Kevin Kwan | |
---|---|
Native name | 关凯文 |
Born | 1973or1974(age 49–50) [1] Singapore |
Occupation | Author |
Language | English |
Nationality | American |
Notable works | |
Website | |
kevinkwanbooks | |
Literatureportal |
Kevin Kwan | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Simplified Chinese | 关凯文 | ||||||
Traditional Chinese | 關凱文 | ||||||
|
Kevin Kwan (born 1973or1974) is a Singaporean-born American novelist and writer of satirical novels Crazy Rich Asians , China Rich Girlfriend ,and Rich People Problems . His latest book, Lies and Weddings ,was released in June 2024. [2] [3]
In 2014,Kwan was named as one of the "Five Writers to Watch" on the list of Hollywood's Most Powerful Authors published by The Hollywood Reporter . [4] In 2018,Kwan made Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people [5] and was inducted into The Asian Hall of Fame. [6]
Kevin Kwan was born in Singapore as the youngest of three boys into an established Chinese Singaporean family. [7] [8] His great-grandfather,Oh Sian Guan,was a founding director of Singapore's oldest bank,the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation. [9] His paternal grandfather,Sir Arthur Kwan Pah Chien M.D.,was an ophthalmologist who became Singapore's first Western-trained specialist [10] and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his philanthropic efforts. [11]
Sir Arthur's wife,Kwan's paternal grandmother Egan Oh,Lady Kwan,was a prominent debutante who became a socialite after her marriage. [11] Kwan's maternal grandfather,the Rev. Paul Hang Sing Hon,founded the Hinghwa Methodist Church. [11] Kwan is also related to Hong Kong-born American actress Nancy Kwan [12] and former Singaporean finance minister Richard Hu,who was a cousin of his father. [13]
While in Singapore,Kwan studied at the Anglo-Chinese School [14] and lived with his paternal grandparents. [11] Kwan's father and mother,an engineer and pianist respectively,moved the family to the United States when Kwan was 11. [15] [16] The family moved to Clear Lake,Texas,and Kwan attended Clear Lake High School,graduating when he was 16. [17]
He attended San Jacinto College, [18] and the University of Houston-Clear Lake, [19] where he earned a BA in Media Studies,after which he moved to Manhattan to attend Parsons School of Design in order to pursue a BFA in Photography. [20] [21] In New York,Kwan worked for Interview Magazine , Martha Stewart Living ,and Tibor Kalman's design firm M&Co. In 2000,Kwan established his own creative studio,clients of which included Ted.com,Museum of Modern Art,and The New York Times . [22]
On August 22,2018,Singapore's Ministry of Defence stated that Kwan is wanted in Singapore for defaulting on National Service obligation. [23] [24] The Ministry of Defence stated that Kwan had failed to register for National Service in 1990 and did not have a valid exit permit to remain overseas,even though he has been living outside of Singapore since he was 11 years old. In 1994,his application and subsequent appeal to renounce his Singapore citizenship without serving National Service were rejected. Kwan is liable to a fine of up to $10,000 and a jail term of up to three years under the Enlistment Act. [25]
Kwan edited I Was Cuba (featuring photographs collected by Ramiro A. Fernández,published in 2007) [26] and coauthored the book Luck:The Essential Guide with Deborah Aaronson (published in 2008). [27] [28]
[Kevin] Kwan knows that the small, silly parts of being human are our softest spots. And that softness is where we find our deepest humanity ... Kwan doesn't focus on making Asians cool; he focuses on making our stories whole. The bits we're proud of, the bits we try to hide, the tremendous heart that beats underneath it all.
