List of American Pie characters
Noah Levenstein, also known as "Jim's dad", is the only character to appear in all eight films to date. At the 2000 American Comedy Award, Levy was nominated for Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture although he didn't win. At the 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Award he was nominated for Favorite Supporting Actor - Comedy which he won. At the 2002 Canadian Comedy Awards he was nominated for Pretty Funny Male Performance for his role in "American Pie 2" and won the award.
Portrayal of East Asians in American film and theater
Anna May Wong had been considered a top contender for the role of O-lan, the Chinese heroine of the novel. However, because Paul Muni was a white man, the Hays Code's anti-miscegenation rules required the actress who played his wife to be a white woman. So, MGM gave the role of O-lan to a European actress and offered Wong the role of Lotus, the story's villain. Wong refused to be the only Chinese-American, playing the only negative character, stating: "I won't play the part. If you let me play O-lan, I'll be very glad. But you're asking me – with Chinese blood – to do the only unsympathetic role in the picture featuring an all-American cast portraying Chinese characters." MGM's refusal to consider Wong for this most high-profile of Chinese characters in U.S. film is remembered today as "one of the most notorious cases of casting discrimination in the 1930s".