https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Awkwafina
Nora Lum[1] (Chinese: 林家珍; pinyin: Lín Jiāzhēn;[2] born June 2, 1988),[3] known professionally as Awkwafina, is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" went viral on YouTube. She then released her debut album, Yellow Ranger (2014), and appeared on the MTV show Girl Code. She later co-hosted Girl Code Live (2015) and a talk show, Tawk (2015 to 2017), and was featured in the documentary Bad Rap.
She has played supporting roles in the comedy films Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Her second album, In Fina We Trust, was released in 2018. She played a leading role in the comedy-drama The Farewell (2019), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, becoming the first woman of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe in any lead actress film category.[4] Awkwafina currently stars in Comedy Central's Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, which she writes and executive produces.
Early life
Lum was born in Stony Brook, New York, on Long Island,[5] to a Chinese American father, Wally, and a Korean American mother, Tia, a painter who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1972.[6][7][8][9][10][11] Lum grew up in Forest Hills, Queens. Her mother died from pulmonary hypertension when Lum was four, and she was raised by her father and paternal grandparents, becoming especially close to her paternal grandmother.[12][13] One of her paternal great-grandfathers was a Chinese immigrant in the 1940s who opened the Cantonese restaurant Lum's in Flushing, Queens,[10] one of the neighborhood's first Chinese restaurants.[12]
Lum attended LaGuardia High School, where she played the trumpet and was trained in classical music and jazz.[14][15] At age 16, she adopted the stage name Awkwafina, "definitely a person I repressed" and an alter ego to her "quiet and more passive" personality during her college years.[16][17][18] Lum majored in journalism and women's studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York.[15] From 2006 to 2008, Lum attended Beijing Language and Culture University in China, where she studied Mandarin.
Awkwafina states that Charles Bukowski, Anaïs Nin, Joan Didion, Tom Waits, and Chet Baker were early influences.[19] Prior to her career in entertainment, she was an intern at local New York publications Gotham Gazette and the Times Union newspaper in Albany, and was a publicity assistant for the publishing house Rodale Books.[17] She later worked at a vegan bodega after being let go from the publishing house when they discovered her music videos.[20]
Nora Lum[1] (Chinese: 林家珍; pinyin: Lín Jiāzhēn;[2] born June 2, 1988),[3] known professionally as Awkwafina, is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" went viral on YouTube. She then released her debut album, Yellow Ranger (2014), and appeared on the MTV show Girl Code. She later co-hosted Girl Code Live (2015) and a talk show, Tawk (2015 to 2017), and was featured in the documentary Bad Rap.
She has played supporting roles in the comedy films Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Her second album, In Fina We Trust, was released in 2018. She played a leading role in the comedy-drama The Farewell (2019), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, becoming the first woman of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe in any lead actress film category.[4] Awkwafina currently stars in Comedy Central's Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, which she writes and executive produces.
Early life
Lum was born in Stony Brook, New York, on Long Island,[5] to a Chinese American father, Wally, and a Korean American mother, Tia, a painter who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1972.[6][7][8][9][10][11] Lum grew up in Forest Hills, Queens. Her mother died from pulmonary hypertension when Lum was four, and she was raised by her father and paternal grandparents, becoming especially close to her paternal grandmother.[12][13] One of her paternal great-grandfathers was a Chinese immigrant in the 1940s who opened the Cantonese restaurant Lum's in Flushing, Queens,[10] one of the neighborhood's first Chinese restaurants.[12]
Lum attended LaGuardia High School, where she played the trumpet and was trained in classical music and jazz.[14][15] At age 16, she adopted the stage name Awkwafina, "definitely a person I repressed" and an alter ego to her "quiet and more passive" personality during her college years.[16][17][18] Lum majored in journalism and women's studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York.[15] From 2006 to 2008, Lum attended Beijing Language and Culture University in China, where she studied Mandarin.
Awkwafina states that Charles Bukowski, Anaïs Nin, Joan Didion, Tom Waits, and Chet Baker were early influences.[19] Prior to her career in entertainment, she was an intern at local New York publications Gotham Gazette and the Times Union newspaper in Albany, and was a publicity assistant for the publishing house Rodale Books.[17] She later worked at a vegan bodega after being let go from the publishing house when they discovered her music videos.[20]
| Born | Nora Lum June 2, 1988 (age 31) Stony Brook, New York, U.S. |
|---|---|
| Alma mater | University at Albany, SUNY |
| Occupation |
|
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Associated acts | Dumbfoundead |
| Website | awkwafina.com |
