Hong Chau facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hong Chau
Chau in 2018
Born	Hồng Châu (1979-06-25) June 25, 1979 (age 45) Thailand
Citizenship	American
Education	Boston University College of Communication (BA, 2001)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2006–present
Children	1

Hong Chau (born June 25, 1979) is an American actress. She is known for her amazing acting in movies and TV shows. She has been nominated for many awards. Some of her famous roles include Ngoc Lan Tran in Downsizing (2017) and Liz, a nurse, in The Whale (2022). For The Whale, she was even nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Hong Chau's parents were from Vietnam. They had to leave their home in the late 1970s and lived in a refugee camp in Thailand. Hong was born there. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans helped her family move to the United States. She grew up in New Orleans and later studied film at Boston University College of Communication. After college, she decided to become an actress.

She has appeared in popular TV shows like Treme (2010–2013) and Watchmen (2019). She also had roles in movies such as Inherent Vice (2014), Driveways (2019), and The Menu (2022). In 2023, she starred in the Netflix series The Night Agent.

About Hong Chau's Early Life

Hong Chau's parents and two older brothers lived in Vietnam before she was born. In 1979, her family had to leave Vietnam. They were among the many people known as "Vietnamese boat people". Hong's mother was six months pregnant with her at the time. During their escape, Hong's father was shot and almost died.

Hong was born in a refugee camp in Thailand on June 25, 1979. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans, Louisiana, helped her family move to the United States. They found a local Vietnamese family to support them. Hong grew up speaking Vietnamese first, and then learned English in school. Her family lived in government housing and used programs that helped with school lunches.

She grew up in New Orleans East. She went to Eleanor McMain Secondary School, Benjamin Franklin High School, and then the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts. Her parents worked very hard, first as dishwashers and then running a convenience store. They wanted to make sure their children could go to college. Hong shared that her parents, who spoke English with strong Vietnamese accents, sometimes felt left out because they were Asian immigrants.

Hong Chau received Pell Grants, which are special grants to help students pay for college. She went to Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. At first, she studied creative writing. Her parents wanted her to study something more practical, so she changed her major to film studies. She started acting in short films made by other students to help her overcome being shy. People encouraged her to keep acting. She graduated from Boston University College of Communication in 2001 with her film studies degree.

After college, Hong worked for PBS and thought about a career in documentaries. To become less shy, she took public speaking classes, which led to improv classes. She met a TV director who told her to move to Los Angeles. Hong decided to move and started looking for acting jobs there.

As of May 2020, she had a dog, a mix of Rottweiler and Australian Shepherd. In November 2020, Hong gave birth to a daughter. She and her husband, who grew up in New Hampshire, met in Boston.

Hong Chau's Acting Career

Starting Out and Downsizing (2006–2017)

Hong Chau in 2016

Hong Chau began acting in movies and TV shows in 2006. In the early 2010s, she had small roles on TV shows like NCIS and How I Met Your Mother. One of her first big roles was in the HBO series Treme (2010–2013), which was set in New Orleans. Her first movie role was in Inherent Vice in 2014. After that movie, she found it hard to get auditions for two years.

In 2015, she had an important role in an Off-Broadway play called John. She said this experience helped her become a stronger actress. In 2017, she also had a supporting role in the first season of the HBO series Big Little Lies.

Hong Chau gained a lot of attention for her role as Ngoc Lan Tran in the movie Downsizing (2017). She played a Vietnamese political activist. Many critics praised her performance. A writer for Rolling Stone called her acting "nothing less than an acting triumph." They especially noted her touching scenes with the movie's main actor, Matt Damon. She was nominated for several awards, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. Some people thought her character was stereotypical because she spoke broken English. However, Hong Chau defended the role, saying the character was "so multifaceted and complex and well-written."

Main Roles and Recognition (2018–2020)

After Downsizing, Hong Chau was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018. This is the group that gives out the Oscars. She had guest roles in TV shows like BoJack Horseman and Forever. She also had a supporting role in the first season of the Amazon Prime Video series Homecoming.

In 2019, Hong Chau took on her first main roles in the movies Driveways and American Woman. Both movies were shown at film festivals that year. She also appeared in the HBO series Watchmen as Lady Trieu, a very rich character. A TV critic for The Hollywood Reporter said her performance was "exceptional" and "memorable". After Driveways was released for people to watch at home in 2020, a writer for Rolling Stone said Hong Chau has a "cool tenacity" in her roles. They added that she is "steely, whip-smart, and deceptively powerful."

In May 2020, Hong Chau had a bigger role in the second season of Homecoming. Her character moved from being a secretary to a person in charge at the company. Entertainment Tonight said Hong Chau "has become something of a scene stealer over the years." They also noted that many of her projects feature diverse actors who get to shine in unique ways. Hong Chau had filmed a small part in the 2020 movie Artemis Fowl, but her scene was cut from the final movie. Her character's voice was used, but she was not officially credited. Her deleted scene can be found on Disney+.

Oscar Nomination for The Whale (2021–Present)

Hong Chau at a panel for The Whale in 2022

Hong Chau spent most of 2020 at home during the COVID-19 pandemic. She gave birth to her daughter in November of that year. In 2021, she filmed four movies: The Whale, Showing Up, The Menu, and Asteroid City.

For the drama The Whale, director Darren Aronofsky asked her to audition for the role of Liz, a nurse. For The Menu, Hong Chau was a fan of the TV series Succession and wanted to work with its director, Mark Mylod. She also wanted to work with actor Ralph Fiennes.

Showing Up premiered in May 2022 at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. In September 2022, The Whale premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, and The Menu premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Both The Whale and The Menu were released in movie theaters later in 2022. Many critics praised her performance in The Whale. For this role, Hong Chau was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hong Chau has mentioned that she gives directors many different ways of saying lines and reacting. A journalist for Variety said this has led to her giving "a string of performances of remarkable versatility."

In January 2023, Hong Chau appeared as a guest star in an episode of the Peacock TV series Poker Face. In March, she starred as Diane Farr, the White House chief of staff, in the Netflix thriller series The Night Agent. Hong Chau knew the work of the series creator, Shawn Ryan, and was excited to work with him. She also liked the idea of being in a political thriller, which was a new type of role for her. A critic for Variety said her "excellent" performance made the series even better. The Night Agent was very popular on Netflix.

Hong Chau had a single scene in Wes Anderson's movie Asteroid City, which premiered in 2023. Anderson had seen her in a play five years earlier and remembered her acting. She was also part of another group of actors in Yorgos Lanthimos's movie Kinds of Kindness, which premiered in 2024. Lanthimos cast her to play three different characters in it because he was impressed with her acting range in Showing Up. Hong Chau will also appear in the action thriller movie The Instigators (2024).

Film Roles

Television Roles

Theatre Roles

Awards and Nominations

Hong Chau has been recognized for her acting with many awards and nominations. For her supporting role in the 2017 film Downsizing, she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. Many people thought she would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress that year, but she wasn't.

Later, for her supporting role in the 2022 film The Whale, she received her first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She was also nominated for other important awards, including the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and another Screen Actors Guild Award.

Images for kids

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  Chau in 2018

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  Chau in 2016

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  Chau at a panel for The Whale in 2022

See also

• Asian Americans in arts and entertainment
• List of Academy Award winners and nominees of Asian descent