— Constance Wu,Time, 2018 [5]
Kwan became inspired to write Crazy Rich Asians in 2009 while caring for his father, who was dying of cancer. Kwan and his father would reminisce about their life in Singapore while driving to and from medical appointments, and Kwan began writing stories to capture those memories. [7] [11] Kwan stated one of his goals was to showcase the "educated families with style and taste that have been quietly going about their lives for generations" which went beyond the typical contemporary coverage of Asia which focused on conspicuous consumption. [11] Friends had been urging him to commit his memories to paper as well. [29] Moving to the United States has westernized his view of Asia, and he likens himself to "an outsider looking in" when describing his life in Singapore. [11]
Kwan published Crazy Rich Asians in 2013. The book was inspired by his childhood in Singapore; [30] [28] the second chapter more specifically was developed from a poem he had written years before entitled "Singapore Bible Study." Kwan wrote the poem, which describes the study group as "an excuse to gossip and show off new jewelry" for a creative writing course in college. In the process of turning that scene into a chapter of a novel, he was inspired to complete the entire story. [31]
The novel was described as "a sprawling, multi-generational mock epic that centers on a clan of Singaporeans whose various factions gather from their respective lairs around the globe for a wedding that is the year's most talked-about event among the international Chinese aristocracy." Upon publication, it received positive reviews, became both a national and an international bestseller, and has been translated into over 30 languages. [32] [33] In 2013, Hunger Games producer Nina Jacobson secured film rights to Crazy Rich Asians. [34] The film was released in the United States on August 15, 2018. Kwan sold the rights to the film for just $1 [35] and served as executive producer on the film with near total creative control, one of the conditions to selling the rights. [36]
Kwan published the first sequel to Crazy Rich Asians entitled China Rich Girlfriend in June 2015. [37] Similarly to Crazy Rich Asians, China Rich Girlfriend became an international bestseller. On August 15, 2018, it was reported that even before the release of the film adaptation of his first novel, Kwan had already been tasked with developing a film from the sequel China Rich Girlfriend. [38] On April 29, 2019, CNBC reported the back-to-back filming of two sequels to Crazy Rich Asians set for filming in 2020. China Rich Girlfriend, as of April 2019, is currently in pre-production. [39]
Kwan's third and final installment of the Crazy Rich trilogy, titled Rich People Problems, was released in May 2017. [40] On April 29, 2019, CNBC reported the back-to-back filming of two sequels to Crazy Rich Asians set for filming in 2020. Rich People Problems, as of April 2019, is currently in pre-production. [39]
In June 2020, Kwan's novel Sex and Vanity was published to good reviews, [41] and with mention that this novel is not at all like Crazy Rich Asians. [42] [43] The plot has a structure like that of A Room with a View by E. M. Forster, and major characters have similar names. As of July 2020, Sony Pictures has purchased the film rights and the project is now in development. [44]
In August 2018, Amazon Studios ordered a new drama series from Kwan and STX Entertainment. The unnamed series is set in Hong Kong and follows the "most influential and powerful family" along with their business empire. [45]
In 2024, he published Lies and Weddings. [18] [46] [47] [48]
Richard Hu Tsu Tau was a Singaporean politician who served as Minister for Finance between 1985 and 2001. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kreta Ayer SMC between 1984 and 1997, and Kreta Ayer–Tanglin GRC between 1997 and 2001. Hu was Singapore's longest-serving finance minister and gave a record number of 16 Budget speeches. He served as chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore between 1985 and 1997.
Singapore maintains an active conscription system in accordance with the regulations set by the Government of Singapore, known as National Service (NS). This requires all qualified male Singaporean citizens and second-generation permanent residents to serve a period of active duty military service in the uniformed services.
Mee Pok Man is a 1995 Singaporean film directed by Eric Khoo. The film is Eric Khoo's debut feature, released under his film production company, Zhao Wei Films, after making award-winning short films for years. It was entered into the 19th Moscow International Film Festival and showed at more than 30 film festivals worldwide, winning the FIPRESCI Award.
Portrayals of East Asians in American film and theatre has been a subject of controversy. These portrayals have frequently reflected an ethnocentric perception of East Asians rather than realistic and authentic depictions of East Asian cultures, colors, customs, and behaviors.
Pierre Png Tiang Huat is a Singaporean actor, comedian and businessman. He is known for starring in multiple Singaporean MediaCorp's Channel 5 and Channel 8's dramas which include The Gentlemen and When Duty Calls.
Constance Wu is an American actress. She starred as Jessica Huang in the ABC television comedy Fresh Off the Boat (2015–2020), which proved to be her breakout role and earned her four nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.
Fiona Xie is a Singaporean actress, television host, socialite and businesswoman. She was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006. She was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 2001 to 2009.
