Anna Sawai Wants More for Asian Women in Hollywood

It was at an early screening for Shogun that Anna Sawai realized the significance the historical epic set in feudal Japan would take on for audiences. A young woman approached her and tearfully shared what it meant to her to see Sawai’s portrayal of Lady Mariko, a naginata-wielding translator who, amid weighty societal expectations, still lives according to her own moral compass. “I’ve always felt this weird pressure to be a good person and to be easy to work with,” Sawai recalls the young woman saying, a pressure she then tied to the expectations she faced as a Japanese woman.

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Sawai, who has also appeared in Apple TV+’s Pachinko and Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, is cognizant of the responsibility that she and others in the industry bear as storytellers—especially when it comes to portrayals of Asian women, who have long been objectified and sexualized in Hollywood. “We have so much more inside of us,” says Sawai, a New Zealand-born, Japanese actor. “I want to make sure that the roles that I choose are not going to perpetuate those images that I feel are incorrect, and I want to make sure that they’re very human.”

Shogun, FX’s most expensive scripted series of all time, took home a record 18 Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Drama Series, in September—the most that any single season of a television show has ever received. Sawai, 32, became the first Asian woman to win the Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama, and later received its sister trophy at the Golden Globes in January.

Following the samurai-era series’ widespread success, Sawai has been approached about taking part in new period pieces. But she’s also excited to try her hand at other genres, including rom-coms and action and adventure. “I want the next role that I find to be something that challenges me, because I haven’t done it in the past,” she says. “I don’t want to keep repeating what I’ve done.”

That desire calls back to a crucial decision she made in 2018, when she abandoned her early career as a singer, despite pressure to stay in her girl group, and restart her career as an actor. “You need courage to start something, but you need even more courage to quit,” she says of that leap of faith. “If there is a part of you that’s going to look back and think, Oh, I should have maybe tried something new—then you should do it.”

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