One recent example is Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017). In the Marvel film, Filipino-American actor Jacob Batalon plays Peter Parker’s friend Ned, a nerdy Asian boy who is a science and tech prodigy.

He began his acting career as a young man in the late 1950s, moving through the limited voiceover, dubbing and television bit part opportunities made available to Asian-American actors at the time.

These incidents are hardly a recent phenomenon. The actor Lucy Liu, who spoke to Asia Society last year as part of an interview series in celebration of Asian Pacific American (APA) Heritage Month, ...