Latest news with #AsianRepresentation
BBC News
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Jasmine's journey from Shropshire to the West End
It was watching the Lion King musical at the Birmingham Hippodrome aged 11 that made Jasmine Jia Yung Shen realise she wanted to forge a career on 27, she has achieved that near-lifelong dream - landing a role in Hamilton on London's West up in Ludlow, Shropshire, she had started dancing and performing aged four but as a teenager, she realised that to pursue her goal she would have to leave the county. "You're born in Ludlow, you're raised in Ludlow, you might stay in Ludlow forever... and that's so okay, but for me personally I just knew that there was a bigger world out there," she told the BBC."Now that I'm here doing it, I just think it's mad, and I have never, ever taken this for granted." Jasmine moved to London aged 18 to study at Bird College, an independent performing arts college, and met a lot of new people. Jasmine is a British-born Asian woman of two Chinese parents, and did not see many who looked like her growing from the 2011 census - which happened when Jasmine was about 13 - shows 98.3% of Ludlow's population was white, while 0.6% was Asian or Asian British."In terms of actual representation, I know no one from Ludlow or any of the sorts... as I've gotten older I've met people through different jobs or the industry as a whole," she said."There's been a lot more people who are actually from Shropshire, whether it be Shrewsbury, Bridgnorth... who are either East Asian, Southeast Asian, or black, mixed-race black. "I'm just like: 'This is crazy, we're all from Shropshire. Where have you been my whole life?'" After graduating from Bird College in 2019 she landed her first professional job as Catherine of Aragon in Six The Musical on a Norwegian Breakaway cruise next job was playing Ali in the Mamma Mia! UK through the tour, she was asked to be the third cover for the role of Sophie - the character played by Amanda Seyfried in the Hollywood she had her day as Sophie, which Jasmine described as "such a special moment"."That year we had a mixed-race South Asian Sophie anyway on the tour, which already within itself is quite ground-breaking, because usually the Sophies... are white presenting," she said. "The fact that the director was so accepting - it's just based off your talent."It is not how you look, it's a story at the end of the day, it's a made up story."She then clinched a role on the Hamilton UK Tour as a standby Schuyler sister, completing 91 shows in this year, she landed her first-ever West End job in Hamilton on London's West plays Peggy Schuyler in act one and Maria Reynolds in act two, making her debut on 16 June."Transitioning between the tour and coming into West End is crazy," she said."I get to do it every single night - it's insane to me... I will never get over this at all." 'I'm here because I deserve to be' "I am the only East Asian person on that stage," she said. "The fact that I can see people in the audience dotted around who are East Asian, who maybe have kids... and it's their first musical, I'm like: 'Oh, my god... this is absolutely insane'."She said she used to wonder if she had only got roles because of her ethnicity."Now I think: 'No, I'm here because I deserve to be here, and I'm talented enough to be here'." Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Guardian
13-06-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Crunch: how Ukraine drones hit Russia; marine heatwaves; and the collapse of Canada's third parties
Hello and welcome to another edition of The Crunch! There's been so much great datavis published over the last couple of weeks, it was a real struggle to whittle down. But in this week's newsletter we've got another great political▲triangle▲ chart, an analysis of the accuracy of Asian casting in Hollywood, a visual explainer on the Ukraine drone attack on Russia, an interactive map showing the extent of marine heatwaves and how you can mislead people by being selective with the data you show. The Greens lost three seats and their party leader in the 2025 Australian federal election, despite a relatively steady national vote. How did this happen? We took a deep dive into the Greens vote, looking at how dispersed Greens voters are across the country, why a seat redistribution affected Adam Bandt in Melbourne, and the 'three-cornered' contests between the Greens and the major parties in Brisbane. Stick around to the end of the piece to play with our interactive preferences calculator. Our colleagues in the US have also published this great visual guide to the Los Angeles protests. The map is particularly useful if, like us, you find it hard to tell the scale of the protests from the television coverage. 1. How accurately are Asian-Americans cast in Hollywood? There's a lot to like in this visual essay from Dorothy Lu and Anna Li at the Pudding. It starts with a lovely comic strip explaining the inspiration for the piece, then takes a detailed look at Asian representation in cinema. 