Siwon Choi, Manny Jacinto, and Simu Liu lend their star power to Milken Asia Summit in Singapore

More than 250,000 fans have thronged the city for Formula One, and that includes several renowned Hollywood celebrities who also arrived in the city-state to attend the Milken Asia Summit held at Four Seasons Hotel. The conference, a prominent gathering of regional and global leaders, serves as a platform for discussing critical issues such as finance and climate change. 

Actors Siwon Choi, Manny Jacinto, and Simu Liu were part of a panel session on Thursday, 19th September, to discuss the power of arts and entertainment to bridge generations and geographies, and the growing prominence of Asian culture in the global pop culture zeitgeist.

Key points include the impact of projects like “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Everything Everywhere All At Once” on global representation, the need for self-sustaining systems, and the importance of authenticity and community support. The discussion also highlights the significance of social media in career advancement, the mental health implications of social media engagement, and the necessity for Asian Americans to overcome internalised inferiority.

On the impact of projects like “Crazy Rich Asians”

Simu led the talk, acknowledging there is a shift in Hollywood when it comes to culturally made shows: “I would say, in the last 12 odd years, it’s been really amazing, [a] kind of tectonic plates of the industry shifting. “Crazy Rich Asians” kind of exploded all around the world. And it’s just really exciting.”

When it comes to Asian representation, Simu shone the spotlight on fellow actor Manny, who could be last seen on Star Wars series “The Acolyte.” He said, “When it comes to representation, representation is fought for, by people like Manny [and] filmmakers, directors and screenwriters that are also passionate about the work that they do, about telling stories, and fighting that fight.”

The conversation then steered towards Manny’s scenes being cut from Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” film and Simi said: “You mentioned in an interview that Tom Cruise is writing stories for Tom Cruise. It is a privilege to be on a movie set, but when you’re on Tom Cruise’s set, you’re on Tom Cruise’s set, and he’s not worried about you. He’s worried about Tom Cruise. I think it really speaks to the necessity for Asians and Asian Americans to figure out a way to create a system that is self-sustaining and self-supportive.”

Manny seconded that opinion and agreed that, “it’s just part of the game.”

“It kinda pushes us forward by having allies in all different divisions. I think we could push things much more quickly if we have allies in the director’s chair, financing department and producers.”

On authenticity and cultural impact

Siwon stressed on the importance of authenticity in delivering a performance: “When I face a lot of artists and directors who work on music, training or drama - they work very hard and manage to deliver authenticity to the audience.”

Siwon, who is part of the boy band, Super Junior, shared that next year would be the band’s 20th anniversary and that would be his proudest moment. The band will be kicking off their world tour and he can’t wait to meet their fans again. 

Manny, on the other hand, is hoping for more openness when it comes to playing a role: “The goal is to play a role regardless of my ethnicity. If you look at “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” that could have been played by any type of family or race for most part. It’s cool to be able to just see past colour and culture, but at the same time, we don’t want to let go of the values that other cultures can teach Hollywood. If you look at “Parasite,” [and] “Squid Games” - there’s so many values within those specific cultural projects that can inform and be shared worldwide.”