Research in progress, Dec 14, 2021
Hong Chau (June 25, 1979) has received several nominations for her film roles as Ngoc Lan Tran in Downsizing (2017), and as Liz, a nurse, in The Whale (2022), including one for Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
Chau was born to Vietnamese parents who lived in refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing Vietnam in the late 1970s. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans, Louisiana sponsored Chau and her family to move to the US.
She grew up in New Orleans and majored in film studies at Boston University College of Communication before pursuing an acting career.
She appeared in the TV series Treme (2010–2013) and the film Inherent Vice (2014). She went on to have supporting roles in the television series Watchmen (2019) and Homecoming (2018–2020).
Chau has also played leading roles in the 2019 films Driveways and American Woman, and further supporting roles in the 2022 film The Menu and the 2023 series The Night Agent.
Before Hong Chau was born, her parents and her two brothers lived in Vietnam.
In 1979, the family was among the Vietnamese boat people who fled their country, and Chau’s mother was six months pregnant with her. During their escape, Chau’s father was shot and nearly bled to death.
Chau was born in a refugee camp in Thailand on June 25 that year. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States arranged for a local Vietnamese family to sponsor her family. Chau grew up speaking Vietnamese as her first language, and later learned English in school. Her family lived in government housing and used subsidized lunch programs.
Chau was raised in New Orleans East and attended Eleanor McMain Secondary School, Benjamin Franklin High School, and then Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts; the first two are in New Orleans and the latter, from which Chau graduated from, is in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Her parents worked as dishwashers then ran convenience store, to ensure their children attend college.
Chau said her parents, who speak in heavy Vietnamese accents, were shunned as Asian migrants. She said, “My whole life, I’ve always felt like I was the more acceptable of my parents, and they were always the people who had to stay in the background, or hide in the broom closet.”[8]
Receiving Pell Grants, Chau attended Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts,[6] where she initially studied creative writing. She changed her major to film studies when her parents requested that she study something more practical. She explored acting to challenge her introversion;[10] she acted in other students’ short films and was encouraged to pursue acting.[11] She graduated from Boston University College of Communication with her film-studies major in 2001.[12] After college, Chau got a job with PBS and anticipated a career in documentaries.[10] Chau started taking public speaking classes to overcome being introverted, which led to improv classes. When Chau met a sitcom TV director, he encouraged her to move to Los Angeles and to get in contact with him. Chau decided to move to LA and began seeking acting opportunities there.[13]
Breakthrough with Downsizing
Chau began acting in film and TV in 2006. In the early 2010s, she had guest roles on the CBS TV series NCIS and How I Met Your Mother.[16] One of her first major roles was in the HBO series Treme (2010–2013), which was set in New Orleans.[17] Her first feature film role was in the 2014 film Inherent Vice.[18] For two years after her role, she was not able to get an audition for another film role.[2] In 2015, she had a key role in the Off-Broadway play John;[2] she credited the experience for strengthening her acting. She also had a supporting role in the first season of the HBO series Big Little Lies in 2017.[19]
Chau appeared in a supporting role as Ngoc Lan Tran, a Vietnamese political activist, in Alexander Payne’s comedy-drama Downsizing (2017).[18] Her performance was described as a standout by several reviewers.[20][21] Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers described her performance as “nothing less than an acting triumph”, and took particular note of her “poignant scenes” with the film’s star Matt Damon.[22] She was nominated for several awards, including the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture.[23] Some commentators criticized her character as stereotypical because Chau spoke in broken English, but Chau defended her as “so multifaceted and complex and well-written”.[18]
2018–2020: Leading roles
In 2018, Hong Chau was one of 928 new members invited by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
She appeared in guest roles in several TV series, including BoJack Horseman and Forever.[25] She had a supporting role as a corporate secretary in the first season of the Amazon Prime Video series Homecoming.[26] The Ringer’s Alison Herman said another actor would have sought to accumulate more recurring roles on TV series. Herman said, “In the Peak TV Era, Chau opted for something much savvier: taking some choice guest parts in a few critically acclaimed TV shows … Chau benefits from these shows’ prestige; the shows benefit from her talents.”[25] In 2019, The Hollywood Reporter’s Rebecca Sun said since Downsizing, “Chau has appeared in a series of critically acclaimed projects.”[27]
Chau had her first lead in the Driveways and American Woman, both released at film festivals in 2019. For Driveways, Chau was familiar with director Andrew Ahn’s previous film Spa Night.
