And the Nominees Are....

By Grace Niwa | April 2008

Dancing with the Stars' Carrie Ann Inaba and Mad TV's Bobby Lee to Host the the 2008 JCPenney Asian Excellence Awards airing on May 1.

Last week in Los Angeles, Carrie Ann Inaba (Dancing with the Stars, Dance Wars: Bruno Vs Carrie Ann) and Bobby Lee (MADtv) announced the nominees for the 2008 JCPenney Asian Excellence Awards. This is the third year that the Asian Excellence Awards will honor the outstanding achievements of Asians and Asian Americans in film, television, music, and the performing arts via a national awards telecast.

Carrie Ann Inaba and Bobby Lee will co-host the show that will be taped at UCLA's Royce Hall in Los Angeles. Comedian Russell Peters will serve as backstage host, providing the voice and comic relief. The 2008 JCPenney Asian Excellence Awards will premiere on E! Entertainment Television on May 1 at 6 p.m. ET/PT, 5 p.m. CT. In addition, beginning May 7 and throughout the month of May, the show will be available on Comcast On Demand.

This year's award categories and nominees include:

OUTSTANDING FILM
Finishing the Game - Director, Justin Lin
Lust, Caution - Director, Ang Lee
Rush Hour 3 - Director, Brett Ratner
War, Director - Philip G. Atwell

OUTSTANDING FILM ACTOR
Naveen Andrews - The Brave One
Jackie Chan - Rush Hour 3
Chow Yun-Fat - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Tony Leung - Lust, Caution
Jet Li - War
Lee-Hom Wang - Lust, Caution

OUTSTANDING FILM ACTRESS
Devon Aoki - War
Joan Chen - Lust, Caution
Vanessa Hudgens - High School Musical 2
Sharon Leal - This Christmas
Maggie Q - Balls of Fury
Tang Wei - Lust, Caution

OUTSTANDING TELEVISION ACTOR
Naveen Andrews - Lost (ABC)
Daniel Dae Kim - Lost (ABC)
Masi Oka - Heroes (NBC)
Sendhil Ramamurthy - Heroes (NBC)
B.D. Wong - Law & Order, SVU (NBC)

OUTSTANDING TELEVISION ACTRESS
Yunjin Kim - Lost (ABC)
Lucy Liu - Cashmere Mafia (ABC)
Parminder Nagra - ER (NBC)
Sandra Oh - Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Lindsay Price - Lipstick Jungle (NBC)
Navi Rawat - Numb3rs (CBS)

SUPPORTING TELEVISION ACTRESS
Moon Bloodgood - Journeyman (NBC)
Michaela Conlin - Bones (FOX)
Janina Gavankar - The L Word (Showtime)
Mindy Kaling - The Office (NBC)
Michelle Krusiec - Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
Sonja Sohn - The Wire (HBO)

SUPPORTING TELEVISION ACTOR
James Kyson Lee - Heroes (NBC)
Rex Lee - Entourage (HBO)
Will Yun Lee - Bionic Woman (NBC)
Ken Leung - Lost (ABC)
Kal Penn - House M.D. (FOX)
James Saito - Eli Stone (ABC)

Fans will also have the opportunity to vote for their favorites online at http://www.asianexcellenceawards.com in the following categories:

FAVORITE TV PERSONALITY (Internet Voting)
Cheryl Burke - Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
Julie Chen - Big Brother (CBS)
Mark Dacascos - Iron Chef America-"The Chairman" (Food Network)
Padma Lakshmi - Top Chef (Bravo)
Tila Tequila - A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila (MTV)
Vern Yip - Deserving Spaces (HGTV)
Carrie Ann Inaba - Dance Wars: Bruno Vs. Carrie Ann (ABC)
Kimora Lee Simmons - Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane (The Style Network)

FAVORITE REALITY STAR (Internet Voting)
Ronald & Christina - The Amazing Race (CBS)
Yau-Man Chan - Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites (CBS)
Victorya Hong - Project Runway (Bravo)
Hung Hyunh - Top Chef (Bravo)
JabbaWockeeZ - America's Best Dance Crew (MTV)
Kaba Modern - America's Best Dance Crew (MTV)
Ramiele Malubay - American Idol (FOX)
Nicole Niestemski - Your Mama Don't Dance (Lifetime)
Jonathan Silva - Your Mama Don't Dance (Lifetime)

Voting is underway and runs through April 16. The winners will be announced during the telecast.

About the Hosts
Carrie Ann Inaba takes on co-hosting duties for the 2008 JCPenney Asian Excellence Awardsfor the first time this year. One of reality television's busiest new stars, Carrie Ann Inaba is best known for her role as a judge on Dancing with the Stars. She also stars in new series Dance Wars: Bruno vs. Carrie Ann. Carrie Ann has also acted in numerous films, including Austin Powers in Goldmember, and has been a choreographer for such popular shows as America's Got Talent (2006) and So You Think You Can Dance (2006).

Bobby Lee has been a regular on the FOX series Mad TV since 2001 and has numerous other television and film credits, including roles on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm and the comedy feature Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. He will star in the upcoming comedy/horror feature Killer Pad, premiering later this year. This is Bobby's second time co-hosting the Asian Excellence Awards, the first being the television debut of the show in 2006.

About the Asian Excellence Awards
The Asian Excellence Awards is the only annual nationally televised event celebrating the outstanding achievements of Asians and Asian Americans in film, television, music, and the performing arts. Welly Yang is the creator and executive producer of the Asian Excellence Awards, working with Syd Vinnedge Productions. Hugh Wright and Teddy Zee are Executive Producers. Veteran awards show producer Greg Sills serves as the Supervising Producer for the show. Grace C. Lee, Jane Mun, Eddie Delbridge and Cindy Hwang are Producers.

JCPenney will be supporting the 2008 Asian Excellence Awards as the exclusive retail sponsor for the second year in a row. Other sponsors include Anheuser-Busch, State Farm, The Korea Times, Courvoisier and Shen Consulting, Inc.