Nan Zhang Wows on the CW
Gossip Girl’s Nan Zhang, at 5’ 8.5”, knocked out the competition for the 2002 Chanel/Seventeen magazine “New Model of the Year,” but you would have never guessed it had you spotted her as a pre-med at John Hopkins University in Baltimore. Granted, the Bengbu, China, native dropped out, but Zhang now plays Kati Farkas, one of Blair’s allies in the CW’s teen drama, Gossip Girl, and has swapped the scalpel for snippy comebacks delivered with surgical accuracy. She played a bit part in Michael Kang’s film, West 32nd, with Korean American actors John Cho and Grace Park of Battlestar Galactica.
Harvin Sethi Delayed by WGA Strike
South Asian comedian Harvin Sethi met his future comedic partner, Pari Mathur, on the U.C. Irvine campus as students who shared a dislike of okra, and today, the awesome duo are commented-on celebrities for E! Network. The Laugh Factory alum is currently working hard on a new pitch with Mathur — but it’s tough coming. “We are dealing with all the realities of the industry,” Sethi told me, “so there can sometimes be competition through the bureaucracy of making a studio film.” Sethi admits, though, that he is hopeful about his project, despite the ongoing writers strike, because even the MTV show, Human Giant, is coming out with a season two now.
Chinese Torture at Preview Gala
At the Asian Art Museum’s Asia Pacific Arts Preview Gala on Jan. 31, Miss Asian America founder and President Rose Chung was cheerfully surrounded by her court, including Aprileen Coh, who won Miss Community Service in last year’s contest. Coh, sporting a fresh fringe of bangs, greeted guests on the red carpet including former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown, who swilled a frosty glass of magically refilling pinot grigio all night. The only gripe of the evening was from a waiter who dashed madly about the floor, refilling platters and muttering, “Jesus Christ, it’s like Chinese torture!”