2. Ukraine drone attack Even days after Ukraine's drone attack deep in Russian territory earlier in June, it was hard to imagine what exactly had happened. Reuters has a great visual explainer, showing what the drones look like and how they were smuggled into Russia inside modified trucks. 3. Marine heatwaves getting more frequent and widespread A quarter of the world's oceans experienced temperatures in 2024 that qualify as a heatwave. Delger Erdenesanaa and climate graphics wizard Harry Stevens at the NYT have produced this interactive piece looking at how widespread marine heatwaves have become ($), with an excellent, if confronting, interactive map that shows the spread of heatwaves over time. Sign up to The Crunch Our data journalists showcase the most important charts and dataviz from the Guardian and around the web, free every fortnight after newsletter promotion The map also works really well on mobile, which you can't always say about a lot of interactive maps. 4. ▲△▲MORE TRIANGLES ▲△▲ Regular readers of the Crunch will know that we love ternary scatterplots, so we were excited to see this view of Canadian election results which shows the movement of vote share in every federal riding (these are Canadian electoral districts), from third parties to the two major parties. The chart was made by designer Nick Abasolo, and you can read more about it here. The New York Times on boys falling behind in kindergarten ($) The Economist on girls falling behind in maths ($) Our World in Data on how childhood leukemia became treatable As The Economist's Archie Hall said, this chart posted by the UK Conservatives is the type where when you start the x axis really matters: And so the FT's Alphaville made this excellent edit of the chart, showing how inflation was far higher – and increased far more – under the Conservatives: Enjoying The Crunch? If you like what you see and think you might know someone else who would enjoy it, please forward this email or send them a link to the sign up page.
RNZ News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Asian representation in Parliament continues to grow as Vanushi Walters enters House
Vanushi Walters Photo: ©VNP / Phil Smith New Zealand's Asian communities eyed greater representation in Parliament in the run-up to the 2023 election, with political parties on both sides of the aisle nominating a diverse list of candidates . Those hopes were shattered on election night, with just eight of those candidates securing a seat in the Beehive . This was the same number of Asian-origin MPs in Parliament during the 2020-23 term, as well as the parliamentary term that preceded it. However, things have improved in terms of Asian representation in Parliament since November 2023. Andrew Bayly - a National Party list MP - won the Port Waikato by-election on 25 November 2023, propelling Nancy Lu into the House by virtue of being next on the party list and giving Asian MPs their largest representation ever. The gain didn't last long, with former Iranian refugee and multiple term Green MP Golriz Ghahraman resigning in January 2024 after shoplifting allegations surfaced against her . In March 2024, Lawrence Xu-Nan was sworn in as a Green Party list MP. He replaced Greens list MP Fa'anānā Efeso Collins, who died while participating in a charity run in Auckland a month earlier. Xu-Nan is the first MP of Chinese descent to represent the Greens in Parliament. In May 2024, former Greens leader James Shaw resigned - making way for Francisco Hernandez, who was born in Manila, Philippines. Hernandez was ranked 17 on the Greens' party list. Earlier this month, long-serving Labour MP David Parker delivered his valedictory address to Parliament after calling time on his political career. As a result, former Labour MP Vanushi Walters was sworn in as an MP in Parker's absence on 13 May for the remainder of the parliamentary term. Eleven MPs of Asian descent now hold a seat in Parliament, representing the largest such cohort in New Zealand history. A Sri Lankan New Zealander and former human rights lawyer, Vanushi Walters is Labour's spokesperson for associate foreign affairs as well as the shadow attorney-general. Walters was pleased to return to Parliament, saying she was honoured to hold the role of shadow attorney-general. "Democracy is about people, and I believe it's the role of both the attorney-general and the shadow attorney-general to ensure that remains the case," Walters said. "I look forward to working across the House to ensure that New Zealanders' voices are front and centre where legislative change is proposed, and that we always keep one eye on the rules to which we are accountable as MPs when holding these roles of service." Walters vowed to encourage young people from multicultural backgrounds to seek public service roles. "A robust democracy brings together diverse views, backgrounds and experiences, and, as a proud New Zealand with Sri Lankan heritage, I hope I can encourage others from a multicultural background, particularly young people to consider the roles they might contribute to in public spaces such as Parliament," she said.
