CAAMFest 2025 Closing Night screened a filming of the play, Yellow Face. It was a special evening with the cast of Yellow Face in attendance after the play’s recent nomination for three Tony’s, including:
- Best Revival of a Play
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play by Daniel Dae Kim
- Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play by Francis Jue
PBS’s Great Performance will show the play, premiering on May 16 at 9 PM.
After the screening, there was a Q&A session with the cast of Yellow Face and the director that you can see below.
With his performance in Yellow Face, Daniel Dae Kim makes history:
“Daniel Dae Kim has been a beloved household name for two decades, having been in Lost and Hawaii Five-O. But his 2025 Tony Award nomination for his performance in Yellow Face is the first time the actor has been recognized by a major awards body for his work. With his nomination in the category of Lead Actor in a Play, Kim is the first Asian American actor to be recognized in that category—it’s a history-making moment the actor is not taking lightly.
“When I think about the fact that I’m the first Asian-American to be nominated in this category, that feels especially significant,” he tells Playbill the morning he found out he was nominated (when he was getting ready to get on a plane to shoot Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix). “I remember how many Asian American actors there were before me who never received any kind of recognition despite the incredible work and hard work that they were doing for generations earlier…It says a lot about where we are now as a community, and it’s meaningful. It’s more meaningful for that reason than it is for me as an individual achievement.”
The play was fantastic – it was funny and very meta and self referential:
“Enjoy Tony winner David Henry Hwang’s comedy starring Daniel Dae Kim as an Asian American playwright who protests “yellowface” casting in the musical “Miss Saigon” only to mistakenly cast a white actor as the Asian lead in his own play.”
Daniel Dae Kim was excellent playing David Henry Hwang. I mostly know Daniel Dae Kim from his time on ‘Lost.’ Francis Jue, who plays Hwang’s father, was also incredible – I’ve seen him perform live in San Francisco in ‘Soft Power.’ There were a lot of events in this autobiographically based play that I was aware of but did not know the inter-connections with. The Q&A with cast members Daniel Dae Kim, Shannon Tyo, Francis Jue, and director Leigh Silverman was equally as interesting:
I’ve never watched the Tony Awards, but I just might this year because of Yellow Face‘s three nominations. The Tony Awards will air live on Sunday June 8th at 8PM Eastern Time/5PM Pacific Time. PBS’s Great Performance will show the Yellow Face, premiering on May 16 at 9 PM.
