Thirty-Five Years of CAPE, Randall Park and Manny Jacinto Lead a Downtown Gala
The Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment celebrates on October 3 with Ben Wang, the women of The Pitt and Asif Ali hosting.
CAPE, the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, throws its first anniversary gala in a decade on Saturday night, October 3, in Downtown Los Angeles. The group has championed Asian and Pacific Islander talent in Hollywood since 1991, and its 35th birthday is headlined by Randall Park and Manny Jacinto.
Park receives the Renaissance Award, presented by Sherry Cola, and the night is something of a homecoming. The Hollywood Reporter noted that CAPE gave him a new writers award in 2011 and that he is an alumnus of its programs, along with the filmmakers Alice Wu, Beth de Araújo and Liz Sargent. His credits run from Fresh Off the Boat and Veep to WandaVision, Aquaman and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Jacinto takes the Champion Award from the filmmaker Nisha Ganatra. Velvet also covered Jane Fonda Hands Over Her Namesake, Salma Hayek Pinault Leads the 2026 WIF Honors.
The rest of the program spreads across film, television and the executive suite. Kitao Sakurai, the longtime collaborator of Eric Andre, gets the Visionary Award ahead of the October 16 release of his Street Fighter film, presented by his star Callina Liang. Ben Wang, who appears in the next Hunger Games film on November 20, is the Rising Star. The women of The Pitt, represented by the writer and executive producer Simran Baidwan, accept the Radiance Award from Lilly Singh. Jinny Howe, Netflix’s head of scripted series for the U.S. and Canada, receives the Decision Maker Award from Ali Ahn, and Auliʻi Cravalho presents the Changemaker Award to Kalikolehua Hurley, head of cultural trust at Walt Disney Animation Studios.
Deli Boys star Asif Ali hosts, the indie band Chanpan performs and DJ Demonslayer takes the afterparty. Harry Shum Jr., Hasan Minhaj, Kelly Hu, Janet Yang and Merle Dandridge sit on the host committee.
“In this time of industry contraction and budgetary cuts, we are excited to have a moment to celebrate the achievements of our community both behind and in front of the camera,” CAPE executive director and CEO Michelle K. Sugihara said.
The anniversary gala usually comes around every five years, but the pandemic knocked the 30th off schedule. This one is presented by Lexus and supported by Sony Pictures Entertainment, and it doubles as a fundraiser for the nonprofit, whose programs include fellowships for new writers and executives and a finishing fund for rising filmmakers.
