“Art School is For White People”: A Lack of Asian Role Models in the Arts

I have wanted to be a dentist since I was 15. I never had a concrete reason why - I used to joke that it was to dodge any war draft. Now, at 25 years old, with a dentistry degree in my pocket, I’m a writer. 

I have heard the story again and again. Countless Asian friends and relatives set aside their passion for art, writing, or music in order to study maths, medicine, or engineering. Although plenty of Asian students genuinely love scientific subjects, choosing a STEM career can feel to others like a burden of duty. Too many of us feel an expectation to abandon our talents and grind away at a profession we never really wanted. The rhetoric is that a job is solely for status and money. Passions are relegated to hobbies.

Asians (especially Indian, Chinese, and Pakistani students) are proportionally overrepresented in high-earning degrees such as Maths, Medicine, Dentistry, and Engineering. The reason often cited for this is parental pressure. All these fields promise not just money but status and security, and it stands to reason that parents want this for their children. This desire can come from a profound place of fear if they themselves have struggled financially as first-generation immigrants. However, the stereotype of a strict Desi dad or a Tiger Mum eclipses a lesser-discussed factor keeping Asians out of the arts: our lack of role models in media.

Mallory Heights, a British-Canadian show, featured Imali Perera in a small role as Miss Potts. Excited to see a British Sri Lankan actress, I checked her imdb page. Her previous roles included ‘Nurse #1’, ‘Q Nurse’, ‘Dr Patel’, ‘Dr Marran’, ‘Dr Radha Pardeep’, ‘Dr. Gavde’, ‘Dr. Navalar’, ‘Dentist’, ‘Traige Nurse’, ‘Nurse / Svetlana’, and ‘Indian doctor girl’. While I am very happy that Imali Perera is getting work, the fact that so many of a talented actress’s roles were as one-line medical staff speaks to a wider trend.

Doctors and IT workers are often the only successful Asian people - or the only Asian people at all - that kids grow up seeing in the media. This narrow criteria for success is presented to Asian kids as soon as we’re old enough to watch TV. White people get to be ballerinas, singers, footballers, politicians, painters, novelists, and chefs. That range of opportunity isn’t extended to Asians. The message is clear: you prescribe tramadol to the white hero, you fix their computer, or you don’t exist. 

It’s hard to aspire towards something you might never have seen in your life. If the only successful Asians you ever saw around you and on screen are in STEM, it makes sense that you might subconsciously come to believe that STEM is the only place you can ever find success. It can be hard to dream of being a popstar if you never saw a popstar who looked like you. 

This lack of representation also creates even more instability for Asian people pursuing the arts. It can be risky for anyone to follow their passion, but the risk amplifies when the height of your career could be fighting tooth and nail for the role of Dentist #2. 

Luckily, the opposite is true too. Bend It Like Beckham is an iconic British movie about a Punjabi girl’s journey as a footballer, directed by ​​Gurinder Chadha. On the film’s 20-year anniversary, the BBC interviewed Asian footballers about the way this representation shaped their careers. Freestyler Kaljit Atwal said that when she saw the film as a kid, “I knew if she can do it, I can do it.” 

The more Asians who pursue their artistic passions, the more role models the next generation will have. More Asian producers mean more Asian writers get hired to tell stories featuring Asian actors. These last years have already brought us blockbusters like Crazy Rich Asians and The Big Sick. The more Asian people who feel able to pursue the arts, the more diverse representation we’ll get. 

This could even break the cycle of parental pressure. STEM careers are by no means the only paths to success - in fact, around a third of Fortune 500 CEOs hold Humanities degrees. But when Asian artists become the norm instead of the exception, it might feel like a more viable route to a stable future.