Jimmy O. Yang

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In this Chinese name, the family name is Au-yeung.
Jimmy O. Yang
歐陽萬成
Jimmy O. Yang.png
Yang in 2018
Born
Au-yeung Man-Sing

(1987-06-11) June 11, 1987 (age 34)
British Hong Kong
Other namesJimmy Ouyang, Jimmy O'Yang
Alma materUniversity of California, San Diego
OccupationActor, stand-up comedian
Years active2008–present
Parent(s)
  • Richard Ouyang (father)
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese歐陽萬成
Simplified Chinese欧阳万成
Websitejimmycomedy.com

Jimmy O. Yang (Chinese: 歐陽萬成; born June 11, 1987) is a Hong Kong-American actor, stand-up comedian, and writer best known for starring as Jian-Yang in the HBO comedy series Silicon Valley.[1][2]

Early life and education[]

Yang was born Au-yeung Man-Sing in Hong Kong during British rule. His parents were both originally from Shanghai and later moved to Hong Kong.[3] In 2000, when Yang was thirteen years old, his family immigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, California.[4][5][6][7] His aunt and grandmother were already living in the United States and his parents joined them primarily to allow Yang and his brother, Roy, access to better schools and education.[5] When he arrived, he enrolled at John Burroughs Middle School for the eighth grade.[7] He later attended Beverly Hills High School.[6]

Yang graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a degree in economics in 2009.[5] The commencement speaker at his college graduation was his future Silicon Valley showrunner and fellow UCSD alumnus Mike Judge.[7]

Career[]

Yang did his first stand-up set at 21 years old as "Lowball Jim" at the Ha Ha Comedy Club in North Hollywood, Los Angeles.[7]

After graduation, Yang interned at the financial consulting firm Smith Barney in Beverly Hills, California, but he found it unfulfilling and turned down their return offer.[6][7] Instead, he returned to San Diego to finish his graduation requirements. He stayed in the city afterward, where he sold used cars, DJ'ed at a strip club, and seated customers at a comedy club to support himself financially while doing stand-up sets for free at The Comedy Palace.[7] There, he met his mentor, Sean Kelly, a stand-up comedian who ran the venue and later went on to create the reality show Storage Hunters.[8][7]

When he moved back to Los Angeles, he signed up for Central Casting, due to their low barrier of entry, and various casting websites. He was spurred to consider acting when a friend told him that there was money to be made in residual checks from commercials. In the interim, he did stand-up sets around Southern California and signed up for acting classes. Yang eventually found acting representation through Vesta Talent Agency.[7]

Yang made his television debut on the CBS series 2 Broke Girls in 2012 and his first late night stand-up appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show in 2014.[7] In season 9 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, he played the character Tang-See. Yang also appeared in an episode of Criminal Minds as Nathan Chow, a high-school student who suffered a psychotic break. He was once a writer/consultant for the Harlem Globetrotters,[9] and voiced roles in the video game Infamous Second Son.[10]

Yang initially began as a guest star on Silicon Valley making scale, then $900 per episode. He appeared in three episodes and spent the money on a Prius so he could drive for Uber to earn money between the first and second season of the show. For the second season, he was promoted to series regular.[11] Prior to the announcement, he had landed a series regular role on the Yahoo! Screen original television show Sin City Saints, but turned down the opportunity because it would have required him to quit Silicon Valley.[7] The series ran from 2014 to 2019.

Yang's first dramatic role was as Dun "Danny" Meng, a Chinese immigrant who was carjacked by the Tsarnaev brothers in the 2016 action drama Patriots Day.[12]

In 2018, he played Bernard Tai in the romantic comedy film Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu.[13]

On September 26, 2019, it was announced that Yang was cast as Dr. Chan Kaifang in the Netflix comedy series Space Force.[14]

In 2020, he starred opposite Ryan Hansen in two films, Like a Boss and Fantasy Island, released a month apart. In the former film, their characters were business partners, and in the latter, they were step-siblings who were strongly fond of each other.

