12 Oscar winners of mixed heritage

The Academy Awards have been criticized for their lack of racial diversity. In recent years, this has started to change, with Latinos winning Oscars for Best Director, and two movies with a Black actor, Black actress, and Black director that both won Best Picture.

At this year's Oscars, we had the first Middle Eastern winner for Best Actor.

Despite this increasing diversity, most winners are still monoracial. Out of hundreds of winners in Oscars' 90-year-history, these are the few multiracials.


Halle Berry
Best Actress

When she won in 2002, she was the first African-American to win in that category. That same year, the winner for Best Actor was also Black. It was the only time in Oscars' 90-year history that Best Actor and Actress were both minorities. Her mother is White.


Ben Kingsley
Best Actor

His mother was White and his birth name was Krishna Bhanji because his father was from India. His award was for portraying the man who is possibly the most famous person from India.


Anthony Quinn
Best Supporting Actor (won twice)

He won his 1st Oscar for playing a Latino and won his 2nd one for playing a White Frenchman. He also portrayed American Indians, East Asians, and Middle Easterners. One of his grandparents was White and the other 3 were Latino, including indigenous ancestry.


Hilary Swank
Best Actress (won twice)

Like Anthony Quinn, she's a White-Latino two-time winner for acting. She's won more Oscars than any other Latina. Her grandma was Latin American.


Jordan Peele
Best Screenplay

The movie that got him his Oscar is about an interracial couple that he also directed. It was the first movie by a Black first-time director to make $100 million. His mother is White.


Yul Brynner
Best Actor

The characters he played included Latinos, American Indians, Middle Easterners, and East Asians. But he won for playing a Southeast Asian. In real life, he was from Russia and was part Buryat, which is an ethnic group in Russia near Mongolia.


Prince
Best Score

He was an African-American who was generationally mixed; all 4 grandparents were from Louisiana, where generations of multi-ethnic Black families is not unusual. His music for a movie won him an Oscar, and he was the lead actor in that movie too.


Lionel Ritchie
Best Song

Like Prince, he's an African-American who's generationally mixed, which he learned more about when he appeared on a TV series where celebrities find out their ancestry. You can watch that episode here.


Carly Simon
Best Song

She found out she's "10%" Black because her Latino grandma was of African descent. She was on a TV series where celebrities discover their ancestry.


Malik Bendjelloul
Best Documentary

He grew up in Sweden, where his White mother is from. One year after he won his Oscar, he committed suicide.


Irene Cara
Best Song

The first mixed-race woman to win an Academy Award and the youngest multiracial to win one (male or female). She won the award for songwriting, but she was also an actress who played Latinos and Blacks. In real life, she's both.


Robert Lopez
Best Song

Like Irene Cara, he's a mixed Latino who won for songwriting. It was for a movie which is the most financially successful animated movie of all time.

He is the first Filipino to win an Academy Award. He's also one of the few people (of any race) to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony, and is the youngest person and the first Asian to have done so.


More mixed-race Oscar winners:

White-Latino

Mercedes Ruehl
White/Cuban
Best Supporting Actress

White-Black

Ezra Edelman
White/Jewish/Black
Best Documentary

T.J. Martin
White/Black
Best Documentary

White-Asian

Audrey Marrs
White/East Asian (Japanese)
Best Documentary

Paul Austerberry
White/Southeast Asian (Filipino)
Best Production Design

Tom Cross
White/Southeast Asian (Vietnamese)
Best Editing

Shaun Tan
White/East Asian (Chinese)

Best Animated Short

Joanna Natasegara
White/East Asian (Japanese)
Best Documentary Short

Tri-racial

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
White/East Asian/Latin American
Best Documentary
2019 winner


Do you know other mixed-race Oscar winners? Mention them in the comments.

8 Mixed-race Americans at the 2018 Olympics

 
No event is more universal than the Olympics because it's a gathering of hundreds of countries, languages, and ethnicities. It is the most racially diverse event on Earth.

