On December 14th, Character Media hosted the 18th annual Unforgettable Gala at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. The Unforgettable Gala is an annual awards show that recognizes Asian-American icons and influencers in their respective fields. This year’s Gala was graced by the presence of major stars such as Constance Wu, Manny Jacinto, and many more! Wu and her fellow Fresh off the Boat cast received this year’s grand “Legacy Award,” Lulu Wang’s The Farewell received the prestigious “Vanguard Award,” and Kevin Na with the “Athlete on Another Level Award.” The night was even more star-studded with Daniel Dae Kim delivering the keynote address, Simu Liu hosting the night, and performances from Hallyu idol Amber Liu, Japanese musician Miyavi, America’s Got Talent winner Kodi Lee, and singer-songwriter MILCK. Check out our interviews with some of the distinguished guests from that night!

ALEX LANDI (Grey’s Anatomy, Insatiable)

Q: Have you been to the Gala before? 

A: I went last year, I took my mom last year and now I am taking my best friend Dustin. He flew in from New York and yeah this is my second year.

Q: So you’re on Grey’s Anatomy, how has that experience been for you? 

A: I am just really super lucky, fortunate and grateful and I wouldn’t be here obviously if it wasn’t for that show and anything coming after now is all due to Grey’s.

Q: As an Asian-American, how does it feel to come to an event that celebrates and recognizes Asian and Asian American talent?

A: We’re only on the up right now; it’s only going to keep getting better and better. It’s good strides. You know we got Parasite out – amazing movie and amazing director – and I think if we keep coming out with this good content it’s only going to keep going.

Q: Are you presenting tonight?

A: I am! I’m presenting with Simu Liu (Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and Eugene Lee Yang (Try Guys). And we’re presenting for best digital influencer.

Q: Nice, so we’re coming to the end of the decade, what can we expect from you in this coming-up decade or maybe just 2020? 

A: 2020 is gonna be lit! It’s just gonna be lit. I can’t say anything but it’s going to be a really fun year, I’m really happy!

AMBER LIU (Singer/Songwriter, f(x) Member)

Q: I heard it’s your first time at the Gala AND you’re performing tonight! So how does that feel?

A: I’m really nervous. It has been so long since I’ve been doing this and I’m always nervous, but for every one of my performances I just want to have fun with everybody and I hope they feel the energy and that no one gets hurt.

Q: You’ve been releasing songs quite a lot this past month, are you building up to something?

A: Piece by Piece, my EP has been coming up. We have one more song left. We have five out of six so the next one’s going to be released some time before January, right before my tour. Honestly, I just want to keep making music and putting it out there and hopefully wherever the fans are, go tour their city and just share the energy and the fun with them

Q: Can we count on you performing any of those songs tonight?

A: Yes you can, I will be performing one of the songs from the EP and a throwback.

Q: Earlier this week, you released “Ready for the Ride,” love it, I totally got 2000s vibes.

A: I love 90s R&B and I was listening to Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and I just love that sound so much and wanted to dabble in that and see what I could do with it. I actually wrote the song in 30 minutes because my sister was coming to pick me up, I didn’t have a car at that time, so I was like I have to write this fast and the producers really banged that one out.

Q: You mentioned tour, and you are going on tour in January, is there anything you can tell us about it? Like what to expect? 

A: I’m trying to switch it up right now. I have a lot of people who are my day ones and people who are just discovering who I am, so I’m trying to kind of mentally figure out how to bring everyone together and in the end I want everyone to have fun.

Q: Nice! Okay, one last question, how does it feel being Asian-American coming to an event that celebrates and recognizes Asian American talent?

A: Being Asian-American, all I want to do is, if I can support something like a cause, that’s what I want to do. And now that you mention it, I feel proud of myself at this moment that I’m here, that I’m trying to represent all Asian-Americans out there, and if I can just add to the army that we got then I want to be apart of it.

DANIEL WU (Into the Badlands, The Man with the Iron Fists)

Q: A lot of your work has been within the Hong Kong industry, so how does it feel to come to an event outside of the Asian continent that recognizes and celebrates Asian and Asian-American talent?

A: It’s very special. I spent 22 years in Asia and I’m so happy and grateful that they accepted me as part of their culture even though I’m American. So I lived 20-something years as an outsider and coming to this event, and actually coming back to Hollywood, I’m still an outsider because I’m a minority; I’m an Asian-American. But coming to this event you feel like you’re part of a family now, you’re part of this group of amazing people that are doing amazing work right now and celebrating on a night like this is great. I think we need more of things like this. There wasn’t stuff like this when I was growing up. I’m 45 so I’m old enough to know it was a desert, maybe there was like five guys or five people that represented Asian-Americans and now we have a whole ballroom full of people, so it’s amazing, it’s a really special feeling being a part of this movement.

Q: Half of this past decade you were the lead of Into the Badlands so how was that experience for you?

