Awkwafina facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Awkwafina
Awkwafina in June 2018
Born	Nora Lum (1988-06-02) June 2, 1988 (age 37) Stony Brook, New York, U.S.
Alma mater	University at Albany (BA)
Occupation	Actress rapper comedian
Years active	2005–present
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Origin	Queens, New York, U.S.
Genres	Alternative hip hop comedy hip hop East Coast hip hop
Instruments	Vocals
Associated acts	Dumbfoundead
Nora Lum
Chinese	林家珍
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lín Jiāzhēn Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Làhm Gāajān IPA [lɐ̏m káː.tsɐ́n] Jyutping Lam4 Gaa1zan1

Nora Lum (born June 2, 1988), known as Awkwafina, is an American actress, comedian, and rapper. She became famous in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" went viral on YouTube. After that, she released her first album, Yellow Ranger (2014). She also appeared on the MTV comedy show Girl Code from 2014 to 2015.

Awkwafina started acting in movies with roles in comedies like Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), and Crazy Rich Asians (2018). She also appeared in Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). For her main role in The Farewell (2019), she won a Golden Globe Award. This made her the first person of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe in a lead actress film category.

Since 2020, Awkwafina has been a co-creator, writer, and producer for the Comedy Central show Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens. In this show, she plays a funny version of herself. In 2021, she played Katy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. She has also lent her voice to many animated films, including Raya and the Last Dragon (2021) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024). In 2023, she won a Primetime Emmy Award for starring in and producing the TV movie Quiz Lady.

Early Life and Education

Awkwafina was born in Stony Brook, New York, on Long Island. Her father is Chinese American, and her mother was Korean American. Her father, Wally, worked in technology. His family owned one of the first Chinese restaurants in Flushing, Queens.

Awkwafina's mother, Tia, was a painter who moved to the U.S. from South Korea. Sadly, her mother passed away when Awkwafina was four years old. After that, her father and grandparents raised her. She became very close to her paternal grandmother.

Awkwafina grew up in Forest Hills, Queens. She went to Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, where she played the trumpet. She also studied classical music and jazz. When she was 15, she chose the stage name Awkwafina. She saw this name as a more outgoing side of her personality.

From 2006 to 2008, she learned Mandarin Chinese at Beijing Language and Culture University. This helped her talk better with her paternal grandmother. In 2011, she graduated from the University at Albany, State University of New York. She studied journalism and women's studies there.

Awkwafina's Entertainment Journey

Awkwafina started rapping when she was 13. She learned to make music using computer programs like GarageBand. In 2012, her song "My Vag" became very popular on YouTube. She wrote the song while in college. She was even let go from her job at a publishing company when they saw her in the music video.

Her first hip-hop album, Yellow Ranger, came out on February 11, 2014. It included many of her songs that were already on YouTube. In 2014, Awkwafina appeared in six episodes of Girl Code on MTV. In 2015, she co-hosted its spin-off show, Girl Code Live.

In 2016, she worked with comedian Margaret Cho on a song called "Green Tea." This song playfully made fun of Asian stereotypes. Awkwafina also worked as a disc jockey (DJ) in New York bars. She was featured in the 2016 documentary Bad Rap. This film highlighted her and other Asian-American rappers.

She released a 7-song EP, In Fina We Trust, on June 8, 2018. This EP won an award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album.

Awkwafina with Ken Jeong in 2018

From 2015 to 2017, Awkwafina hosted a web talk show called Tawk. It was first on YouTube and then on Verizon's Go90. The show won an award and was nominated for another.

Acting Roles in Film and TV

In 2016, Awkwafina had a supporting role in the movie Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. She also voiced a character named Quail in the animated film Storks. In 2018, she starred in the indie comedy Dude. She played Rebecca, one of four best friends.

She was also a main cast member in Ocean's 8, an all-female spin-off of the Ocean's Trilogy movies. Then, she co-starred in Crazy Rich Asians. In this film, she played Goh Peik Lin, a friend of the main character, Rachel Chu. She also had a recurring role in the Hulu series Future Man in 2017.