Individual Olympians who have mixed-race heritage are an embodiment of this melting pot and multicultural spirit.

Here are a few from the U.S. competing this year.



Hailey Langland
Snowboarding

At 17 years old, she is the youngest female out of the 244 Americans at the Games.



Jordan Greenway

Hockey

He is the first African-American hockey player in Olympic history.

Elana Meyers Taylor

Bobsledding

This is her 3rd Olympic Games. Professional sports runs in her family: Her dad was an NFL football player, whose parents were from Central America.



J.R. Celski

Speed Skating

Like Elana above, this is also his 3rd Olympic Games. Like another Olympian, who won 8 medals, he's also a speed skater who's also mixed White-Asian who's also from the same small city.

Madison Chock

Figure Skating

There's probably a stereotype that Hawaiians don't do anything winter-related, much less the Winter Olympics. But her dad is Hawaiian-Chinese who grew up in Hawaii (and her mom is White).

Jerica Tandiman

Speed Skating

The last Winter Olympics in the U.S. was in her hometown, which motivated her to start skating.

Kimani Griffin

Speed Skating

He was once a musician who performed at one of the world's most prestigious concert halls.

Chris Kinney

Bobsledding

That's his grandma and mom. He lives in Japan, where the grandmother is from, and has a degree in Japanese, which he's fluent in. The Asian-American website, Angry Asian Man, posted a list of Asian-Americans at 2018 Olympics, which did not include him.

I emailed them and asked if they could add him. They didn't reply. I emailed them again to ask if they're uncomfortable adding him because he's only quarter Asian or because he's half Black (anti-Black racism exists among Asians). Still no reply.

Every Asian on their list is either full Asian or half White. Is he not Asian enough for them? Or not White enough? (He's actually quarter White, because his grandpa is White, if that means anything).

Since they didn't respond to my emails, I can only assume this is an example of...

1. The stereotype that Whiteness is attractive, especially within Asian communities
2. Multiracials are often rejected by their racial groups because they're "not [insert race] enough" (in Chris Kinney's case, "not Asian enough").

Portrayals of Asian Guys with Latino, Black, White, & Mixed Girls

Asian men are rarely in interracial marriages, according to the US Census. And they're often stereotyped as unmanly, sexually undesirable, or emasculated.

But the media still depicts them in interracial relations. Here are some examples.

Guide:

E - East Asian

SE - Southeast Asian

S - South Asian

"South Asian" means countries like India, Pakistani, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.

Movies

All My Life - E

American Beauty - E
Anna and the King - SE
As Long As We're Together - SE
Battle Creek Brawl - E
Bel Canto - E

Blue Bayou - E
Bridge to the Sun - E
Broken Blossoms - E
Bullet to the Head - E
Cavite - SE
Cinderella - SE
Cities of Last Things - E
Columbus - E
Combination Platter - E
Cosmopolitan - S
Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story - E
Earthquake Bird - E
Fakin' Da Funk - SE
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - E
Fast & Furious - E
Fast Five - E
Fast & Furious 6 - E
Game of Death - E
Harold & Kumar (all 3 movies) - E
Hiroshima Mon Amour - E
In Another Country - E
Japanese Story - E
Johnny Tsunami - E
Just a Kiss - S
Kites - S
Lagaan - S
Leonie - E
Lion - S

Lost Girls and Love Hotels - E
A Majority of One - E
Mao's Last Dancer - E
Man Up - E
Never Forever - E
Ode to My Father - E
Romeo Must Die - E
Seventh Moon - E
Shanghai Kiss - E
Sophie and the Rising Sun - E

Spider-Man: Far From Home - SE
Stratosphere Girl - E
Subject: I Love You - SE
The Bitter Tea of General Yen - E
The Cheetah Girls: One World - S
The Crimson Kimono - E
The Edge of Seventeen - E
The Hedgehog - E
The Hundred-Foot Journey - S
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness - E
The Jungle Book - S
The Kids Are All Alright - S
The King and I - SE
The Last Godfather - E
The Lover - SE
The Night Train to Kathmandu - S
The Ramen Girl - E

