Bowen Yang has sealed his second season on “Saturday Night Live” with an Emmy nomination, making him the first featured player to be nominated for an acting award.
In the wake of spending one season as an writer in 2018, Yang became the first Asian American to join the main cast of “SNL.” He became a fan favorite after bringing to life iconic characters like the iceberg that sank the Titanic, Flint the SoulCycle instructor and Fran Lebowitz on “Weekend Update.”
It’s the first time in “SNL” history that an featured player — what cast individuals are required their initial two seasons on air — has been nominated for an Emmy. He’s contending in the Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series class.
NBCUniversal is the parent company of both “SNL” and NBC News.
Yang has likewise been praised for the manner in which he’s tackled larger news items like enemy of Asian prejudice.
“What can I say to help how insanely bad things are?” Yang said in a viral “Weekend Update” segment. “If someone’s personality is ‘punch an Asian grandma,’ it’s not a dialogue.”
His nomination likewise checks one of only a handful few nods Asian Americans have gotten from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences throughout the long term.
In 2018, Sandra Oh turned into the primary Asian American lady to be nominated as lead actress, for “Killing Eve.” Archie Panjabi and Riz Ahmed have both brought home acting Emmys, in 2010 and 2017 individually. In 2017, Chinese American entertainer B.D. Wong was nominated for outstanding guest actor in a drama series for “Mr. Robot.”