Awkwafina hosted Saturday Night Live on October 6, 2018. She was the second East Asian-American woman to host the show. She has said that Lucy Liu hosting SNL inspired her.

In 2019, Awkwafina starred in The Farewell. She played Billi, a writer who visits her sick grandmother in China. The film was highly praised. Awkwafina won a Golden Globe Award for her role. This was a historic win for an actress of Asian descent.

That same year, she played Ming Fleetfoot in Jumanji: The Next Level, which was a big success. In July 2019, Awkwafina was cast as Katy in Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. This superhero film was released in 2021 and earned a lot of money. She won an award for her supporting role in Shang-Chi.

In August 2019, Disney announced that Awkwafina would voice Sisu the dragon in Raya and the Last Dragon. This animated film came out in 2021. Awkwafina made up a lot of her character's lines, which reminded people of Robin Williams' voice work in Aladdin.

Since 2020, Awkwafina has starred in the comedy series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens. She also helps write and produce the show. To promote the show, she recorded funny announcements for the 7 train in the New York City Subway. For example, she would say, "This is Hunters Point Avenue, a friendly reminder that seats are for people, not your bag."

In October 2023, National Geographic announced that Awkwafina would narrate their documentary series A Real Bug's Life.

Other Activities

Before becoming famous in entertainment, Awkwafina worked as an intern at newspapers in New York City. She also worked as an assistant for a publishing company. They fired her after finding her music videos online! Later, she worked at a vegan food store.

In 2015, she released a guidebook about New York City called Awkwafina's NYC. In 2019, she spoke at a food festival called EEEEEATSCON. There, she talked about growing up in Queens and her family's Cantonese restaurant.

Filmography

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Bad Rap	Herself	Documentary
	Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising	Christine
	Storks	Quail	Voice role
2018	Dude	Rebecca
	Ocean's 8	Constance
	Crazy Rich Asians	Goh Peik Lin
2019	The Farewell	Billi Wang
	Paradise Hills	Yu
	The Angry Birds Movie 2	Courtney	Voice role
	Between Two Ferns: The Movie	Herself
	Jumanji: The Next Level	Ming Fleetfoot
2020	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	Otto	Voice role
2021	Breaking News in Yuba County	Mina
Raya and the Last Dragon	Sisu	Voice role
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings	Katy
Swan Song	Kate
2022	The Bad Guys	Ms. Tarantula	Voice role
	The Bad Guys in Maraschino Ruby		Voice role; short film
2023	Renfield	Rebecca Quincy
	The Little Mermaid	Scuttle	Voice role
	Once Upon a Studio	Sisu	Voice role; short film; archival recordings
	Quiz Lady	Anne
	Migration	Chump	Voice role
2024	Migration: Fly Hard		Voice role; short film
	Kung Fu Panda 4	Zhen	Voice role
	Kung Fu Panda: Dueling Dumplings		Voice role; short film
	IF	Bubble IF	Voice role
	Jackpot!	Katie
2025	The Bad Guys in Little Lies and Alibis	Ms. Tarantula	Voice role; short film
	The Bad Guys 2		Voice role; in production
	Wildwood	Mrs. Evie McKeel
TBA	The Man with the Bag	0TBA	Filming

Television

Web

Discography

Awards and Recognitions

Awkwafina was named Kore Asian Media's Female Breakout of the Year in 2017. For her role in The Farewell, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. She also received the Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The Santa Barbara International Film Festival also gave her a Virtuoso Award.

She was nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture along with the other actors in The Farewell. Awkwafina was also nominated for the BAFTA Rising Star Award.

In 2023, she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for starring in and producing the TV movie Quiz Lady.

See Also

In Spanish: Awkwafina para niños

• Chinese people in New York City
• Koreans in New York City
• Asian Americans in arts and entertainment