“Heated Rivalry” star Hudson Williams got an early start on his birthday festivities Thursday night, celebrating at Gold House’s inaugural Lunar New Year party in New York City.
Williams, a co-host of the lavish event at Chinese Tuxedo, hit the dance floor with “The Summer I Turned Pretty” star Lola Tung, the pair twirling each other around before jumping and belting out ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).” The once-fairly tame space instantly transformed into a full-fledged dance club as a crowd gathered the moment Williams and Tung stepped into the center.
Williams kept the energy high on the dance floor, moving to a catchy mix of upbeat tracks, including Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own” and t.A.T.u.’s “All the Things She Said.” Throughout the evening, guests flocked to Williams — who brought his mother as his plus-one — as he moved around the venue, waiting to take selfies and chat with the actor.
At the stroke of midnight, Williams welcomed his 25th birthday by blowing out a single candle atop a platter of cream puffs.
Beyond the dance floor, guests played games of mahjong, sang karaoke and feasted on spring rolls, roast duck and other delicacies while sipping Hennessy cocktails inspired by the Year of the Fire Horse.
Tung and Williams’ dance moves weren’t the only “Heated Rivalry”–“The Summer I Turned Pretty” crossover of the night. Later on, Tung headed downstairs to the karaoke space to sing “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne with Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, who plays Svetlana on the hit hockey romance series, and “Mean Girls” actor Avantika.
Tung also reunited with her “The Summer I Turned Pretty” co-stars Sean Kaufman and Minnie Mills at the Lunar New Year party. While a movie was announced in September of last year, Kaufman remained mum about any details related to the upcoming project, including when they’ll be filming.
“No comment. I don’t even know, actually,” Kaufman told Variety with a laugh. “So I can lie and give you a date right now — but it’d be a lie.”
Other notable attendees included co-hosts Bowen Yang, Yerin Ha, Prabal Gurung, Eva Chen, Daniel Martin, Liam Oh, Melissa King, Bach Mai and Kim Shui, as well as Anna Cathcart, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Padma Lakshmi, Isa Briones, Alexander Wang, Phillip Lim, Suni Lee, Supriya Ganesh, Jade Bender, Zsine Tseng and Gold House founder Bing Chen.
When asked what she’s most looking forward to regarding where Asian representation is headed in Hollywood, Ha — the leading lady of “Bridgerton” Season 4 — said, “I’m just excited to hopefully get to a point where we don’t have to say that it’s ‘representation,’ and that it just is. We exist in the world, we don’t have to explain ourselves, and it would just be nice to be part of films because they want us rather than feeling like we’re representing something.”
See photos from Gold House’s Lunar New Year party below.
Bing Chen, JJ Jimenez, Gloria Zhu, Bach Mai, Melissa King, Prabal Gurung, Liam Oh, Hudson Williams, Yerin Ha, Kim Shui, Bowen Yang, Eva Chen and Daniel Martin attend Gold House’s Lunar New Year Gold Celebration at Chinese Tuxedo.
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Bowen Yang and Hudson Williams attend Gold House’s Lunar New Year Gold Celebration at Chinese Tuxedo.
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Yerin Ha, Hudson Williams, Prabal Gurung and Bing Chen at Gold House’s Lunar New Year Gold Celebration in New York City.
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Hudson Williams poses for a photo at Gold House’s Lunar New Year Gold Celebration.
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Lola Tung and Hudson Williams dance together at Gold House’s Lunar New Year Celebration at Chinese Tuxedo.
Getty Images for Hennessy
Lola Tung and Hudson Williams on the dance floor at Gold House’s Lunar New Year Celebration at Chinese Tuxedo.
Getty Images for Hennessy
Sean Kaufman and Lola Tung attend Gold House’s Lunar New Year Gold Celebration at Chinese Tuxedo.
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Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova plays mahjong at Gold House’s Lunar New Year Gold Celebration at Chinese Tuxedo.
Getty Images for Gold House