Ali Wong

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Ali Wong
Ali Wong in June 2012
Born Alexandra Wong
San Francisco, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress, comedian, writer
Years active 2011–present
Spouse(s) Justin Hakuta
Children 1
Relatives Ken Hakuta (father-in-law)
Website aliwong.com

Alexandra "Ali" Wong (born 1982)[1][2] is an American actress, stand-up comic and writer.[3][4]

Early life

Wong was born in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Her father, Adolphus Wong, is American-born Chinese anesthesiologist, her mother, Tam "Tammy" Wong , is Vietnamese, and as a young woman in 1960, came to the United States from Hue, Vietnam.[5][6] She's the youngest of four children.[1][7]

In 2000, Wong graduated from San Francisco University High School,[8] where she was student body class president.[9] At the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was majoring in Asian American studies,[10] she discovered her love of performing as a member of UCLA's LCC Theatre (Lapu, the Coyote that Cares Theatre Company), the longest running Asian-American theater company in the United States.[11] During college, for her junior year, she spent time in Hanoi, Vietnam.[1] She graduated from UCLA Summa Cum Laude and received a scholarship to study further in Vietnam after college.

Career

Following graduation from college, in 2005 when she was 23 years old, Wong tried stand-up for the first time at Brainwash Cafe, then moved to New York City soon after to further pursue comedy. In New York, she would perform up to nine times a night. She became one of the few select female comedians to be "passed" at the Comedy Cellar. [12]

In 2011, Variety named her one of the "10 Comics to Watch".[3] She later was cast as series regular in the NBC comedy series, Are You There, Chelsea?, and appeared on Chelsea Lately.[13] Following that, she hosted VH1's Best Week Ever, and MTV's Hey Girl in 2013. Additionally, she appeared in a few movies: Oliver Stone's Savages, and Dealin' with Idiots, opposite Jeff Garlin and Gina Gershon.[2]

In 2014, Wong starred as Dr. Lina Lark in the ABC medical drama series, Black Box, opposite Kelly Reilly and Vanessa Redgrave.[14][15]

Wong now lives in Los Angeles, and is a writer for Fresh Off the Boat.[16] On Mother's Day 2016,[17] Netflix released a stand-up special called Baby Cobra which was filmed in September 2015 when she was 7 months pregnant[18] at the Neptune Theater in Seattle.[7][12][19] The special has been extremely well received, with public praise from Jim Gaffigan, Amy Schumer, Questlove, Jay Duplass, Damon Wayans Jr., Randall Park and Steven Yeun. Elle applauded it as a "comic genius gem" while Vogue called it "The special that everyone is talking about." Marc Maron said "Ali Wong’s ‘Baby Cobra’ is the most honest, rawest, funniest special I’ve seen in years. She has huge balls."

Personal life

In 2014, Wong married Justin Hakuta, the son of Ken Hakuta aka "Dr. Fad", an inventor and TV personality.[20] They had a daughter named Mari in November 2015, inspired by author Marie Kondo, who wrote The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.[18] They live in Los Angeles. Her husband is half-Filipino, half-Japanese.[6]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2011 Breaking In Ana Ng Recurring role, 3 episodes
2012 Controversial Racist Short film
2012 Chelsea Lately Herself—round table 9 episodes
2012 Are You There, Chelsea? Olivia Series regular, 12 episodes
2012 Savages Claire
2013 Hey Girl Herself 5 episodes
2013 Best Week Ever Herself 16 episodes
2013 Dealin' with Idiots Katie
2014 Black Box Dr. Lina Lark Series regular

References

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External links

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