Hollywood’s diversity is at best skewed, and some demographics remain critically underrepresented. As a Fil-Am, sometimes it’s all I can see; we’re prevalent in our communities, but forgotten on-screen. Why are Filipino faces still missing in mainstream American media?
Growing up Filipino American, there wasn’t a character, celebrity, or show that I felt represented my family or me. Filipinos are the third-largest Asian American demographic in the country (2024), and yet their place in the public eye is lacking.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve recognized an unfortunate gap in American media and television: a persistent absence of Filipino characters and roles in pop culture.
Many Filipinos that people point to as representation are mixed (mestizo/mestiza), or are cast in racially ambiguous roles. Colonialism and Western influence continue to dictate Filipinos in the diaspora, how we think about ourselves, and how much we fight to see ourselves represented in American media.
A Colonial Past
The Philippines’ long history of colonialism (under both Spain and the United States) undoubtedly shapes the preference for overall “whiteness” in the minds of modern Fil-Ams. European superiority was justified with colorism as early as the Spaniards’ subjugation of indios in the archipelago, and its effects remain palpable in the community. Many Filipinos grapple with deep-seated internalized racism and detestation for any features that identify them as distinctly brown.
In tandem, the Spanish used a concept called skin color hierarchy to subjugate Filipinos during the colonial era, which deemed Filipinos savage and inherently devalued them for their dark skin and broad features. This association between indigenous features and unintelligence and inferiority exposes the pressures behind Filipino American assimilation over cultural acceptance.
The current cultural climate expects us to minimize our ethnicity and stomach the community’s current relationship with representation instead of asking for more. And the communal Philippine shame internalized over the past several centuries enables this unremitting gap in American media.
Systemic Invisibility
Such pressures are perceived within the Fil-Am community, but external forces are also at play. For instance, advancing the media’s disinclination towards authentically representing brownness is a cultural preference for whiteness.
This yields a lack of uniquely Pinoy roles in the media.
Filipinos who are in the public eye are often mestizo/a — mixed race — and rarely possess full-blooded Philippine heritage.
This is not to discredit the validity of a Filipino’s identity for being mixed (I’m mixed and very vocal about my pride to be Filipina!!!). But there is an obvious imbalance in the number of opportunities full Filipinos get versus their half-white or otherwise ambiguous counterparts.
And the roles that Pinoys do get cast in rarely centralize or acknowledge their heritage. Instead, screenwriters carelessly cast Filipinos as racially ambiguous.
The sentiment communicated in these patterns is that there’s no true place for Filipinos in Hollywood.
I do think the representation gap for Filipinos is getting smaller, but the prioritization of white stories and white faces on-screen is still very noticeable. Looking at celebrities and Filipinos in pop culture, I ask myself who our role models are.
Kirsten, 20
The unfortunate truth is that the Philippines is not completely decolonized. Coloniality still pervades both the country and its people, including Fil-Ams.
The Weaponization of Ambiguity
The adjacent superiority of white colonizers translates to overwhelming displays of colorism in the media today. This is an underlying reason mestizo Filipinos are more prevalent in Hollywood — those of mixed race, most favorably those who are half white, tend to have fairer skin.
Mestizos are therefore more malleable for racially or ethnically ambiguous roles, enabling lazy, culturally ignorant writing and casting in mainstream media. Showrunners can pat themselves on the back for haphazard tokenism by not specifying a character’s ethnicity. Well, this actor isn’t white, so we’ve covered all our bases!
Even Lea Salonga, a full-blooded Filipina and cultural touchstone within the community, is rarely cast as her actual ethnicity.
The media hesitates to disaggregate Asian America, let alone specifically acknowledge Filipinos. So, having an Asian, Lea Salonga, voice two Asian Disney princesses is “enough” for mainstream media’s myopic standards of diversity. But, although both roles consolidated Salonga’s legendary status in the public eye, neither character was Filipina.
Even a figure with Salonga’s trailblazing reputation and reverence has her career shaped by the obscurity of Filipino identity in American media.
It is not enough.
The Effects of Underrepresentation
Film and television can shape how the public thinks about certain demographics. But limited representation leads to narrow, mainstream perceptions of certain demographics in the public eye.
Writers continually pigeonhole Filipino Americans on-screen through poor casting decisions. One is the characterization of Filipinos as inferior intellectually or by status, which has shaped Filipino roles in Hollywood.
It isn’t unusual to see Filipinos cast as blue-collar workers — house cleaners, caretakers, or other background/minor roles. The film Crazy Rich Asians, unfortunately, perpetuates this, despite the immense progress the film represents for Asians overall.