Also in 2019, Chau appeared in the HBO limited series Watchmen as the trillionaire Lady Trieu, whose performance The Hollywood Reporter’s TV critic Tim Goodman said was one of the series’ “exceptional, memorable performances”.
Following the 2020 video-on-demand release of Driveways, Rolling Stone’s Maria Fontoura wrote that Chau has a “cool tenacity” in her roles. Fontoura said, “Whether she’s playing a mysterious mogul, a secretive secretary, or a grieving single mother, the actress is steely, whip-smart, and deceptively powerful.”
In May 2020, Chau had a larger role in Homecoming’s second season, in which she moves from secretary to a person in charge in the series’s featured corporation. Entertainment Tonight’s Stacy Lambe said Chau “has become something of a scene stealer over the years”. Lambe said, “What’s notable about most of her projects is that they feature a diverse cast of actors of color who get to shine in unexpected ways,” highlighting Treme, Watchmen, and Homecoming.[31] While Chau had filmed a small part as Opal Koboi in the 2020 film Artemis Fowl, her appearance was ultimately cut.[32] Her character’s voice was used, but Chau was not officially credited. Her deleted scene became available on Disney+.[33]
Oscar nomination for The Whale
Chau spent most of 2020 in lockdown due to the COVID-19, giving birth to a daughter in November. In 2021, she participated in the filming of four films: The Whale, Showing Up, The Menu, and Asteroid City.
She was invited by its director Darren Aronofsky to audition for the role of Liz, a nurse, in The Whale.
For The Menu, Chau was a fan of the TV series Succession and wanted to work with director Mark Mylod, who had directed over a dozen episodes in the series. She also wanted to work with actor Ralph Fiennes.
Showing Up premiered in May 2022 at the 2022 Cannes Film Fest, while in September 2022, The Whale premiered at the 79th Venice International Film Festival, and The Menu premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.[38] Both The Whale and The Menu had commercial releases in theaters later in 2022.[39] Matthew Creith of Out Front wrote, “The highlight of The Whale comes from an outstanding turn from Hong Chau, who gives a memorable performance in a vital role”.[40] For her performance, Chau was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.[41] Chau has said that she gives directors “a wide range of line readings and reactions each time they call ‘action'”. A journalist for Variety wrote, “It’s resulted in a string of performances of remarkable versatility, star turns.”[42]
Chau appeared as a guest star in an episode of the Peacock TV series Poker Face, entitled “The Night Shift” which premiered in January 2023.[44] In March, Chau starred as Diane Farr, the White House chief of staff, in the Netflix thriller series The Night Agent.[45][46] Chau was familiar with series creator Shawn Ryan’s work with the series The Shield and Terriers and accepted the opportunity to work with Ryan and to have a role in a political thriller that would be new genre territory for her.[47] Variety’s critic Daniel D’Addario opined that her “excellent” performance had elevated the series.[48] The Night Agent had strong viewership on the platform.[49]
Asteroid City will premiere at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in May and will be released in theaters in the following June.[50] Its director Wes Anderson saw Chau in a play about five years prior and remembered her performance and sought an opportunity to cast her.[51] She will also appear in the films And and The Instigators.[52][53]
Film
2014 Inherent Vice Jade
2017 Downsizing Ngoc Lan Tran
2018 Duck Butter Glow
2019 Driveways Kathy
American Woman Jenny Shimada
2020 Artemis Fowl Opal Koboil Uncredited voice role; deleted scene
2022 Showing Up, Jo Tran
The Whale, Liz
The Menu, Elsa
2023 Asteroid City
