Jon M. Chu wins big at 2025 Critics Choice Awards

The coveted Best Picture award went to Anora, co-produced by Samantha Quan, reinforcing the growing presence of Asian creatives behind the camera. Another top winner was Dune: Part Two, which secured a victory in Best Visual Effects.

Comedy was also a standout category this year, with Deadpool & Wolverine and A Real Pain making history as co-winners of Best Comedy in a rare tie.

In the Best Foreign Language Feature category, All That We Imagine As Light and The Seed of the Sacred Fig were both nominees. In animation, Inside Out 2 was nominated.

Izaac Wang from Sean Wang’s coming-of-age film Dìdi received a nomination for Best Young Actor/Actress.

On the television side, the Best Drama nominees like The Day of the Jackal, The Diplomat, Industry, and The Old Man all feature Asian talent, but it was the FX/Hulu epic Shogun that continued its awards domination. It won in that category, while Hiroyuki Sanada took home Best Actor in a Drama Series for his commanding performance. Moeka Hoshi won for Best Supporting Actress, while Takehiro Hira was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who is of mixed Indonesian descent was also nominated in that category for NBC’s Found. Anna Sawai, who has swept her categories this award season, was nominated for Best Actress but ultimately lost to Kathy Bates for Matlock.

The Best Comedy Series category featured strong contenders like St. Denis Medical starring Kahyun Kim. Nobody Wants This and What We Do in the Shadows were also nominees. Meanwhile, Ali Wong: Single Lady triumphed in the Best Comedy Special category. The Daily Show, which features correspondents Ronny Chieng and Troy Iwata, was nominated for Best Talk Show. 

In the Best Limited Series category, Disclaimer, which stars Jung Hoyeon, stood out among the nominees, while Robert Downey Jr. earned a nod for Best Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television for his role in The Sympathizer, an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the Vietnamese American experience. For Best Movie Made for Television, the Reina Hardesty-led Netflix flick, It’s What’s Inside, was nominated, as well as Shudder’s V/H/S/Beyond. 

The Best Foreign Language Series category saw Pachinko and Citadel: Honey Bunny in contention, though Netflix’s Squid Game ultimately took the prize, continuing its reign as one of the most celebrated international series of the decade.

Animation also saw notable Asian-led projects making an impact, like Best Animated Series nominees Batman: Caped Crusader and Invincible, with X-Men ‘97 winning the category.