Hudson Williams Celebrated His Birthday on the Dance Floor at Gold House’s Lunar New Year Party
“The past few months have been crazy, but I’m so grateful that my mom is with me tonight and we can be together for New Year’s,” Heated Rivalry’s Hudson Williams told Vogue at Gold House’s inaugural Lunar New Year Celebration. “I love spending time with my mom. She’s the best date.”
Ringing in his 25th birthday, the breakthrough star joined Bridgerton’s latest leading lady Yerin Ha, and SNL alum Bowen Yang to co-host the fete at Chinese Tuxedo ahead of the Year of the Horse, which officially begins on February 17.
The multi-level space—once New York City’s first Chinese theater—was filled with red paper lanterns and tassel-adorned fish-shaped ornaments suspended from the ceiling to ward off evil and provide abundance in the new year. Over 200 guests from the Asian American and Pacific Islander community were dressed in their celebratory finery, indulging in hamachi crudo, oysters, spring rolls, and bespoke Hennessy cocktails.
“My favorite part of New Year is the food,” Ha laughed as she made her way through the party. “I’m Korean and I love eating the rice cake soup that is traditionally served on New Year’s. I also love sweet rice cakes, and anything that my family makes from scratch, like seaweed soup. Food is such a big part of my culture and identity.” With Williams by her side, Ha later gave remarks about the importance of heritage and wished everyone a happy and prosperous New Year in Korean.
As the party unfolded, attendees were swooning over Williams. And wherever he went, the crowd followed. The actor graciously posed for every single selfie request and took his time to socialize with fans, before setting his sights on the dance floor.
Williams was the first one to ditch his jacket and get the crowd going. Minutes later, people swarmed around him, including The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Lola Tung—who could be heard complimenting his dancing skills as they twirled each other around to ABBA’s Gimme! Gimme! Gimmie! (A Man After Midnight). Williams’s mom, Sunny, joined him soon after as the DJ started to play Dancing on My Own by Robyn. When the first beats of All the Things She Said by t.A.T.u—Heated Rivalry’s unofficial theme song—could be heard through the speakers, Williams got even more riled up.
Elsewhere, guests sat around small tables for competitive games of mahjong. The Chinese, tile-based game of skill, strategy, and luck is typically played by four people, and Bowen Yang shared that his dream game would be playing against Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Padma Lakshmi. While the Wicked star didn’t have time to play with Lakshmi, who was in attendance, the two later caught up at the bar with Bing Chen, CEO and co-founder of Gold House. Nearby was designer Prabal Gurung, also a co-host, who had outfitted both Ha and Williams for the occasion.
Other notable names in attendance were Eva Chen, Joseph Altuzarra, Avantika Vandanapu, Alexander Wang, Kim Shui, and makeup artist Daniel Martin. Supriya Ganesh from The Pitt arrived at the party straight from the Michael Kors runway show uptown. “It’s so important for me to be here with other AAPI artists,” the actress said. “We need to support each other. There’s still so much that needs to be done for representation. I’m so excited to meet people here tonight and feel less alone in this industry. There’s times where you feel like the only one, but at a party like this, you feel supported and seen.”
Around midnight, it was time for one more big celebration, as Williams was presented with a plate full of pastries with a birthday candle on top. As he made his wish, the crowd cheered in support. What will the next year bring?
Noam Galai/Getty Images1/22Sunny Williams and Hudson Williams
Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images2/22Bowen Yang
