Janet Yang, Presidential Fellow and clinical professor of film and TV production in the LMU School of Film and Television, was named president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this past August. Yang, who was born in Queens, New York, is the first Asian American and fourth woman to hold the position.
Yang is an Emmy and Golden Globe award winner. She was executive producer for “The Joy Luck Club” (1993), the first mainstream U.S. feature starring an all-Asian cast, and collaborated on “Empire of the Sun” (1987).
Yang has established a reputation for helping Asians and Asian Americans succeed in Hollywood.
“What excites me most is tapping into the brilliance and creative juices of our 10,000 members who are fanned out across the globe,” Yang said. “I believe solutions to the challenges and goals of our organization, as well as the industry at large, can be found precisely within our own membership.”
Yang has played a central role in linking the Chinese and American film marketplaces. She also has established a reputation for helping Asians and Asian Americans succeed in Hollywood.
“In many ways, the AAPI community has never fared better, at least in terms of representation. Virtually every day, I get to celebrate the achievements of a friend or colleague who has broken new ground in our field of entertainment. But then I am reminded that there is still a rash of anti-Asian violence erupting across the country. It is both heartbreaking and confounding. Somehow, we are still being targeted as the ‘other,’ and told to ‘go home.’ So we mustn’t get complacent.”