Lauren Tom facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lauren Tom
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Tom at Animate! Raleigh in 2025
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| Born | August 4, 1961 Highland Park, Illinois, U.S.
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| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Spouse(s) | Glenn Lau-Kee (divorced) Curt Kaplan
(m. 1999) |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Tom Y. Chan (grandfather) Ping Tom (uncle) |
Lauren Tom, born on August 4, 1961, is an American actress. She started her acting journey on stage, where she even won a special award called an Obie Award. Many people first recognized her from the 1993 movie The Joy Luck Club.
On television, you might know her from popular shows like Friends (1995–96) on NBC, Grace Under Fire (1997–98) and Men in Trees (2006–08) on ABC. She also appeared in Supernatural (2012–14) and the Disney Channel series Andi Mack (2017–19).
Lauren Tom is also famous for her voice acting in many animated shows. She voices Amy Wong in Futurama, Dana Tan in Batman Beyond, and both Jinx and Gizmo in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!. She also voiced Minh and Connie Souphanousinphone in King of the Hill, Numbuh 3 in Codename: Kids Next Door, and Mrs. Maybank and Dr. Jamanpour in Hamster and Gretel.
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Early Life and Family
Lauren Tom was born in Highland Park, Illinois, which is a suburb of Chicago. Her birthday is August 4, 1961. Her parents were Nancy and Chan Tom Jr. She also has a brother named Chip.
Her parents were born in Chicago, but their grandparents came from a place called Kaiping in China. Lauren grew up in a neighborhood that had a lot of Jewish families.
Acting Career Highlights
Lauren Tom has had a long and exciting career in acting, both on stage and screen.
Stage Acting
When Lauren was just 17, she joined a traveling group performing the musical A Chorus Line. Less than a year later, she was cast in the Broadway version of the show, playing the role of Connie. She won an Obie Award for her acting in Off-Broadway plays. She also performed in other Broadway shows like Hurlyburly and Doonesbury.
Movie Roles
Lauren Tom has appeared in several movies. She had supporting roles in films like Wall Street and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. Her small role as a waitress in the movie Cadillac Man even led to her being a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
She played a main role in the 1993 movie The Joy Luck Club, which was a very important film for her career. After that, she continued to get supporting roles in movies such as When a Man Loves a Woman and North.
Since the mid-1990s, Lauren has mostly focused on voice acting. However, she has still appeared in some live-action movies, including the comedy Bad Santa (2003) and In Good Company (2004).
Television Appearances
Lauren Tom's first TV role was Miko Wakamatsu in The Facts of Life. She has appeared in many other TV shows over the years, including Friends as Julie, Grace Under Fire, The Nanny, and The Middle. She also had a recurring role in Supernatural as Linda Tran, the mother of a character named Kevin Tran. In 2018, she was in the second season of the Amazon Prime show Goliath.
Voice Acting Roles
Lauren Tom started her voice acting career in the animated series Superman: The Animated Series, where she played Angela Chen. She then voiced Dana Tan in Batman Beyond. She also had roles in Pinky and the Brain and Extreme Ghostbusters.
She became a regular voice actor on King of the Hill, voicing Minh and Connie Souphanousinphone. Later, she joined Futurama as the voice of Amy and Inez Wong.
Lauren has also lent her voice to many other animated shows, including All Grown Up!, Rocket Power, Samurai Jack, Johnny Bravo, Justice League Unlimited, and Kim Possible.
She voiced the villains Gizmo and Jinx in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!. She was also Yan Lin in W.I.T.C.H. and Joo Dee in Avatar: The Last Airbender. In 2010, she voiced characters like Song and Bai Li in Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness.
Lauren Tom has also voiced characters in animated movies such as Mulan II, Kung Fu Panda 2, and the four Futurama movies: Bender's Big Score, The Beast with a Billion Backs, Bender's Game, and Into the Wild Green Yonder.
She voiced Li Li Stormstout in the video game World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria.
Personal Life
Lauren Tom was previously married to Glenn Lau-Kee. She later married actor Curt Kaplan in October 1999. They have two sons together.
Images for kids
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Tom in 2009
See also
In Spanish: Lauren Tom para niños
