AAPI Heritage Month? More like GAY-API Heritage (Please Don’t Cancel Me)! 5 Hot Gay AAPI Celebs

May 19, 2022
TOMMY

May is Asian American & Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month and with everyone from comedians, to actors, to Presidential political advisors, we are lucky enough to have a ton of gorgeous and ridiculously talented Queer celebs who are also AAPI. Here is a look at 5 of my faves!

Kal Penn

Up first, we’ve got someone who is as sexy as he is successful, Kal Penn. Penn checks off a number of major career boxes: Obama administration official, University of Pennsylvania lecturer, wildly successful actor of TV and movies alike. This sexy son of Indian immigrants first exploded onto the scene in the hugely successful stoner comedy Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle – which also yielded the resurgence of Neil Patrick Harris – and continued to act and write for the next decade. He co-starred in House, before being offered (and accepting) the role of Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. Not only that, but Penn would go on to be the Co-Chair of President Obama’s reelection campaign. In terms of his gayness, he was a bit of a late bloomer saying he discovered his “sexuality relatively late in life compared to many other people." However, he asserts that "there's no timeline on this stuff. People figure their shit out at different times in their lives, so I'm glad I did when I did." Engaged to his partner of over a decade, I can’t wait to see where Penn’s career brings him next!

Joel Kim Booster

Up next we have one of the hottest people on the scene these days, both in looks and in career arc: Joel Kim Booster. Booster is one of the fastest rising standup comics in the country right now, appearing on nearly every late night show, as well as a number of TV shows and web series. Already a regular on the hilarious The Other Two (HBO Max), Joel is about to star in the highly anticipated film Fire Island, which he wrote. Also… if you aren’t familiar with his work, you’re in for a treat when you see how ridiculously hot he is.

Y’all hated my terf bangs so much. pic.twitter.com/RdNzOlH1gk

— Joel Kim Booster (@ihatejoelkim) December 21, 2019

Bowen Yang

Speaking of Fire Island, the movie is going to co-star another sexy Queer member of the AAPI community, and one of the funniest people on Saturday Night Live, Bowen Yang. He’s been in some of the funniest sketches on the show, and consistently plays some of the best character-guests on Weekend Update. Not only is Yang hilarious on SNL, but he is also a trailblazer as he is the first cast member of SNL to be a member of the AAPI community, a point with which he’s had some fun, when he starred in a sketch with Simu Liu, the first AAPI actor to star as a Marvel superhero.

Conrad Ricamora

You know… I don’t know if you’ve heard… but there’s this new movie coming out called Fire Island… and it’s starring some ridiculously sexy Queer AAPI actors. Maybe you’ve heard about it? If you haven’t then you need to get your short term memory checked, as well as your reading comprehension, because this article is quickly becoming an ad for Fire Island. ALSO co-starring in the movie is Filipino-American heartthrob homo Conrad Ricamora. This stage and screen actor isn’t just hot, he’s Husband Handsome™. He’s one of those rare guys who is not only hot as fuck, but also just unbelievably cute, with a smile that’ll make your heart flutter, and a body that’ll make your knees tremble. Ricamora broke onto the scene playing the adorable IT guy in How To Get Away With Murder, before making his Broadway debut in 2015’s The King and I. I can’t wait to see his sexy ass in Fire Island (it’s a new movie coming out ya know).

Maulik Pencholy

Few TV shows have had a larger impact on the American comedic zeitgeist than NBC’s 30 Rock from the genius mind that is Tina Fey. One of the best B-line stories on the show was undoubtedly Jonathan, the young, gay, neurotic executive assistant who was obsessively in love with head-of-the-network Jack Donaghy, played brilliantly by Maulik Pencholy. Over the years he also had roles in Weeds (Showtime), Whitney (NBC), Phinneas and Ferb (Disney) and most recently the hugely successful Only Murderer’s In the Building (Hulu) starring Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. Pencholy has a boyish sexiness that also seems to defy age. At 48 years-old, you could have told me he was 35 and I’d have believed you. Not just looks and acting chops, Pecholy also has two degrees from Northwestern and Yale Universities. He and his husband Ryan Corvaia have been married since 2014. Only one question remains… WHY WASN’T HE CAST IN FIRE ISLAND?!