The Spy Next Door - E
The Sun is Also a Star - E
Tokyo Fiancée - E
We Were Soldiers - E

TV Series

21 Thunder - SE
2 Broke Girls - E
Alexa & Katie - E
Amber - E
American Vandal (Season 2) - E
Black Mirror - E
Black Mirror: White Christmas - E
Community - E
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - SE
Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders - mixed E
CSI: Cyber - E
Degrassi: Next Class - E
Dramaworld - E
FlashForward - E
Fresh Off the Boat - E
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - SE
Giri/Haji - E
Hawaii Five-0 (multiple) - E
Heroes - E
Homeland - S
Into the Badlands
iZombie - S
Last Tango in Halifax - S
Living with Models
Martial Law - E

Massan
Selfie - E
Skins
Supernatural
The Man in the High Castle - E

The Nine Lives of Chloe King - E
The Simpsons (3 times) - E, S
The O.C. (2 times)
The Walking Dead - E
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - SE
Video Game High School - E
White Teeth - S

Theater
Allegiance - E
A Majority of One - E
Soft Power - E
The King and I - SE
The North China Lover - E

Books

A Long Way Home
America Is In the Heart
Anna and the King of Siam
Bel Canto
Bridge to the Sun
China Blues
Everything I Never Told You

Lost Girls and Love Hotels
Mao's Last Dancer
On Gold Mountain
State of Wonder
Station Eleven
The Earthquake Bird
The Girl From Junchow
The Japanese Lover
The Lola Quartet
The Lotus Eaters
The Lover
The North China Lover
The Russian Concubine
The Sun is Also a Star
Tokyo Fiancée
White Teeth

You've Reached Sam

Do you know others? Please mention them in the comments.

Arab-Asian singer tops the charts in France

This is my English translation of this French article, which was written in January. This month her debut album was the #1-selling album in France in its first week of release. 

Indila: This Winter's Surprise Hit

by Eric Bureau

She's everywhere. Hard to turn on the radio without hearing Indila, impossible to watch a music channel without seeing her video for "Dernière Danse" ("Last Dance") in Paris. First solo song and first hit. Number 2 bestselling single behind Pharrell Williams' "Happy", number 1 music video on TV, in addition to 35 million Internet views (as of March 2014).

Even without an album, she still landed her first TV performance on the acclaimed show, Vivement Dimanche ("Can't Wait For Sunday"), invited by an artist who found her song irresistible.

She's everywhere…and nowhere. Elusive. When you do an Internet search for Indila, you'll find virtually no information on her, neither official nor personal. Instead, her collaborations with popular rappers, and the release date of her debut album, February 24. Different websites say she's of Algerian descent, between 26 and 33 years old.

When we meet her in Paris, at Davout studio where she recorded her album with her "musical partner in crime", producer Skalp, she brilliantly sidesteps and eludes questions. "I'm the same age as my music, which is timeless. How old you think I am?" Between 25 and 30. "Okay then I'm between 25 and 30 today," she laughs. "Then we'll see tomorrow." Equally mysterious, her life story. "I'm a true Parisian, born in Paris. A child of the world. My family's heritage is Algerian, but also Cambodian, Egyptian, and Indian. And might I add: my middle name, Indila, comes from my endless love for India."

She ends up revealing that she was a tour guide at Rungis Market, the world's largest wholesale food market. She's always loved singing but hasn't formally studied music. In her formative years, she was raised on a diet of Enrico Macias, Michael Jackson, Brel, Edith Piaf, Algerian singers like Warda and Indian ones like Lata Mangeshkar. "Music is like me. No borders or barriers," Indila says in a soft voice, almost childlike, but self-confident. "It's no trouble for me at all to switch from Hip-Hop to adult contemporary."

