Birthdate: Nov 10, 1989
Birthplace: Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
Sherry Cola (birthname: Xuě Lìkělā) is a talented actor and comic who has made her mark on three streaming and cable comedy shows (I Love Dick in 2017, Claws in 2018-2019, and Good Trouble in 2019-present) while building her reputation for colorful characters in feature movies, most of which have notably been directed by Asian women.
Indie filmmaker Drake Doremus cast Cola in her debut feature role in his drama, Endings, Beginnings (2019), starring Shailene Woodley, Jamie Dornan, and Sebastian Stan, premiering at the Toronto film festival and distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films. Cola’s next big-screen role was in pop singer Sia’s only movie as director-writer-producer, the commercially disastrous music, Music (2021), starring Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., and Maddie Ziegler, earning a little over $600,000 on a $16 million budget.
Cola had a minor voice role in Disney/Pixar’s first animated movie directed by a woman (Domee Shi, who also co-wrote) and first focused on Chinese-Canadian characters, Turning Red (2022), starring the voices of Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, and James Hong, but failing at the box office ($20 million return on a $175 million budget), though nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar.
Cola’s first starring role was in director-producer Randall Park’s well-reviewed comedy-drama adaptation of Adrian Tomine’s graphic novel, Shortcomings (2023), with Justin H. Min and Ally Maki, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Sony Pictures Classics. Cola earned more accolades for her comical co-starring role in the raucous comedy, Joy Ride (2023), directed/co-written/co-produced by Adele Lim, and co-starring Ashley Park, Stephanie Hsu, and Sabrina Wu.
Cola’s second voice performance in an animated feature was in Nickelodeon Movies’ fantasy adventure, The Tiger’s Apprentice (2024), co-starring Michelle Yeoh, Leah Lewis, Sandra Oh, Henry Golding, Bowen Yang, and Patrick Gallagher, and co-directed by Raman Hui, Yong Duk Jhun, and Paul Watling. Writer-director Jennifer Cram then cast Cola in a co-lead role in the female-led comedy, Sick Girl (date to be announced), with Nina Dobrev, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Stephanie Koenig.
Sherry Cola was born and raised in her early years in Shanghai, China. Her family emigrated to the United States when Cola was four years old, settling in Temple City, California, on the east side of Los Angeles. Her family owned and managed a restaurant in the nearby community of San Gabriel. Cola was a student at California State University at Fullerton and finally graduated after seven years, having worked on the CSUF radio station. After graduation, Cola was a radio personality on Los Angeles-based 97.1 FM. Cola identifies as bisexual.
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AKA: Sherry Cola’s first comical show business name was, as recently as 2019, Sherriña Colada.
Pride: Openly bisexual, Cola has served as Grand Marshal of the 2022 edition of the San Francisco Pride Parade.