A: It was a greatly empowering experience because, not only was I the lead actor in it, but I was also an executive producer so I had a hand in helping control the way the show went. One of the things talking about diversity was that we as a group of producers consciously got together and go “we need to cast more diversely.” Not only just the main actors, but the background actors, the whole level, crews as well. Working on Badlands was an amazing experience because we were shooting in Ireland, but we had Irish crews, some American people, we had Hong Kong crew, some Chinese crew, we had all these people working on this and it was truly international. There was Cantonese, Madarin, Italian, English – all these languages going on and it worked beautifully and that’s one thing that I miss about the show the most. We’ve been cancelled now, but I miss that experience of being a truly global, diverse group of people working well together and doing something really great. 

Q: Because of your role, you are nominated tonight for Actor in TV, how does that feel?

A: It’s great, I don’t think I’m going to win but it’s great. Having done this for 22 years, these kinds of things, the awards, are not that important, just coming to this event and this experience is great. This is my first time, 45 years old, and it’s the first time I’ve been at an event for Asian-American entertainers. Even though this has been going on for 18 years, it’s my first time and it’s great and I am just so proud to be here.

Q: Last question, what can we expect from you in the coming decade? 

A: I just completed a film called Reminiscence directed by Lisa Joy, who is a writer and director on WestWorld, and she is also Asian-American. It was a great experience watching an Asian-American female on set directing a huge Hollywood movie, a hundred million dollar Hollywood movie, and just owning it like a boss. You know we need more of that and I was just in awe the whole time so that was a great experience and I was so proud to work with her on that. And then I’m working on a project that I want to direct for next year, so I’m working on a script with another Asian-American writer. You know just trying to get our community to work together more. 

KAREN FUKUHARA (The Boys, Suicide Squad)

Q: You’re nominated tonight, how does that feel?

A: It feels amazing! The talent that’s in this room is amazing and I think tonight is not about me as an individual, it’s really about the community. I really think that I’m here today because this community has advocated for visibility of the Asian community, so I’m just really thankful and grateful to be here and I can’t wait to meet everyone.

Q: As Asian/Asian American, how does it feel to come to an event that recognizes and celebrates that Asian-American talent? 

A: It feels snug. You know I always do these events and I’m usually the token Asian but I think tonight is different, I see a lot of familiar faces, a lot of people that look like me and I can’t wait for this to be more common in mainstream media. I think it’s really important for every race and every culture to have exposure so that all the stories can be told. 

Q: Going into the new decade, what can we expect from you?

A: I do voiceovers for She-Ra and the Princesses of Power and that’s nominated for “Critics Choice.” Noelle Stevenson, our showrunner, is fantastic, heart of gold. I have an animated show called Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts coming out on Netflix with Dreamworks January 14th and then season 2 of The Boys on Amazon is coming out next summer.

SHUN OGURI (Godzilla vs. Kong, Gintama)

Q: You’re working on the film Godzilla Vs. Kong, how has that experience been for you?

A: It’s a very great experience for me. I had a great time and met some great people and a great team and I had a lot of fun.

Q: How does it feel to come to an event that recognizes Asian talent outside of the Asian continent?

A: I feel fantastic! I want to get the most out of it.

Q: Is there anyone you’re excited to see or meet?

A: I’m excited to see Miyavi, he’s a famous Japanese musician. I haven’t met him yet so I’m very excited to meet him.

STEVEN LIM (Worth It)

Q: This is your second time at the Gala, so how was it the first time around and then being able to come back and experience it again?

A: So my first time was last year and it was the most incredible experience. It was inspiring and felt like we were really making a movement happen in the Asian-American community. Now this year it feels we’re celebrating a lot of those wins, so I’m really excited to be here.

Q: So you just came out with a new company and channel with Ryan [Bergara] and Shane [Madej], can you tell us more about that?

A: The company is called Watcher Entertainment. The three of us were former Buzzfeed employees. We left to create our own company that could own our IP (intellectual property). We really believe in high quality content that’s really relatable to the audience

Q: So for the fans of Worth It, what is the future of Worth It?

A: Worth It still exists and will still continue on, but I am creating another food show that’s called Homemade and that’s going to be a show that’s covering only foods that you would eat at home, so foods that you cannot actually buy at a restaurant.

Q: As Asian-American, how does it feel to come to an event that recognizes and celebrates Asian American talent?

A: This is amazing. I mean this group of people here, I’m looking around now and it’s inspiring to be among a community that’s very supportive of each other and this is just the beginning.

Q: Is there anybody here who has inspired you since you were little? 

A: From Day 1, Randall Park, he’s the man.

Q: What can we expect from you and from the company in this coming-up decade?

A: I can’t wait to make way more shows and create more content. I also want to branch out and bring on other creators – other people who have stories that they want to share and use our channel as a platform to tell those stories. 

Check out the second set of interviews from the Unforgettable Gala here!