LEADING MAN
HENRY GOLDING | 32
By Michelle Yeoh
The first time I met Henry
Golding, I was so delighted
that Jon M. Chu, the director
of Crazy Rich Asians, had
found me the “perfect son.”
It was Henry’s first feature
film of any type, and to walk
into a major production and
deliver such an essential
performance immediately
showed that this man was
going to be a force.
His ethnicity, his
background and his success
reflect the inevitable—that
we are all one race, one global
culture, and we will soon no
longer have to talk about
controversies surrounding
representation. I am proud
of his push for Asian
representation.
We had no idea if Crazy
Rich Asians would be well-
received or not. Fast forward
two years and we’re working
together on another film,
with Henry again in a leading
role. This time, though, we’re
both playing characters that
weren’t specifically written for
someone of Asian descent.
I feel very fortunate to
know such an incredible
man who’s never lost sight of
where he came from.
Yeoh stars alongside Golding
in Last Christmas
A NEW LENS
JOHN EDMONDS | 30
A young black man stares directly into
the camera. His torso is bare, and a red
bandanna covers half of his face. The
Villain, one of the hauntingly gorgeous
photographs by John Edmonds
displayed at this year’s Whitney
Biennial, grapples with an America
that stereotypes a black body as
menacing. His work offers unflinching
commentary on race, gender, sexuality
and faith, intimately juxtaposing
modern clothing like hoodies and do-
rags with African artifacts, as both
a celebration of black culture and a
resistance to oppression. “I am always
working with layers of history through
the symbolic,” says Edmonds, over
email. This summer, Edmonds was the
first to receive the Brooklyn Museum’s
UOVO Prize, which will recognize
promising emerging artists. He will
have a solo show at the museum
in 2020. —Rachel E. Greenspan
COMEDIC VANGUARD
BOWEN YANG | 29
It didn’t take long for Bowen Yang to
leave his mark on Saturday Night Live. In
his second week, Yang—who is the first
Chinese-American cast member in the
series’ decades-long run—brought the
house down with his new character, the
Chinese official Chen Biao, proclaiming
himself “100% that trade daddy” and
showing off his “limited-edition Lunar
New Year Air Jordans.” His unique mix
of cultural specificity and preening
magnetism, honed for years on Twitter and
his podcast Las Culturistas, will make Yang
a power player as mainstream comedy
shifts toward the freewheeling sensibility
of the Internet. —Andrew R. Chow
GOLDING: PARI DUKOVIC—TRUNK ARCHIVE; YANG: GETTY IMAGES
