Bowen Yang’s breakout year has landed him straight in the record books.
The “Saturday Night Live” featured player made history Tuesday when he became the first Chinese American actor to receive an Emmy nomination.
The 30-year-old NYU grad was nominated for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for his work on the sketch comedy show, which he joined as a full-time cast member in 2019 after working on the writing staff.
He’s also “SNL’s” first featured player to be nominated for an acting Emmy.
Yang will compete against Carl Clemons-Hopkins (”Hacks”), Kenan Thompson (”SNL”), Brendan Hunt (”Ted Lasso”), Nick Mohammed (”Ted Lasso”), Jeremy Swift (”Ted Lasso”) and Paul Reiser (”The Kominsky Method”).
If he wins, Yang will become the third Asian actor to win in an acting category, following Archie Panjabi for “The Good Wife” in 2010 and Riz Ahmed in 2017 for “The Night Of.” Sandra Oh, who became the first Asian actress to be nominated in a lead actress category when she got the nod in 2018 for “Killing Eve,” lost out to Claire Foy in “The Crown.”
