Skip to Content

Sponsors

No results

Keywords

No results

Types

No results

Search Results

Events

No results
Search events using: keywords, sponsors, locations or event type
When / Where
All occurrences of this event have passed.
This listing is displayed for historical purposes.

Presented By: Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies

Gran Torino, Refugees, and Anti-Asian Racism: A Conversation with Actor Bee Vang

Actor Bee Vang

Gran Torino Gran Torino
Gran Torino
Bee Vang, at 16, held the leading Hmong American role as Thao Vang Lor in Clint Eastwood’s 2008 film Gran Torino. He subsequently performed in independent films and on stage at Brown University where he received a 2016 liberal arts degree in international politics, media, and cultural studies. He also trained in China in techniques of Chinese opera and Japanese performance. Throughout this time, Vang engaged in social justice and media activism, and published works related to the visibility and inclusion of Southeast Asian Americans and, more broadly, Asian Americans in Hollywood and mainstream popular culture. His work covered such topics as representation, race, gender, sexuality, production, geopolitics, refugees, criminal justice, mass incarceration. Vang presented at multiple conferences related to these topics, and publicly lectured or gave workshops in over thirty venues, domestically and overseas including the University of Toronto, Beijing University, Minzu University, and Zhongshan University.

Meanwhile, Vang worked at MSNBC with The Rachel Maddow Show in broadcast journalism, at The Economist in print journalism, and at First Look Media in documentary filmmaking with Laura Poitras. After several years working as a print journalist, nonfiction writer, and policy researcher, he recently moved to LA to devote himself to acting, filmmaking, and other creative pursuits.
Gran Torino Gran Torino
Gran Torino

Back to Main Content