But in 2020, Asian Americans are the fastest-growing major racial and ethnic group in the United States, according to Pew Research Center. Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang smashed milestones in political engagement for the community. And Awkwafina became the first woman of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe for best actress for her role in The Farewell.

“When I was growing up, representation was practically non-existent,” Awkwafina says. “Now, it’s different. If not for that change, Awkwafina wouldn’t exist.”

With the premiere of her groundbreaking new Comedy Central show, Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, the 31-year-old actress, whose real name is Nora Lum, is riding a new wave of projects with Asian American leads and creators; a movement made possible in the past 18 months by the success of films such as Crazy Rich Asians, in which she starred, Always Be My Maybe and the South Korean thriller Parasite.

Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens is an entirely new portrayal of the Asian American experience, one that extends Always Be My Maybe’s exploration of the Asian slacker, which shattered the one-dimensional treatment of characters from East Asia as nerdy, clean and meek in American cinema. The show, loosely based on the woman behind Awkwafina, explores the millennial journey through the lens of Nora Lum, a late 20-something, unemployed stoner who lives in Queens with her widowed father (B.D. Wong) and beloved grandma (Lori Tan Chinn).

The titular character takes too many drugs, spends unhealthy amounts of time playing video games and is routinely thwarted by her own aimlessness. Although its focus on a strong female protagonist with splashes of potty humor could almost be seen as an extension of Comedy Central’s hit Broad City, the series has the added ingredients of navigating the identity, culture and families of Chinese and Korean immigrants.

“It feels right to me,” B.D. Wong tells Newsweek. “I guess what I mean by that is, that as an Asian American actor, as an actor who has my own complaints about representation and about the status of Asian American actors in the industry, I feel like I’m looking for things that have broken through in any small way.”

Despite the recent surge of Asian faces in Hollywood, the number of writers from the community is still low. In 2016, the Writers Guild of America West released a study that found that Asians only made up 2.9 percent of guild members in 2014. That figure has not improved much in the past few years.

Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens not only stars a fully Asian American cast, it’s also created, produced and written by Awkwafina herself.

“I’ve never been in a show before like this. All it takes is a visionary person, who is the central energy to the whole project and shares this fantastic, contagious energy,” Wong says. “Let’s just do a show and put those things in it. Let’s just make sure Asian Americans play a huge role in creating it as writers. And you get something that’s really different from what you would normally get in a formulaic, corporate configuration.”

Chinn, known for her role as Mei Chang on Netflix’ Orange Is the New Black, is an industry veteran, having secured her first role as Miss Higa Jiga in Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentleman on Broadway in 1970. Now 71, Chinn tells Newsweek that a large part of her career has consisted of interpreting characters in projects and plays that were not written, directed or produced by people of Asian descent.

“They don’t have the history,” she says. “And if you’re asked to recite these lines or use them, it rings uncomfortably. That’s just been my whole career. So, it’s very exciting to see Nora’s voice.”

Chinn, however, acknowledges she’s one of the few Asian American actors of her generation to still be thriving in the industry. “I’ve seen so many promising Asian American performers, who had so many wishes and dreams, and, poof, it went up in the air,” she says. “I’m sensitive to it because somebody not understanding the Asian culture … I was so dissatisfied that in the last 10 years I was going to leave the business.”

Luckily for Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, Chinn has yet to retire. “When this comes, and Awkwafina’s the producer of it, it’s a different ballgame,” she says. “It’s something that we as Asian Americans have never had the opportunity to explore, we have never been given a chance, nobody’s put in money. I’m so proud to be a part of this.”

The watershed moment for Asian American representation happened in 2018, when Crazy Rich Asians became a global phenomenon. After raking in $238 million at the box office, the film enforced the idea that diversity can be both popular and financially viable. It was the first major Hollywood endeavor with a predominantly Asian American cast in a quarter of a century. Its predecessor, The Joy Luck Club (1993), though groundbreaking at the time, did not experience the same level of success. Reflecting back on its release, Wong says the difference this time around is that “Asian Americans understood the value of their own audience participation.”

“I’m old enough to remember the opening of The Joy Luck Club, which was both equally monumental but not lasting,” he says. “What was different is the reaction of the actual Asian American audience. When Crazy Rich Asians came out, young, millennial Asian Americans … went to theaters to see the show, they spread the word, there was a social media avalanche of support for the movie and people were united in their support and their celebration of this project.”

“In the past, it was always kind of a hard sell to get Asian American people to actually buy a ticket or to support putting their money where their mouth is or to participate,” Wong adds.

While few Asian Americans would dispute the fact that representation in Hollywood is currently having a moment, Fast & Furious director Justin Lin told Newsweek last year that he fears it might not last.

“I feel like ‘diversity’ has become a buzzword and it might be cool today and then something else will come,” he said. “But it is always important. It’s always about the opportunity. And that’s something that I hope we don’t lose sight of.”

For Awkwafina, seizing that opportunity is paramount. If nothing else, for the purpose of inspiring young Asian Americans to carry the torch.

“I played a show at Sarah Lawrence College, and a very young Asian American girl came up to me. She said, ‘Thank you for existing because now I know it’s possible.’ When she said that to me, I realized that there is something that I’m doing that people are reacting to,” the Golden Globe winner said.

“If I can inspire someone to do what I’m doing, then I love that.”

Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens premieres January 22 on Comedy Central.