Domee Shi can talk about dumplings all day long — mostly because for the past four years, she’s been working on a short film for Pixar about a Chinese-Canadian mother who experiences empty nest syndrome until one of her painstakingly made dumplings turns into a little boy. Shi, who grew up in Toronto, has been eating dumplings for most of her life. “Dumplings hold a special place in my heart,” Shi said in an interview. “I would make them with my mom growing up."

Caitlin FitzGerald first landed in the food industry as a teenager, when she worked at a cafe and for a catering company while in high school. Throughout college and for a few years after, she worked as a hostess and waitress in New York City. Ten years later, she’s back in the restaurant world, this time playing Simone in the Starz adaptation of Stephanie Danler’s novel Sweetbitter. The TV show debuted Wednesday at the Tribeca Film Festival and will premiere on the small screen May 6.

Bonnie Tyler had no idea there was going to be a total solar eclipse on Aug. 21 — until Royal Caribbean invited her to perform iconic hit onboard the ship during the eclipse. The Welsh singer had spent the better part of 2017 on tour, in countries like New Zealand, Israel, South Africa, Mexico and Chile. But her schedule was open in the days surrounding the eclipse. “I flew from Lebanon to come here, via Dubai,” Tyler said in an interview on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas ship.

It can be nearly impossible to find a moment of peace on a cruise ship. Unless you’re holed up in your room or blissfully lost in a massage, from the moment you step on board, you’re surrounded by people and the sounds of vacation — yelling, whooping, crying and cheering. Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas, one of the biggest cruise ships in the world, was no different on Aug. 20, as it set sail from Port Canaveral, Florida.

It's an indie director's dream: an actress who's intelligent and introspective yet charismatic, with wide eyes and long lashes that make her a believable romantic lead, plus an irresistible dash of quirk. Zoe Kazan has these qualities in spades (not unlike another actress who has the same first name but spells it Zooey), and she uses them at full force in her latest movie, What If.

For as long as she can remember, Brenda Song has wanted to be an actress. “My imagination, as a child, was huge,” she recalls. “It’s all I wanted to do.” With parents who were “supportive of anything,” Brenda got her first role at age five doing a commercial for Little Caesars. A few short years later, a manager introduced Brenda to Elizabeth Sung, who at the time was directing a short autobiographical film and looking to cast someone as her younger self. Sung had met with 20 girls when Brenda came along.

No one wants to go through life known as “the Asian dude.” But for Harry Shum, Jr., it’s a dream come true. The 27-year-old plays football player and show-choir member Mike Chang on the hit show “Glee,” but he’s much better known for being “the other Asian,” a nickname dubbed by Jane Lynch’s scary cheerleading coach character, Sue Sylvester. Shum is no stranger to being a token Asian.

Not everyone can say they first discovered their true calling at Korean Catholic camp—but that’s where actress Jamie Chung first remembers catching the acting bug. “We’d break into groups, have a leader and put on these skits,” she says. “I had absolutely no fear. I loved the whole creative process and entertaining people and making them laugh.” But in high school, Chung tabled these passions to focus on her studies, not stopping until she graduated from college. “I could not see myself going into higher education, so I moved to L.A. and jumped right into things. I got a manager and started taking classes.” Sounds fearless, right? “I’m so ashamed of failure that I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing, not even my parents,” she says. “I didn’t even tell them that I booked my first job on a soap opera.”

Ellen Wong can remember her first movie memory, back when she was 11 years old, like it was yesterday. “We went to go see Titanic. It was my first experience of walking into a theater and feeling that energy in a room,” she says. “I remember feeling the entire theater go dark and everyone quieting from this hustle and bustle to a quiet silence. It was like a ride.”