Her album makes it clear she hasn't always seen the bright side of life. Her song "Last Dance" contains a play on words with "douce souffrances" ("sweet sufferings") and "Douce France" ("sweet France") by Charles Tenet, which she used to sing as a child with her older sister while bicycling. In "Tourner dans le vide" ("persevering amidst emptiness"), her next single, she laments the absence of a loved one, dark-skinned, son of a laborer, and hopes for his return. "Yes, this album talks a lot about the absence of loved ones and the void that it leaves, about memories, but about hopes too, about life passing by too quickly."

Pokerfaced, holding a cup of tea, she also drops this incredible statement: "I'm being born with this album, I didn't exist before. What matters isn't my life, but the story I want to tell the public."

Keeping things simple. For the sake of style? "I don't like to talk much. Even less so about myself," she tells us. "So far, I've been satisfied being in the shadows of the rappers I sing with, that's given me a sense of security." With the success that awaits her, she's going to have to force herself into the spotlight.

Idol Winners of Mixed Heritage

Tonight, American Idol will crown a new winner. More than 40 countries have their own version of the competition.

Below are winners of Idol TV shows around the world. Each of them are of mixed-race descent and/or upbringing, a reminder that music exists in every culture.

Guy Sebastian - Australian Idol, 2003

White (Portuguese and English) and Sri Lankan

Taufik Batisah - Singapore Idol, 2004

Indian and Indonesian

Ben Lummis - NZ Idol, 2004

White (New Zealander), Maori, and Tongan

Melissa O'Neil - Canadian Idol, 2005

White (Canadian) and Chinese

Jorun Stiansen - Idol (Norway), 2005

Transracial adoptee: Colombian raised by Norwegian (White) parents

Eva Avila - Canadian Idol, 2006

White (French Canadian) and Peruvian

Mau Marcelo - Philippine Idol, 2006

Puerto Rican (White and Black) and Filipino

Matthew Saunoa - NZ Idol, 2006

White (English) and Samoan

Jordin Sparks - American Idol, 2007

Black (American) and White (American)

Mark Medlock - Deutschland sucht den Superstar (Germany), 2007

Black (American) and White (German)

Diandra Flores - Idols (Finland), 2012

White (Finnish) and Chilean

Sophie-Tith Charvet - Nouvelle Star (France), 2013

White (French) and Laotian

The series that put mixed girls on TV

11 years ago today, the TV show "24" made its debut. The ways that it challenged stereotypes seemed to predict the future: it showed a Black president 6 years before Obama's election, yet another Black president 2 years before the election, and it showed a White/Caucasian female Islamic terrorist 3 years before Muriel Degauque's suicide bombing.

In November 2008, the same month Barack was elected, the show portrayed the inauguration of a woman president---yet another prediction. Coincidentally, today is Election Day.

Some people think the series stereotypes Arabs, Middle Easterners, and Muslims as terrorists, but they apparently haven't seen many episodes. More than half of the villains on the show are neither Arab, nor Middle Eastern, nor Islamic. Not only that but the show often addresses the prejudice against these groups. In season 7 for example, White/Caucasian domestic terrorists try to frame an innocent man for a bombing; they think they'll get away with it because the man is Pakistani American and a practicing Muslim.


Another way that "24" was groundbreaking was by casting an unusually high number of mixed-race women. If you consider that...

1. the entertainment industry has always been White/Caucasian-dominated 

2. the media and pop culture have always ignored mixed heritage 

...then it's unprecedented to see this many mixed-race people in a major network TV series. 

This show holds the record for the most multiracial actresses in a TV series. This isn't an official record but it's hard to imagine another TV series with even more mixed actresses than this. If I'm wrong and there's another series with more, then that's great because it means there's more mixed people on TV than I thought. 

I invite/challenge you to make a list like this for a series that beats this record. Meanwhile, this is my list of mixed girls on "24"...

Marisol Nichols

Even though her character, Nadia Yassir, is Middle Eastern, she's really Mexican, Hungarian, Spanish, and Romanian.

