For 2012, the Asian American Media Award is presented to Janet Yang. As a Hollywood producer with a “long, deep relationship with China” and as a cultural ambassador, Yang travels back and forth from LA and China to link the creative and business worlds of the East and the West together.
Named as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood” by The Hollywood Reporter, Yang has worked with some renowned directors and actors such as Meryl Streep, in the world, exposing her to unique and unheard of stories in which she holds the honor in bringing to the mainstream audience. Yang has developed some of the most well-known Asian American films in her career and has worked hard to bring more exposure of Asian Americans in the media industry.
Yang finished producing SHANGHAI CALLING, starring Daniel Henney and Eliza Coupe, earlier this year to make its premiere as the Opening Night Film of the 35th Asian American International Film Festival [AAIFF] in New York, where Yang’s other works including YEAR OF THE FISH (2008) and DARK MATTER (2007) were released as well.
In the recent years, Disney hired Yang to produce HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL for Chinese audiences. Yang is also known for producing Milos Forman’s THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT, the winner of the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay. From 1989 to 1996, Oscar-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone and Yang formed Ixtlan Corporation in which Yang served as a president. Before this collaboration, Yang worked with Steven Speilberg and Amblin Entertainment on EMPIRE OF THE SUN. Going forward, Yang took the role of a production executive at Universal Studios and created DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY.