Simu Liu was honored with the Gold Mogul award at the fifth annual Gold House Gold Gala on Saturday in Los Angeles.
Filmmakers Destin Daniel Cretton and James Wan presented Liu with the award as they honored his multi-hyphenate success as an actor, author, producer, and advocate who has established himself as a defining Asian Pacific voice in mainstream Hollywood and a tireless champion for representation on and off screen.During his speech, the actor who recently completed a stint on Broadway in “Oh Mary!” talked to the power of the Asian community.
He said, “The only reason that I’m here is 10% being too stubborn to give up, and 90%, the most amazing support system. I’ve been thinking a lot about what community means to me.”
Liu shared how he first came to Canada 32 years ago and lived in a “ramshackle apartment building in Ontario with a lot of other Chinese grad students.” The actor talked about how the families had formed tight bonds and helped one another out. Eventually, they would become lifelong friends. Liu said, “I learned from a very young age that a community stands together. A community supports one another. It does not collapse in on itself. It does not tear itself down. I look out at this room and I just struck by how much power there is power in our storytellers, our champions, our leaders, our taste makers, but only together can we fully unleash the potential of that power.” He added, “In order to reach that potential, we must learn what it means to be a true community, not just as a catch phrase that we throw around at fancy events, but to really fully feel the weight and importance of that word and to act on it. So I see us all now in this little apartment building that we call ‘America,’ all trying to survive, but if we could just learn from my parents and learn what it means to truly come together, we’ll do more than simply survive. We will all be moguls.”
Bowen Yang kicked off the evening with a monologue on culture, setting the tone for an evening celebrating A New Gold World.
Other honorees included Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Charles Melton and Jet Li and Eileen Gu who were recognized for their contributions to culture.
Chopra Jonas who was honored with the inaugural global Vanguard Award echoed Liu’s words about the importance of community, and thanked Gold House co-founder Bing Chen. She said, “Thank you to Gold House, to Bing, who’s backstage, doing what he does best, bringing us all together every year and working tirelessly to make sure as a community, we support each other, we stand up for each other, and we also show up for each other.”
Chopra Jonas also took a moment to honor her mother, Madhu Chopra. Chopra Jonas called her “the kind of mother who is here taking care of my child while I go filming for three weeks, the kind of grandmother that my grandmother was.” She went on to say, “I was raised with a lineage of very strong women that stood for each other and their achievements. I heard many people shout out, like Revathi Advaithi, you shouted out your mom talking about the power of education and stressing on having a skill set. Well, I had that mother, and so did my mother. So thank you for being the foundation of who I am for always being a student of life, and I love you, and you’re beautiful. Happy Mother’s Day.”
The power of community was a theme of the evening as “Beef” star Charles Melton echoed the sentiments. The actor received the inaugural Gold Artistic Achievement Honor and talking about identifying with his character Austin on the show. “Austin wrestles with his own identity. He is so misguided. Yes, he is something of a Korean ‘himbo’, which I’m fine with. It’s cool. I like that. Koreans can be sex symbols. We’re hot. Look at this room. It’s full of Asian smoke shows like us.”
Melton called Austin funny and someone who makes mistakes, yet there was more to him. “I connected to him profoundly and felt so much empathy for him. I’ve been like Austin at times, many of us have he’s lost, looking for purpose. He hides his Koreanness. He hides behind his own masks because he thinks that’s the best way to survive. He’s described as Arizonian, more than Korean. Austin eventually learns that he can’t hide his Koreanness very long. You are who you are. Your culture finds you that resonates deeply with me.”
As the son of someone who was in the military, Melton said he never felt whole. Until he filmed the show in Seoul, the city where he grew up. Filming there, he said, gave him the opportunity to “return as an artist, doing work that mattered in a place where my story began. It felt like coming home, not just to Korea, but to myself.”
He added, “I wouldn’t be where I am without our community. There are the artists who loudly celebrate their faith and culture, artists who return to their own language, only to come back more powerful, artists literally that changed the way the world saw martial arts artists who have seamlessly moved between cinematic cultures. These are the transcendent artists that I have found inspiration in, which is everyone in this room.” He concluded by saying, “My hope is that young Korean actors, young Asian Pacific actors, find inspiration in my work and my story and pursue their heights whilst finding purpose and belonging amongst us. There is strength in numbers. One person’s success can open a thousand doors.”
Gold House co-founder Bing Chen wrapped the evening with closing remarks. Chen said, “This is why we gather. This is why we build houses when there are not doors. This is why you look. This is why you move first, because closeness is not a rhetorical principle. It is a practical and consistent practice. It is 1000 tiny decisions that say, ‘I saw you when no one else would and I will stay till no one else will.’ Maybe that’s how we actually get further, by actually getting closer first, maybe that’s why we’re here.”
Known as the “Asian Met Gala,” attendees included Adele Lim, Ally Maki, “KPop Demon Hunters” stars Arden Cho, EJAE, Ji-young Yoo and director Maggie Kang, Abhijay Prakash (President, Blumhouse), Ken Wee (Chief Strategy Officer, Mattel), Mike Van (CEO, Billboard), Phil Sun (CEO, 1v1 Entertainment) and Sam Wu (CEO, Rakuten Viki).
Throughout the cocktail reception, guests were treated to custom portrait moments presented by Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business.
Backstage, honorees experienced specialty portrait moments shot by Kanya Iwana, hair and makeup touch-ups featuring brands from across the L’Oréal Groupe portfolio, and a content studio presented by The Walter and Shirley Wang Foundation.
Guests were also entertained throughout the evening with the latest hits from the “K-POP NOW” playlist on Amazon Music.
The Gold Gala was immediately followed by the Billboard x Gold House Founders Party. The celebration featured a performance by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” stars Nymphia Wind and Plastique Tiara.
James Beard Award-winning executive chef Justin Pichetrungsi and the team behind Anajak Thai in Sherman Oaks curated the menu, presented by OpenTable.