Reiko Aylesworth

Her role as Michelle Dessler gives her more appearances on the show than anybody on this list. 

Her first name is a hint of her quarter-Japanese heritage, which also includes Welsh and Dutch.

Megalyn Echikunwoke

She plays the daughter of Senator Palmer in season 1. Her mother is White/Caucasian and her father is Nigerian.

Chuti Tiu

Her character is the personal assistant of the villain in season 2. She was born and raised in Wisconsin and is Chinese and Filipino.

Lourdes Benedicto

Her role is computer programmer Carrie Turner in season 2. She's Filipino and Dominican.

Christina Chang

She portrays Dr. Sunny Macer in seasons 3 and 7. She was born and raised in Taiwan to a Chinese-Filipino dad and a White/Caucasian mom.

Gina Torres

Her character is Julia Milliken in season 3. Both of her parents are multiracial Cubans; Gina, her mom, and her dad are all mixed Latino/Black.

Kamala Lopez

She plays the wife of a federal agent in season 3. Her dad is Venezuelan and her mom is Indian (South Asian, not Native American). She was born in New York City and grew up in Venezuela.

Lana Parilla

Her character is computer expert Sarah Gavin in season 4. Her mom is Italian and her dad is Puerto Rican, and she was born and raised in New York City.

Merle Dandridge

She appears in one episode of season 8 playing an attorney. Her mother is Japanese/Korean and her dad is Black. She was born in Okinawa, Japan and grew up in Nebraska.

Neisha Folkes

Her role is a temporary babysitter at CTU Los Angeles in season 3. Her page on a casting website confirms she's mixed race, though it doesn't say her specific ethnicities.

Jacqueline Piñol

She's in one episode in season 7, playing a woman taken hostage in her house. Her heritage is mixed French Latin American. She was born in New York City and grew up in Los Angeles.

Sandrine Holt

She plays the First Lady's assistant in season 5, and also the mother of a girl who's played by the next actress on this list. Sandrine was born in England and grew up in Canada. Her birth surname is Ho, which is from her Chinese father, and her mother is White/Caucasian.

Skylar Roberge

Her character is a kidnapped girl in season 5 and the previous actress on this list portrays her mom. Apparently the producers were aware of mixed heritage when they cast these two parts. Skylar was born in Hawaii, which is the US state with the highest percentage of mixed people.

Talin Silva

Her page on a casting website confirms she's mixed but doesn't say her specific background. Whether or not she has any Middle Eastern heritage, she plays a little girl from the fictional Mideast country of Kamistan, in one episode of season 8.

Unconfirmed

These actresses on "24" might be multiracial but I couldn't find anything on their ethnicities. 

Clockwise from top-left, along with their roles in the series:

1. Tamara Tunie: CTU director Alberta Green in season 1

2. Pia Artesona: the secretary of one of the bad guys in season 5

3. Lissa Pallo Strong: a woman at a hotel bar in season 5

4. Jolene Kim: the assistant to the US president in season 6
5. Tania Verafield: a woman on the other end of a phone call in season 8
6. Sarah Hollis: an aide at the White House in season 8

Alexandra Lydon

She plays the daughter of the villain in season 3. Unlike the "unconfirmed" actresses above, I did find info on her ethnicity...

...and she isn't multiracial, she's Irish. She shouldn't be on this list but I included her for 2 reasons:

1. She is mixed nationality because she's a dual citizen (Ireland and USA), and I'd like to take this opportunity to mention that nationality isn't the same thing as race. 90% of the time, when somebody says "nationality", they really mean race/ethnicity. I'm always correcting people. Nationality means citizenship; it's a legal status that has nothing to do with racial/ethnic background. The nationalities of most of these actresses is American.

2. In my opinion, her physical appearance could pass as some type of mixed heritage, which means she could portray a mixed character, which means she could influence media representations of multiracials if she ever played one, even if she might not be one in real life. Marisol Nichols, the first actress on this list, isn't a Middle Easterner but she played one; she therefore had an influence on how that group is represented.