Jenny Han Quotes

The lack of diversity, specifically in genre films and the superheroes our kids grow up watching and emulating, they can't really identify with. When you see the same thing, over and over again, and it seems not to speak of you and your heritage and your culture, it leaves you out of this world a little bit.

I would love to see an Asian American superhero.

My hope is that shows like 'Fresh Off the Boat' open the door for even more of those kinds of characters for Asian actors and actresses.

It meant something to see people who looked like me in comic books. It was this beautiful place that I felt pop culture should look like.

Growing up, I remember watching TV, and I didn't see a lot of people who looked like me, especially someone who passed as a glamorous model on a mainstream TV show.

It's hard as a young person of a different ethnicity or background to look at the TV and not see anyone who looks like you. Representation is very important.

I think it's great that we're living in a time when everyone is being represented on TV and film.

It's important, as a young person of color, to see yourself reflected in the media.

Growing up, I didn't see anybody with my skin color or my background. I didn't know it was possible to have a Middle Eastern actor in a lead role.

Black women come with all sorts of personalities. So it's time for media to wise up and show us in all of our complexity.

I hope that there's a little black boy somewhere in Montana that never thought that he would see a reflection of himself, and he turns on the television, like, 'Oh my God, thank you.'

I feel that its important for me to be out there and to represent the face. At the same time, for me as an individual, I think the Asian-American face can be crowded with the American identity.

I wasn't able to relate to anyone on TV growing up, so I wanted to bring my own experiences to the screen.

There's a burden of representation that comes into play when there aren't enough representatives of a certain group in popular culture.

I grew up watching cinema in my country that wasn't telling stories about us, and we had to find a way to connect, and our references, our role models had nothing to do with us. And I'm so glad that it's changing.

When I grew up, I never saw anyone looking like me on TV, you know? I'm so glad to see a lot more of us on television, whether it's Mindy Kaling or it's Irrfan Khan or Freida Pinto. You know, I hope, like, little girls across the world can just look at me and say, 'Ah, I want to be that!' Indian or not, it shouldn't matter.

When we've had images that perpetuate the negative stereotype of people of color, we've always had 'The Cosby Show' to hold up against that. And the fact that we no longer have that kinda leaves us not in a great place in terms of having the wide scope of the images of people of color.

I want to see more Asian. I want to see more Latin. I want more Indian. There's more than Mindy Kaling out there, guys! There's more than Bai Ling.

When I was in school, you never saw anyone who looked like us that was on TV. And that was really weird for me because there's so many people of South Asian descent in America - in the world.

Since 'Christine' started screening, I'm overwhelmed by the response from women and men - that it's so rare to see something like this. We're just not given the opportunity so much.

I was terrified of being on camera. I was worried that whatever I would say, people would assume I'm speaking for every Muslim, every Pakistani, or every Middle Eastern person. That's a lot of pressure. But it also got me excited about what could be done, because I am a representative for people who are underrepresented.

There's nothing that makes me feel better than being on these mainstream shows, whether it's 'The View,' 'Colbert' or whatever, and saying, 'It's a privilege to be black.' Oh, I love that.

When I was growing up, in the '80s and '90s, I just never really saw myself reflected in the things that I had a liking for. It makes a difference.

For me, like, obviously, I want to see myself onscreen.

It's so important... to have a variety of representation on television.