Harry Shum Jr. is an American actor and dancer. He is known for his roles as Mike Chang on the Fox television series Glee (2009–2015), Magnus Bane on the Freeform television series Shadowhunters (2016–2019), and Benson Kwan on the ABC television series Grey's Anatomy (2022–present). He was nominated for six Screen Actors Guild Awards for best ensemble performance in Crazy Rich Asians, Glee and Everything Everywhere All at Once, winning for the latter two. Shum won The Male TV Star of 2018 award in the E! People's Choice Awards for Shadowhunters.
Nathaniel Hartono Xiang, professionally known as Nathan Hartono, is a Singaporean singer-songwriter and actor. Hartono made his debut as a singer after he won the Teenage Icon singing competition in 2005 and released his debut album, LET ME SING! Life, Love and All That Jazz in 2006.
China Rich Girlfriend is a 2015 satirical romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. It is the sequel to Crazy Rich Asians, a novel about the wealthy Singapore elite. Kwan was urged to write the sequel by his publishers after the initial success of Crazy Rich Asians. The title refers to a line in the novel in which Nick's mother, Eleanor, exclaims over the wealth of the "China rich" who are billionaires, "These people aren't just everyday rich with a few hundred million. They are China rich!" The novel was followed by a sequel, Rich People Problems, in 2017.
Crazy Rich Asians is a satirical 2013 romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. Kwan stated that his intention in writing the novel was to "introduce a contemporary Asia to a North American audience". He claimed the novel was loosely based on his own childhood in Singapore. The novel became a bestseller and was followed by two sequels, China Rich Girlfriend in 2015 and Rich People Problems in 2017. A film adaptation of the novel was released on August 15, 2018.
Crazy Rich Asians is a 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Jon M. Chu, from a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim, based on the 2013 novel of the same title by Kevin Kwan. The film stars Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh. It follows a Chinese-American professor, Rachel, who travels to Singapore with her boyfriend Nick and is shocked to discover that Nick's family is one of the richest families in Singapore.
Rich People Problems is a 2017 satirical romantic comedy novel by Kevin Kwan. It is the third and final novel in Kwan's "Crazy Rich..." trilogy that looks at the rich and powerful families of Singapore. The plot revolves around the three clans descending upon Shang Su Yi's deathbed to attempt to be included in her will, as she is allegedly extremely wealthy. The novel was preceded by the bestsellers Crazy Rich Asians in 2013 and China Rich Girlfriend in 2015. Two follow-ups to the Crazy Rich Asians film are in development, based on China Rich Girlfriend and Rich People Problems.
Henry Ewan Golding is a British actor. He began his career as a television presenter before being known for his film work. He has starred in the romantic comedies Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Last Christmas (2019), the thriller A Simple Favor (2018), the action comedy The Gentlemen (2019), as well as playing the title character in the action-adventure Snake Eyes (2021), and appearing in the ensemble cast of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024). He worked as a presenter on ESPN, the BBC and Discovery Channel Asia before refocusing on acting.
Tyersall Park is an estate in Singapore, bound by Holland Road and Tyersall Avenue, and near the Singapore Botanic Gardens. Previously a private land belonging to the Sultan of Johor from 1862, some portions of it had been acquired by the Government of Singapore in 1990 and in 2009 respectively.
The Crazy Rich Asians media franchise is a novel and film series created by Singaporean-American author Kevin Kwan. The franchise was established with the publication of the novel Crazy Rich Asians in 2013, which was inspired by Kwan's childhood in Singapore. Crazy Rich Asians was followed by the novels China Rich Girlfriend (2015) and Rich People Problems (2017), as well as the 2018 film Crazy Rich Asians.
Victoria Loke is a Singaporean actress, activist, and model. She is best known for her role as Fiona Tung-Cheng in the 2018 romantic comedy-drama film Crazy Rich Asians.
Constance Lau is a Singaporean actress and model. She is best known for her role as Celine Lim in the 2018 American romantic comedy-drama film Crazy Rich Asians.
Koh Chieng Mun is a Singaporean actress and comedian. She is best known for her role as Dolly Tan on the English-language popular and award-winning Singaporean local sitcom Under One Roof. In 2018 she was cast in the American romantic comedy-drama film Crazy Rich Asians.
Sex and Vanity is a satirical romantic comedy novel written by Kevin Kwan first published in 2020. Centered around the romantic life of a teenager, it was written in four months. It was generally well received by literary critics. A film adaptation of the novel is in development.