Asia Society’s U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit Honors Bela Bajaria of Netflix and 3 Others at 2021
- Others recognized were Lee Byung-Hun of Netflix’s “Squid Game,” Marvel’s Shang-Chi and director Destin Daniel Cretton.
Asia Society Southern California honored Indian American Bela Bajaria, Netflix head of global TV, and three others, with the 2021 Entertainment Summit Game Changers at the 12th annual U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit, held Nov. 1. The entertainment summit celebrated Asians and Asian Americans who have made significant contributions to film and television, both creatively and philanthropically.
Bajaria was named head of Global TV, Netflix in 2020, overseeing all scripted and unscripted series around the world. In her role, she is tasked with overseeing all TV content for the global streamer, which includes a dizzying slate of scripted and unscripted series as well as overall deals with powerhouse showrunners such as Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy. She leads the teams responsible for hit series including “Bridgerton,” “The Queen’s Gambit,” “La Casa de Papel,” and “Lupin.”
Prior to Netflix, Bajaria was president, Universal Television, where she made history as the first woman of color to oversee a studio, shepherding programming including “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “The Mindy Project.” Earlier, she held two key posts simultaneously: Senior Vice President, Cable Programming for CBS TV Studios, and Senior Vice President of Movies and Miniseries for CBS Network.
Others honored at the summit were Lee Byung-Hun of Netflix’s “Squid Game,” Marvel’s Shang-Chi and director Destin Daniel Cretton.
Earlier on Oct. 28, Asia Society presented the 2021 Asia Game Changer Awards to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and its parent company Alphabet “for harnessing the power of technology to change people’s lives,” and to Sal Khan of Khan Academy “for proving that a good education can be provided to anyone, anywhere.” Others honored were Rabbi Angela Warnick Buchdahl, the first Asian American to become a rabbi in North America; Dr. Morris Chang, founder, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC); virologist Dr. David Ho; Sunisa Lee, first Asian American to win all-around gold in women’s gymnastics; and Kim Ng, general manager of the Miami Marlins and the highest-ranking female baseball executive.