Mixed-race Asian American musicians and comedians

Since this is a blog called "Mixed Race America," I think I'd be remiss in not doing an entry in honor of APA heritage month of some mixed-race Asian Americans--and I've chosen to focus on two female musicians and three male comedians, particularly because I believe that for all but one of these people, their mixed Asian-ness can go overlooked/ignored.

First the musicians: Michelle Branch and Norah Jones


Michelle Branch has Indonesian maternal grandparents and is a contemporary pop musicians. Here is her official website and here is her wikipedia entry. I actually first thought that Branch might be mixed-Asian because she looked like one of my cousins (who is also mixed-race Asian).


Norah Jones is another singer-songwriter (she is, apparently, compared to Michelle Branch, interestingly enough). Her very famous musician father is Ravi Shankar, which makes her half Bengali. Here is her official website and wikipedia entry. This probably says a lot about my musical tastes, but I have all three of Jones's albums, although I wasn't necessarily a fan of the last one in the way that I really loved her first and second records.

Now for the male comedians: Fred Armisen, Rob Schneider, and Steve Byrne.


I've already written about Armisen at the end of a former post (click here) so I'll go straight on to


Rob Schneider--here is his wikipedia entry and official site. Schneider has a maternal grandmother who is Filipina and has portrayed Asian Americans (in pretty obnoxiously racist ways) in some of his films (Ula in Fifty First Dates and a Japanese American minister in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry). Which of course, begs the question: is it racist when a mixed-race Asian American does racist caricatures of Asian Americans? I have an answer, of course, but thought I'd throw that out there.


Finally, we have Steve Byrne--his mother is Korean and his father is Irish, at least according to his official website. I caught Byrne's act on Comedy Central two different times--the stuff I saw didn't seem to concentrate on his ethnic/racial identity but apparently he does use this as comic fodder in his show.

So there we have it--five mixed-race Asian Americans in entertainment--feel free to name anyone else I have missed--I'm sure there are many!

A Mixed Race Medley--Multiple Plugs

So for your viewing pleasure this morning, and to get the week started, I've got 3 plugs that also have 3 video shorts:

MUSIC PLUG: J.G. Bocella & the Modo Midi Band have released a song that they are distributing gratis in the hopes that it will help to inspire dialogue about race in America. Here is a link to the band's website (click here)--I recommend viewing the video--it's low tech but gives a good history lesson in terms of America's legacy of race relations and the lingering after-effects of racial oppression that we're still coming to terms with.

And for an Op-Ed piece written by J.G. Bocella in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where Bocella opines about the presidential elections, Obama, and the need to have real conversations about race, click on this link.

RESOURCE PLUG: Mixed ROAR (Mixed Race Organizations Against Racism) has joined with a host of organizations (including the MAVIN foundation, iPride, MASC, and others) to launch a campaign in which people of mixed heritage answer the following question:

"What are you?"

For more, here is an explanation by Louie Gong, MAVIN foundation VP:



If you haven't visited the Mixed Heritage Center, I recommend paying a visit--there are many great resources for anyone wanting to explore more about mixed race issues.

INFORMATION PLUG: Finally, this isn't so much a plug as a newly found piece of information and something to provoke thought. The infamous SNL skit that Clinton referenced during last Tuesday's debate with Obama featured Fred Armisen in "black face" so to speak, playing the role of Barack Obama. This CNN article (click here) details the controversy over having Armisen portray Senator Obama (and you can also watch the original skit). I say this is controversial, because I personally think it is, at the very least it should provoke discussion about cross-racial representation, although truthfully I think few people seem bothered by Armisen's portrayal (and at least to date, it seems fairly respectful for SNL) but what I found most interesting was the racial background of Armisen and CNN's own brief mention of Armisen's mixed-racial heritage.

In the article, it notes that Armisen is half white and half Asian. I did a google search and found the trusty Wikipedia entry (click here) for Fred Armisen, which describes, in slightly more detail, his ethnic profile--he is Venezuelan on his maternal side and he is also part Japanese. Wikipedia lists him as both the second Latino actor on SNL (Horatio Sanz is the first) and the second Asian American actor (Rob Schneider, of part Filipino heritage, is the first).

There is more that I'm mulling over regarding both Armisen, Schneider and the idea of their mixed-Asian heritage being all but forgotten/glossed over, as well as the appropriateness of Armisen donning darker makeup to play Barack Obama. I suppose one could say that since Armisen seems to be of part white ancestry as well as his other mixtures, that perhaps it's the "white guy" inside him that gives him the authenticity to play a fellow mixed-race American who also has white heritage?