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Henry Golding Becomes First Asian GQ 'Men Of The Year' Cover Star

And the online Asian community is thrilled for the “Crazy Rich Asians” actor.

Henry Golding hasn’t been in the acting game for that long, but he has broken yet another barrier.

On Monday, GQ revealed that the “Crazy Rich Asians” actor is on one of the magazine’s four 2018 “men (and woman) of the year” covers.

Golding ― who joins Michael B. Jordan, Serena Williams and Jonah Hill in this year’s class to grace the covers ― is the first Asian named one of the magazine’s men of the year, GQ confirmed for HuffPost.

The achievement isn’t lost on the online Asian community ― especially since Western mainstream media has historically emasculated Asian men.

The actor is described by the magazine as its “star of the year” and was chosen to grace the cover because of his breakout success.

“When Crazy Rich Asians hit theaters this summer, Hollywood held its breath waiting for the box office results, but anyone who knew anything about ... well, anything, could’ve predicted it’d be the smash it was,” the magazine wrote. “Beyond its success — and what a success it was — it minted Henry Golding as one of the industry’s must-hire new actors, and for good reason: He’s handsome, he’s suave, and that accent. A nation swooned, and GQ did too.”

Golding, who rocks a retro look on the cover, tweeted about the achievement, calling it “an honor.”

Of course, Golding’s “Crazy Rich Asians” family was quick to share the love for their fellow cast member.

Golding has experienced a meteoric rise in the past year. After starring as Nick Young in “Crazy Rich Asians,” he was also a lead in the thriller “A Simple Favor.”

“Crazy Rich Asians” was his very first acting gig. Before acting, he spent several years as a BBC travel host around Asia and previously told HuffPost that being cast in the movie forced him to confront issues around underrepresentation of Asians in Hollywood. He shifted perspectives.

“I was much more aware of [the fight for Asian representation] once this dialogue started coming out, because growing up and spending half my life in Asia, I saw brown faces, yellow faces, content that was created in the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan.”

He added, “Asian cinema, that’s what people watched. It wasn’t until that dialogue around underrepresentation, stereotyping, really drove home [that] I took a step back and thought, ‘This is something that’s been happening massively in Hollywood.’”

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.