American television series with Asian leads/co-leads means a scripted American television series that features an actor of Asian ancestry as the series' leading actor portraying the series' protagonist or a main character. One of the earliest examples dates back to 1951 with Anna May Wong a classic Hollywood-era movie star with her TV show The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong. Typically, the characters portrayed are Asian American, although the actor or actress may sometimes be Canadian, British, or Australian.
List of television series
1950s
The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong (Protagonist portrayed by Anna May Wong)
1960s
The Green Hornet (1966) (Bruce Lee) Hawaii Five-O (Ensemble cast with Kam Fong, Gilbert Lani Kauhi) Star Trek (Ensemble cast with George Takei) The Courtship of Eddie's Father (Main character portrayed by Miyoshi Umeki)
1970s
The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (Protagonist portrayed by Keye Luke) Mr. T and Tina (Protagonist portrayed by Pat Morita) Kung Fu (Co-leading characters portrayed by Philip Ahn and Keye Luke, and multiple guest actors) Quincy, M.E. (Ensemble cast with Robert Ito) Barney Miller (Ensemble cast with Jack Soo) Happy Days (Ensemble cast with Pat Morita)
1980s
Ohara (Protagonist portrayed by Pat Morita) Sidekicks (Protagonist portrayed Ernie Reyes Jr.) 21 Jump Street (Esemble cast with Dustin Nguyen playing one of the main characters) Gung Ho (Protagonist portrayed by Gedde Watanabe) Bring 'Em Back Alive (Ensemble cast with Clyde Kusatsu) Island Son (Ensemble cast with Clyde Kusatsu)
1990s
Saved by the Bell (protagonist portrayed by Mark-Paul Gosselaar) All American Girl (Protagonist portrayed by Margaret Cho) Vanishing Son (Protagonist portrayed by Russell Wong) Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (Protagonist played by Dean Cain) Martial Law (Protagonist portrayed by Sammo Hung) The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo (protagonist portrayed by Irene Ng) Mortal Kombat: Conquest (protagonist portrayed by Paolo Montalban) Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (Ensemble co-lead played by Thuy Trang) ER (Ensemble co-lead played by Ming-Na Wen, Parminder Nagra) Star Trek: Voyager (co-lead played by Garrett Wang) The Burning Zone (Ensemble co-lead played by Tamlyn Tomita) The Single Guy (Ensemble cast with Ming-Na Wen) Space Rangers (Ensemble cast with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) Nash Bridges (Ensemble cast with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Kelly Hu) Crusade (Ensemble cast with Daniel Dae Kim) Space: Above and Beyond (Ensemble cast with Joel de la Fuente) V.I.P. (Ensemble cast with Dustin Nguyen)
2000s
Black Sash (Protagonist portrayed by Russell Wong) Relic Hunter (Protagonist portrayed by Tia Carrere) American Dragon: Jake Long (Protagonist portrayed by Dante Basco) Avatar: The Last Airbender (Ensemble cast with Dante Basco and Mako) Jackie Chan Adventures (Protagonist portrayed by James Sie) Aliens in America (Co-Lead portrayed by Adhir Kalyan) Inconceivable (Protagonist portrayed by Ming-Na Wen) Cashmere Mafia (Ensemble co-lead portrayed by Lucy Liu) Aaron Stone (Protagonist portrayed by Tania Gunadi) Lipstick Jungle (Ensemble co-lead portrayed by Lindsay Price) Eastwick (Ensemble co-lead portrayed by Lindsay Price) Samurai Girl (Protagonist portrayed by Jamie Chung) The Life and Times of Juniper Lee (Protagonist portrayed by Lara Jill Miller) The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (Major starring character portrayed by Brenda Song) Lost (Ensemble co-leads played by Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Naveen Andrews, and Ken Leung) Grey's Anatomy (Ensemble co-lead played by Sandra Oh) The Big Bang Theory (co-lead played by Kunal Nayyar) Star Trek: Enterprise (co-lead played by Linda Park) Law and Order: SVU (series regular BD Wong) Glee (ensemble co-leads: Jenna Ushkowitz, Harry Shum, Jr., Darren Criss) Heroes (ensemble co-leads: Masi Oka, Sendhil Ramamurthy) FlashForward (Co-lead portrayed by John Cho) Battlestar Galactica (Ensemble co-lead played by Grace Park) Community (Ensemble cast with Danny Pudi and Ken Jeong) Stargate Universe (Ensemble cast with Ming-Na Wen) Vanished (Ensemble cast with Ming-Na Wen) Parks and Recreation (Ensemble cast with Aziz Ansari) Off Centre (Ensemble cast with John Cho) Codename: Kids Next Door (Ensemble cast with Lauren Tom) My Life as a Teenage Robot (Protagonist portrayed by Janice Kawaye)