Congratulations to Sandra Oh, who was just nominated for an Emmy for her role as Eve Polastri in the show "Killing Eve."

I am through the roof, as is almost every other Asian actor in North America. This is the first Emmy nomination ever for an Asian woman in a leading role of a drama series. Throughout the history of American television, we have seldom seen Asian characters, particularly women, portraying strong leads.

It is a huge win for Asian actors as a community. Not only are we seeing a powerful woman representing us on television, but she's actually being recognized by Hollywood for her efforts.

Are you surprised that this is the first time Sandra Oh has been nominated for a leading role? Well, it has been a long time coming. Oh has been working at this for years.

From her work on "Grey's Anatomy," for which she was Emmy nominated for best supporting actress, and "Sideways," which won a SAG award for outstanding cast, to her beginnings back in Canada with "The Diary of Evelyn Lau" and her Genie-winning performance in "Double Happiness," she has created emotionally complex characters that are exciting to watch.

I, for one, could not help but look up to her as I made my journey through theater school. And I continue to do so as I move forward with my career. I don't doubt that other Asian actors have had the same experience.

This historic moment begs the question: Are we finally going to start seeing changes in Asian-American casting?

It is the first nomination for Sandra Oh because, unfortunately, the opportunities for her to land leading roles have been few and far between. After leaving "Grey's Anatomy," Oh waited four years for another juicy leading role to come along. She did three plays and guest spots, working on projects that meant something to her.

"Killing Eve" is based on books by Luke Jennings, and in the series, Oh's character is white. When she flipped through the script, she was met with confusion, unable to find the stereotypical role she's accustomed to producers wanting her to read for.

After speaking with her agent, she finally learned that they wanted her for the lead, realizing how jaded she'd become to the invisible wall in the casting of non-white actors. "It's like, 'Oh, it's so easy! They just called you!'" Sandra said of her "Killing Eve" casting. "Right? In a way, yes, that's true. But in another way, it took 30 years to get this call."

In theater, film and TV, there have always been very few roles for people of Asian descent. Particularly in Hollywood, scripts aren't written that often about our community. Those screenplays often struggle to find funding and end up being made independently without much exposure.

Hollywood hasn't seen Asian-Americans as actors with "box office mojo," and in turn, producers don't call us in. Sometimes, we are called in to fill supporting roles, but the majority are stereotypical ones — manicurists, pharmacists, foreign exchange students, martial artists and even prostitutes.

Mind you, for all these roles, they often require us to add Asian accents to the dialogue. Or they just plain ask us to translate their scripts into our parents' "mother tongue."

During my very first meeting with a talent agency, I was excited and ready to work. We started with some decent sides to tape. But then they asked me if I could do an additional take in an Asian accent. I asked them "Which one?" Their reply? "Oh, just any." It was like being dunked into an ice-cold bath. I felt like I was seeing the future of my career.

When will the TV and film industry start telling our stories, the ones that reflect who we actually are?

Asian-Americans do have complex, rich histories. Yes, most of our families immigrated from other countries. And yes, we are heavily influenced by our families' heritages and histories. We love karaoke and eating dim sum, just as much as we like listening to Radiohead and eating hot dogs.

I was born and bred just outside of Toronto. I learned both English and Vietnamese. But being the stubborn child I was, I tried to speak as little Vietnamese as possible. This caused me to forget almost all the Vietnamese I know, having to relearn it later.

In short, my accent sucks. Having to do the accent and speak English seems so (ironically) foreign and almost offensive at times. It feels like I'm making fun of my parents who struggled so hard to fit in at work and be understood.

But things are changing. We are seeing more and more Asian characters on TV and in film. Rob Yang is in "Succession," and his character, Lawrence Yee, is the founder of a company called Vaulter, acquired by the headline family. What he is not is the stereotypical Japanese businessman we normally see on TV. They do not address the fact that he is Asian ever, which has always been a common trend.

On that note, we see Vincent Rodriguiz III in "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," playing Josh Chan, the show's very hunky leading man. There is another Josh on the show who is referred to as "White Josh," a classification that tickles me, as this usually happens the other way around.

Constance Wu, along with a host of other Asian actors, is starring in "Crazy Rich Asians." This is one of the few movies out there with an all-Asian cast, and it's actually a Hollywood film. It's refreshing to see more than one Asian female role in a film, considering that Asian women often get pitted against each other for that one role, even though they aren't anything alike.

Since "Joy Luck Club," released in 1993, "Crazy Rich Asians" will be the first Hollywood film featuring an all Asian family led by Asian women in 23 years. According to a study by Dr. Martha M. Lauzen, looking at the top 100 films in 2017, only seven percent of characters that year were Asian females.

Unfortunately, it seems exposure to Asian-American casting is still low. But these new films and characters we are seeing are helping to build a future with more opportunities. In fact, Deadline has reported that Sony and Pascal Pictures are in the early stages of developing the Marvel movie, "Silk," about Korean-American comic book superhero Cindy Moon.

So, we have a meeting of great new roles with the dated stereotypical ones that Asian actors still get called in for. If we were to ask Rob Yang, Vincent Rodrigues III or Constance Wu, surely, they'd agree that they've auditioned for a few stereotypical ones.

However, it looks like we are living in luckier times. More and more artists of Asian descent are writing their stories, and beyond that, are making films and working in the industry. We are seeing performers sticking up for other performers and coming together as a community, specifically within the #starringjohncho and #starringconstancewu movements.

In terms of creating our own work and what's produced, "it's just suffering waiting for it to happen with someone else, waiting for that larger structure, waiting for that structure to change."

Congratulations once more to Sandra Oh on her Emmy nomination for leading actress in a drama series. This nomination marks what will be a drastic change in how shows are cast and written.