Urie (“Shrinking”).