Getting Their Start: AAPI Leaders in News & Entertainment

Journalist Connie Chung talks about the first job she had out of college, as a newsroom secretary at a local news station in Washington, DC. Though she had hoped to start out as a reporter, she took the job and made opportunities for herself to move up as quickly as she could.

Actor George Takei shares the story of how he came to be cast in his most famous role: Sulu on the original Star Trek. He describes his anxious wait after auditioning for the role and why he was so excited at the potential opportunity.

Producer George Sunga found his way into the television industry through a college research project where he visited the set of Climax!, then filming at CBS Television City, to study the production of a live drama.

The few days he spent on set were like a crash course in television, and once he wrote up his study and sent it to CBS, they were so impressed that he was hired in the mailroom following his graduation.

Journalist Ann Curry shares the story of how she embarked on her professional career after college - first as an intern then as a reporter at a local television news station.

The opportunity was not without its challenges: the men in the newsroom were reluctant to accept a woman in the role and let her know it. But this only made Curry more determined to prove herself, for her own sake and for the sake of women who came after her.

Before he entered show business, actor Pat Morita had a career working at an aircraft manufacturing company. He had a family, a house, and a steady job, but still felt a longing to pursue a creative career. He tells the story of how he began to reassess his goals and found his way into stand-up comedy.

Production designer Leo Yoshimura has worked at Saturday Night Live since the show debuted in 1975. But before joining the creative team of that venerable comedy institution, he was a college graduate without a clear career path.

He started designing sets for theater in Chicago and that's where he got to know Paul Sills, co-founder of Second City. Sills helped guide him toward attending graduate school at Yale, and his eventual professional career.

Actor James Hong talks about his first agent, Bessie Loo, who was a pioneer in representing Asian-American actors and performers. But Hong, who grew up in Minnesota, had a particularly original story of how he introduced himself to Loo and was taken on as her client.