Hong Chau
Birthdate: Jun 25, 1979
Birthplace: Thailand
In a mere eight years of feature film acting credits, Hong Chau has already collaborated with filmmakers Kelly Reichardt (Showing Up), Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice), Alexander Payne (Downsizing), Darren Aronofsky (The Whale), Mark Mylod and Adam McKay (The Menu), Miguel Arteta (Duck Butter) and Kenneth Branagh (Artemis Fowl).
Add to this an impressive roster of TV and streaming credits (most notably three lauded HBO series, Big Little Lies, with Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon; Treme, with Khandi Alexander, Wendell Pierce, and Melissa Leo; and Watchmen, with Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Jeremy Irons), and Chau can claim to have one of the great American refugee success stories of our time.
The child of Vietnamese “boat people” who became an in-demand actor by America’s top filmmakers, Chau has been part of a new wave of younger Asian actors in Hollywood at a time when Asian roles are finally if gradually, becoming possible.
Hong Chau’s feature debut was in Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, Inherent Vice (2014), with Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, and Owen Wilson. After a period of busy television work (including Treme and a lead in NBC’s sitcom A to Z), Chau landed her most eye-catching role as a Vietnamese political activist in Payne’s Downsizing (2017), with Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig, earning her several award nominations.
In 2018, Chau joined the cast of Arteta’s Duck Butter, including Alia Shawkat and Laia Costa, and then was cast in the acclaimed final film starring the late Brian Dennehy, Driveways (2019). In 2020, Chau did an uncredited voice performance in Branagh’s Artemis Fowl for a role that was ultimately deleted. In 2021, Chau enjoyed a wave of new castings, including with Reichardt on Showing Up with Michelle Williams, Aronofsky’s The Whale with Brendan Fraser and Samantha Morton, and opposite Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult in the Mark Mylod/Adam McKay production, The Menu.
Personal Details
Born in a Vietnamese refugee camp in Thailand, Hong Chau had parents who had been part of the “boat people” exodus from Vietnam and later arranged for sponsorship by a Vietnamese Catholic Church in New Orleans, where her family relocated. While her parents worked as laborers and experienced severe discrimination, Hong Chau and her two older brothers attended New Orleans public schools and graduated from Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts. Chau studied creative writing and then switched to film studies at Boston University. Chau planned a career track for documentary filmmaking and landed a job with PBS, but later moved to New York City to study acting. Chau is not married.
Awards
Nominee, Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globes Awards (2017); Winner, Robert Altman Award, Independent Spirit Awards (2014); Nominee, Best Female Lead, Independent Spirit Awards (2019); Nominee, Best Supporting Female Actor, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2017).
Robert Altman Award
Film Independent Spirit Awards
Critics Choice Award
Critics Choice Awards
Golden Globe
Golden Globes, USA
Filmography
actor
Upcoming (2)
Previous (8)
- 2024 | Kinds of KindnessasSarah
Kinds of Kindness
A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife's demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning, and a woman searches for an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual guide.
- 2023 | Showing Up
Showing Up
A sculptor preparing to open a new show tries to work amidst the daily dramas of family and friends.
- 2022 |
- 2022 |
- 2019 | Driveways
- 2019 |
- 2019 • 4 eps | Watchmenas Lady Trieu
- 2017 | DownsizingasNgoc Lan Tran
Downsizing
A social satire in which a man realizes he would have a better life if he were to shrink himself to five inches tall, allowing him to live in wealth and splendor.
Some Facts About Hong Chau
Controversy: Many Oscar prognosticators forecasted that Hong Chau would be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in Downsizing, but she wasn’t, prompting some observers to protest that the Oscars continued to ignore performances by Asian actors or actors of Asian descent.
