For our continued celebration of AAPI month, The Actors Society recognizes the achievements of alumni of Asian and Pacific Island heritage. This year, we’re highlighting the stories of Martha Millan (‘97), Alexander Hodge (‘16), and Jack Yang (‘98). For additional AAPI coverage exclusive to The Actors Society, read an interview with actress Grace Shen on The Academy Pages.
Contact us through your Actors Society account with further updates or highlights you’d like to see.
Martha Millan
Martha Millan, of Australian-Filipino descent, was raised in Sydney. She discovered her passion for acting in high school and pursued it at the University of Sydney before moving stateside to attend The Academy’s two-year conservatory program. Throughout her career, she’s graced both television and film screens, showcasing her versatility in shows like Entourage, Madam Secretary, and Succession, and working alongside notable co-stars like Jim Parsons and Maggie Gyllenhaal.
Millan’s most notable role to date is in Fox’s drama series The Cleaning Lady. The show centers on Thony De La Rosa (Élodie Yung), a surgeon formerly employed in Manila and now living undocumented in the United States. Millan plays Fiona Da La Rosa, sister-in-law and closest friend to Thony, undocumented and employed as a cleaning lady in Las Vegas. The well-received show was renewed for a fourth season earlier this month when Fox ordered 12 episodes for the coming year.
The cultural impact of the show is felt by Millan, who recognizes its ability to uplift “marginalized voices” and “humanize them in a way people can connect to.” She reflects, “25 years ago, I would never have been able to audition for a leading role…with my heritage.” Millan’s received overwhelmingly positive messages from fans via social media for her starring role in the show.
In 2016, Millan worked on The OA, the drama sci-fi series featuring Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, The Death of Stalin), Brit Marling (The East, Another Earth), Phyllis Smith (The Office, Inside Out), Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal, Mogul Mowgli), and Vincent Kartheiser (Mad Men, Masterminds). With a star-studded cast, it’s no surprise that Millan recalls this as one of her favorite projects to have worked on.
Truly embodying the term “multi-hyphenated artist,” she’s been empowering other people with art; for a time, Millan taught acting to children. “I’m not looking to make child actors…it’s all about kind of just getting them out of their shell, connecting, really building their confidence,” she says. Appearing in many commercials—both in the US and abroad—Millan is one of the worldwide faces of Clairol Natural Instincts and the face of Nooch, an upscale Vietnamese kitchen located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan.
The first few months of 2024 have treated her well: after wrapping this season of The Cleaning Lady, Millan jumped headfirst into another project in New York. The Gentlemen, the Netflix series directed by Guy Ritchie, showcases Millan in two episodes.
Alexander Hodge
A 2016 graduate, Alexander Hodge has built a successful career as an actor, starring in a wide range of projects in under a decade. Born in Australia, Hodge grew up in what he calls the “Brooklyn of Sydney” to a father of Irish descent and a mother of Chinese heritage raised in Singapore. At first, Hodge was drawn to sports—particularly rugby, one of Australia’s most popular—and was involved in this until his early adult life.
His relationship with acting began in his teens after his dismissal from a woodworking class. Having the option between taking a drama class or a history class, the choice was easy. As Hodge remembers, “I was like, ‘I’m not doing history because I hate writing’… I decided to take drama because I thought it was just make-believe. Found out that it’s not just make-believe…it was the first class I actually ever got an A grade, so I thought, I may as well keep it up.”
One of Hodge’s biggest career moves thus far has been on HBO’s Insecure. Cast as Andrew Tan in season 3 of the series, Hodge instantly became a fan favorite, earning the nickname “Asian Bae” across fan forums with an accompanying viral hashtag. It could be perceived as offensive, but Hodge prefers to see it as a sign of progress—Asian men are rarely cast as romantic leads in Hollywood.
In 2016, two years before joining Insecure, Hodge was an avid fan of the series himself. Fresh out of drama school, he was introduced by happenstance to the show’s first episode. He promptly fell in love: “I binged every episode that was out—I think it was the first half of the season—and then I was a massive fan of the show ever since.” Hodge’s tenure on the show ended in 2020 following the onscreen breakup between his character and love interest, Molly Carter.
The release of Which Brings Me to You in January saw Hodge’s most recent feature film role. He starred alongside Lucy Hale (Scream 4, Pretty Little Liars), Nat Wolff (The Fault in Our Stars, Paper Towns), and John Gallagher Jr. (The West Wing, 10 Cloverfield Lane) in the romantic comedy from director Peter Hutchings.
Jack Yang
Jack Yang (‘98) had an established modeling career before making the leap to acting. With commercial work under his belt, he studied Directing and Photography at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena before beginning his studies with The Academy. The intensity of the program fueled Yang’s passion for acting, and he received a scholarship to study with South Coast Repertory immediately upon graduation.
Well-trained, disciplined, and eager to work, Yang dove head first into pursuing his career. Following his apprentice years with The Academy and South Coast Rep, he landed national commercials, a worldwide print campaign with Skechers, and countless TV appearances: Law & Order: SVU, CSI: Miami, Grey’s Anatomy, Scrubs, and Nip/Tuck.
This era led him to another acting foray: video games. Yang has roles in seven games to date, including Battlefield 4, Syndicate, Wet, Need for Speed: Undercover, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising.
In 2013, he starred in the aptly named A Leading Man, playing an actor seeking to revive his Hollywood career. As that film ran the worldwide festival circuit, he worked on another project, 2015’s American Ultra, led by Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart. In recent years he’s racked up credits in Justice League, the Lethal Weapon TV series, and the Chris Pratt-led drama The Terminal List, to name a few.