Assumptions of the existence of some kind of “universal” Filipino experience also impact limited casting decisions. For instance, prevailing stereotypes categorize Filipina women as meek, gentle housemakers, so Hollywood casts them accordingly — in one-note, secondary roles.
Sadly, both Western colonizers and the heterogeneous Asian America advance these falsehoods. A 2012 study examined how microaggressions are used against Filipinos today, exposing interracial prejudices. One participant was told that “Filipinos are Asian,” and another voiced how “she felt treated [like a] second-class citizen within the Asian American community.”
Clearly, the present dynamic needs to change. And progress begins with sincere, authentic portrayals of a demographic that has been severely underrepresented until now.
Pinoy Baiting & “Oob”
Still, there are issues around “representation” that we must address before true change can occur. Writer Dylan Kirsten Melencion defines Pinoy baiting as “a ploy where Filipinos are ‘baited’ into engaging with content about their culture, typically made by foreigners who visit or take interest in the country.”
Pinoy baiting decoys Filipinos into interacting with surface-level renditions of their culture, without actually representing them.
This issue extends beyond brown faces on-screen; non-Filipinos appropriate and commodify aspects of Philippine culture contemporarily, posing new challenges. For instance, a viral TikTok features a white woman calling ube “oob,” a symptom of her cultural incomprehension.
“Filipinoness” is only okay when it’s digestible (quite literally for Starbucks’ ube drink) to a white-centric audience.
Filipinos who stitched the original creator’s video handled it with humor. But even something as simple as a mispronunciation is indicative of a larger societal issue. Outsiders take an interest in adopting parts of ethnic cultures as “trendy” while maintaining ignorance about the culture’s meaning and community. Such ignorance is what continues to shape Filipino American representation.
Progress… For Mestizos
Many Filipinos, especially older generations, tend to praise any Filipino faces in American media without considering the quality or nuance of that representation. Many excitedly ask, Did you know she’s Filipina?
Yeah, what, a quarter? One eighth? Even those with more direct connections to their Filipino heritage in Hollywood tend to be half Filipino. Being mestizo, particularly if your other half is white, is more acceptable in the public eye.
An actor is more marketable when their racial ambiguity can cast them in equally ambiguous roles, effectively displacing their Filipinoness.
Therefore, Pinoy baiting and lackluster representation tie into persistent colorism in the industry. So what kind of representation are Filipino Americans actually getting?
Hopeful Advancements
Optimistic signs are on the horizon. Dreamworks will be releasing the animated film, Forgotten Island, in September this year. Focused on two Filipinas and their friendship, Forgotten Island offers promising portrayals of life in the Philippines and the community’s culture and folklore.
Admittedly, two mixed-race Filipinas voice the movie’s main characters. Others involved, including Jo Koy and Manny Jacinto, are also of mixed-race descent.
However, Forgotten Island poses the possibility of a mindfully Filipino-centered narrative, a highly encouraging prospect for the community.
The movie’s trailer also mentions that the parents of one of the main characters, Raissa, are pressuring her to study abroad in the U.S. This has sparked hope for many Pinoy viewers that the movie might tackle the underlying issues that force so many Filipinos to move abroad.
That is what quality representation can look like — acknowledging a widespread, cyclical issue within a community, even if it’s hard to romanticize or digest.
Lea Salonga will also voice a character in the film. Not only this, but she’s making momentous progress for the community as Hollywood’s first Filipina inducted into the Walk of Fame this year!
The Future of Fil-Ams
Recognition of the current issues faced by Filipinos in the media is the first step toward decolonization. Decolonization fosters hope for progress — not just for mestizos, but all of Filipino America.
Many of the issues we’ve covered can be addressed through better and more Filipino representation. Viewers shouldn’t praise mainstream projects for casting a single Filipino. We and our culture should be unavoidable in how we are showcased.
My hope is that seeing a Filipino on-screen will become nothing to sneeze at. I don’t want writers or showrunners to be instantly gratified for including a token brown face on-screen. The number of Filipinos on-screen should match the number of Filipinos in my community!
I want to be able to name more Filipino actors who play expressly Filipino characters than I can count on one hand. And I want the nuance, personality, and storyline of those characters to work in tandem with — if not supersede — the importance of their ethnic identity.
Most of all, I want young Pinoys to be able to say that they grew up seeing themselves on-screen. Fil-Am youth deserve someone who looks and lives like them — someone they identify with. Hollywood shouldn’t write white stories for white audiences and sub in a brown face as damage control.
There is unrealized worth in Philippine stories, voices, and faces on-screen; American media needs to keep up.
Have you watched this show yet? The main character is so well-written. I really relate to her home life and personal struggles. Oh, and yeah, she’s Filipina!
