Kevin Kwan Quotes

I was making big paintings with mythological themes. When I started painting black figures, the white professors were relieved, and the black students were like, 'She's on our side.' These are the kinds of issues that a white male artist just doesn't have to deal with.

Hollywood isn't ready for an Indian leading man.

Of course we've been fighting against stereotypes from Day One at East West. That's the reason we formed: to combat that, and to show we are capable of more than just fulfilling the stereotypes - waiter, laundryman, gardener, martial artist, villain.

Being black, Latino, or Asian is not a genre. Romantic comedies, thrillers, action - those are genres. I think there's a lot of people who want to have the conversation. I don't think people are afraid of it, I just think it's the time to have that conversation. Race is not a genre.

Never have a picture of a well-adjusted African on the cover of your book, or in it, unless that African has won the Nobel prize.

I was too Jewish for 'Flashdance.'

It's a dumb question, because I don't look at things as a black director, just as a director, so ask me as a director first and we can segue into the colour thing later.

Here's the thing. We do a movie with a predominantly black cast, and it's put in a category of being a black film. When other movies are done with a predominantly white cast, we don't call them a white film. I'm trying to remove the stigma off things they call black films.

I've stayed away from doing 'urban film' because I just don't relate to the characters. I'm not going to take a role because I happen to have the same skin color.

We all had to dodge the idea we were spokespeople for our races. Like, 'Hey, it's the Mexican Guy! The Filipino! The Chick!' We've always stood up to it and said, 'Fine, bring it on and we'll show you how we rock.'

Expectations that black directors have to make black films about black subject matter are, to me, kind of absurd.

I've shied away from playing Asian characters. if you look back, I'm playing characters that have no relevance to my ethnicity.

And people are always saying he deceptively quick, deceptively athletic, and I don't know if that's just because I'm Asian or what it is, but obviously there's going to be stereotypes that you have to fight.

As an Italian-American, I have a special responsibility to be sensitive to ethnic stereotypes.

I'm not a big fan of identity politics and sort of picking one thing and defining yourself with it.

I wanted to make an Indian character who wasn't either a) the savage that must be eliminated, the force of nature that's blocking the way for industrial progress, or b) the noble innocent that knows all and is another cliche. I wanted him to be a complicated human being.

I don't understand labels. I don't need anybody to tell me I'm Latina or black or anything else. I've played characters that were written for Caucasian females, I just want to be given the same consideration as everybody else, and so far that has been happening.

Being Asian in this business is something you have to consider, because sometimes people aren't as open. They'll say, I can't see you with a Caucasian person.

A lot of black people believe that Jews in this country have become white. They behave like white people rather than Jewish people.

What we really have to do is stop the adjective before the job title - whether it's 'black actor,' a 'gay actor' or anything actor.

Not everybody is comfortable with my ethnicity. When I first came along in the business, they didn't really like the idea of my name being Raquel.

Being Latino and being an actor has been a unique struggle and opportunity. When you don't fit into what may be a more stereotypical vision of somebody whose name is Pedro is, it can be a little bit harder to navigate.

Any character who had dark skin, I got all those parts. I could play a Polynesian, East Indian princess, whatever.

There are plenty of Latina actresses that no one's ever heard of... Some are really brown, some are light-skinned, and some look like they're Caucasian, but it's like we only want to identify with a certain kind of look and celebrate that under the guise that this is a 'Latina actress.'

I didn't think it was possible for Asians to be actors.