Breakthrough Entertainer: Stephanie Hsu, Now Everywhere 

Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)
Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)
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Breakthrough Entertainer: Stephanie Hsu, Now Everywhere 

Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)
Stephanie Hsu arrives at the Governors Awards on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2022, at Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (AP)

Dressed as Elvis and nonchalantly walking a pig on a leash, Stephanie Hsu made a memorable big screen impression this year. 

Hsu actually had two roles in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," playing both a sullen teen and an intergalactic supervillain for a film that can best be called a fantastical science fiction comedy-drama. 

With Michelle Yeoh joining Hsu as her onscreen mother, the indie film has garnered critical acclaim, hit over $100 million in global ticket sales and has sparked Oscar buzz. 

"The movie is so special because we could not have possibly expected this to have happened and so we were really able to just throw paint at the wall," Hsu said. "It came from a very raw place with zero expectations, only trying to tell the story as deeply and honestly as we can." 

Hsu's performance — combining deep hurt with a real skill with nunchucks while rocking sequin-lined eyes — has made her one of The Associated Press’ Breakthrough Entertainers of the Year alongside Joaquina Kalukango, Sadie Sink, Tenoch Huerta, Iman Vellani and more. 

"I have been working for a really long time and I guess that’s what a breakout is: You chip away and then all of a sudden, there’s one thing that everyone is like, ‘That’s the thing that put you on the map.’" 

Hsu was a Broadway veteran with a few TV credits when she worked with the writing and directing duo of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert for an episode of "Norah From Queens." 

Working with Kwan and Scheinert — know as The Daniels — was a revelation for Hsu and when they contacted her about "Everything Everywhere All at Once" she never hesitated. 

"We’re like artistic soulmates in so many ways," she said. "When I read the script, in so many ways, it actually made a lot of sense to me weirdly enough. I don’t know what that says about me." 

The film begins with Yeoh as a struggling laundromat owner who is being audited by the IRS and has a strained relationship with her daughter. The story gets surreal when she discovers she has to connect with parallel universes to prevent cataclysmic destruction, also involving her daughter. It's also a family drama, with richness in the complex love between relations. 

"This movie, in so many ways, embodies what I love to do as an artist. So it feels like the most honest handshake I could make with Hollywood," she said. 

"I think art at its very best offers some help in processing or helping us move through a very confusing world and offer some healing. And that is ultimately the type of work that I want to make." 

Hsu began her acting career on Broadway, where she played Karen the Computer in "SpongeBob the Musical," and Christine Canigula in "Be More Chill." She was born in California and moved to New York to study at New York University, graduating in 2012. 

She showed off her work ethic by combining a punishing eight-show-a-week Broadway schedule with filming "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" on Mondays, her only day off. 

"The discipline that forced me into, I think, really prepared me for everything that has happened since. And I feel really grateful that I was given the opportunity to work that hard," she said. 

Hsu will next be seen in Rian Johnson’s Peacock anthology series "Poker Face," alongside Natasha Lyonne and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. She’ll also star opposite Ashley Park in "JFC," a raunchy, R-rated comedy directed by Adele Lim. 

"What I’m excited to do next, honestly, is to develop more of my own work," she said. "In order to make this career sustainable and joyful is to be able to dig in and not always just fill shoes for someone else." 



Oasis Fans Converge as Mega-tour Kicks Off in UK

Oasis are performing together for the first time since 2009. MIKE CLARKE / AFP
Oasis are performing together for the first time since 2009. MIKE CLARKE / AFP
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Oasis Fans Converge as Mega-tour Kicks Off in UK

Oasis are performing together for the first time since 2009. MIKE CLARKE / AFP
Oasis are performing together for the first time since 2009. MIKE CLARKE / AFP

Tens of thousands of ecstatic Oasis fans descend Friday on Cardiff as the legendary Britpop band kicks off a highly anticipated reunion tour nearly 16 years after last performing together.

The concert at the Principality Stadium in the Welsh capital will be the first of a 41-date run of gigs spanning the world, including in the United States, Japan, Australia and Brazil, AFP said.

Once-warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, their bandmates and UK support acts will play in Cardiff on Friday and Saturday before five hometown gigs in Manchester starting on July 11.

Further sold-out British and Irish concerts will follow at London's Wembley Stadium, Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium and Dublin's Croke Park, before the international leg of their Oasis Live '25 tour.

"All that matters is how the people in that stadium feel," Liam Gallagher, 52, said on social media last week, as months of anticipation reach a climax.

Fans have been sharing their excitement at the first chance to see Oasis play live since 2009 -- or ever -- after it was long seen as a remote prospect following one of music's most acrimonious break-ups.

The band's 1990s gigs are the stuff of legend.

"The feeling is biblical!" fuel tanker driver Sean Campbell, 35, told AFP before attending Friday's gig.

"I've been waiting years for their return. I missed out on going years ago, so this is my first time seeing them live."

Ticket controversy

Oasis, famous for 1990s hits like "Live Forever" and "Wonderwall", announced its comeback tour last August, days before the 30th anniversary of their debut album, "Definitely Maybe".

The Manchester rockers split in 2009, with Noel saying he "simply could not go on working with Liam a day longer".

The Gallagher brothers had maintained a war of words about each other for more than a decade, performing individually over those years but never together.

The surprise announcement that they had finally put aside their feud to reunite sparked an online frenzy for tickets but outrage over sudden price hikes that saw Britain's competition watchdog threaten legal action.

Resale tickets costing thousands of pounds have surfaced, while fans have also been targeted by online scams.

Britain's Lloyds Bank estimated in April that victims had collectively lost more than £2 million ($2.7 million).

The tour is expected to be a boon for the struggling UK economy.

Fans could spend more than £1 billion combined on tickets and outgoings such as transportation and accommodation, Barclays bank estimated in May.

'Rough and ready'

Oasis will be supported in the UK by Richard Ashcroft, frontman of British rock band The Verve, as well as the Liverpool-formed band Cast.

The band has not released the setlist for their opening and other shows, with rampant speculation online over which classic tracks will feature and whether any new material will be performed.

There are also many rumors over the potential for special guests appearances.

Illuminated drones displayed Oasis's classic logo above the Cardiff stadium late Wednesday, in a one-night display adding to the buzz around the tour's kick-off.

Gates open Friday at 5:00 pm (1600 GMT), with the band due on stage just over three hours later after both support acts have played.

The performance will wrap up by 10:30 pm, organizers said.

The stadium, which has a capacity of 74,500 for concerts, is set to have its retractable roof closed for both nights, with an incredible atmosphere expected.

Oasis reportedly began jamming together months ago, before starting rehearsals in London more recently.

The band has reportedly welcomed several new members for the tour, including a keyboard player and drummer.

Writing in the tour program, Noel, 58, reflected on the band's enduring popularity, saying "a new generation recognizes how Oasis wasn't manufactured".

"It was chaotic, and flawed, and not technically brilliant. We were rough and ready guys from a rehearsal room, and people recognized it."