His comedy special Good Deal was released on Amazon Prime Video on May 8, 2020.[15] He stars opposite Nina Dobrev in Netflix's Love Hard, his first romantic film.[16]

How to American[]

Yang is also the author of How to American: An Immigrant's Guide to Disappointing Your Parents, a book in which "he shares his story of growing up as a Chinese immigrant who pursued a Hollywood career against the wishes of his parents."[17] Mike Judge wrote the book's foreword.[18]

Yang has also continued stand-up comedy, in 2018 going on a tour titled after the book.[19]

Personal life[]

Along with English, Yang speaks Shanghainese, Cantonese, and Mandarin Chinese.[7] His parents emigrated from Shanghai, China to Hong Kong.[7]

Yang's father, Richard Ouyang, later signed with the same talent agency as his son and he has since appeared in several films, including playing his son's character's father in Patriots Day.[6]

Yang became an American citizen in 2015.[7]

Filmography[]

Television[]

Year Title Role Notes
2012 2 Broke Girls Person in Line Episode: "And the Secret Ingredient"
2013 Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Chinese Teenager #1 Episode: "Girl in the Flower Dress"
2013 It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Tang-See Episode: "Flowers for Charlie"
2014 Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight Phil Recurring
New Girl Steve Episode: "Dice"
Criminal Minds Nathan Chow Episode: "Burn"
2014–2019 Silicon Valley Jian-Yang Recurring role (season 1); main role (seasons 2–6)
2015 Battle Creek Chang Episode: "Mama's Boy"
2016 Those Who Can't James Chen Guest, 3 episodes
Broken Donny Guest, 3 episodes
American Dad! Hisashi (voice) Episode: "The Enlightenment of Ragi-Baba"
2018 Another Period Eng Bunker Episode: "Lucky Chang's"
The Simpsons Sun Tzu (voice) Episode: "No Good Read Goes Unpunished"
Drunk History Genghis Khan 2 episodes
Fresh Off the Boat Horace 3 episodes
2020 Space Force Doctor Chan Kaifang Recurring role
Good Deal Himself Standup Comedy Special
We Bare Bears: The Movie Joey Raccoon (voice) TV Movie

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes
2013 The Internship Wa Zao Uncredited
2016 Patriots Day Dun Meng
2017 El Camino Christmas Mike the Cameraman
2018 Juliet, Naked Elliot Uncredited
Life of the Party Tyler
Crazy Rich Asians Bernard Tai [20]
The Happytime Murders Officer Delancey
2019 The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part[21] Zebe Voice
2020 Like a Boss Ron
Fantasy Island Brax "Tattoo" Weaver
The Opening Act Will Chu
2021 Wish Dragon Short Goon (voice)
Love Hard Josh Lin Post-production
TBA Me Time Announced

Video games[]

Year Title Role Notes
2014 Infamous Second Son Male Pedestrian #5 Voice

References[]

  1. ^ "'Silicon Valley' Promotes Jimmy O. Yang to Series Regular (Exclusive) - Hollywood Reporter". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 2014-10-23.
  2. ^ "Talking With Jian Yang, The Greatest Prank Caller In 'Silicon Valley'". UPROXX. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  3. ^ Friedrich, Adam (24 April 2018). "From Hong Kong To LA — Jimmy O. Yang's Journey To The American Dream". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  4. ^ Jimmy O. Yang (Comedian, HBO Silicon Valley) - Fun With Dumb - Ep. 1, retrieved 2020-01-10
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Jimmy O. Yang". Texas Travesty. Archived from the original on 17 April 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Sanders, Sam (May 8, 2018). "Jimmy O. Yang on 'Silicon Valley' and 'How To American'". NPR. Retrieved 7 July 2019.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m Yang, Jimmy O. (2018-03-13). How to American: An Immigrant's Guide to Disappointing Your Parents. Hachette Books. ISBN 978-0-306-90350-2.
  8. ^ "Jimmy O. Yang Drove for Uber to Survive During 'Silicon Valley' Season 1". NextShark. 2018-08-15. Retrieved 2020-01-13.
  9. ^ "Jimmy Ouyang | San Francisco Comedy Competition". Archived from the original on 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  10. ^ Sucker Punch Productions. Infamous: Second Son. Sony Computer Entertainment. Scene: Credits, 3:43 in, Additional Voice Talent.
  11. ^ "'Silicon Valley' Promotes Jimmy O. Yang to Series Regular (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  12. ^ "Silicon Valley's Jimmy O. Yang is Abraham Lincoln's wingman". The A.V. Club. 15 December 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  13. ^ Yamato, Jen (August 10, 2018). "'Crazy Rich Asians': Jimmy O. Yang moves beyond 'Silicon Valley'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  14. ^ Porter, Rick (September 26, 2019). "John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz Join Steve Carell in Netflix's 'Space Force'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 26, 2019.
  15. ^ Clifford, Katey (May 8, 2020). "'Jimmy O Yang: Good Deal' | Catch the 'Silicon Valley' star's stand-up comedy special on Amazon Prime Video". The Patriot-News. Retrieved 2020-05-10.
  16. ^ "'Love Hard': Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang, Charles Melton Star in Netflix's Dating App Romantic-Comedy". /Film. 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2020-10-14.
  17. ^ "How to American". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  18. ^ "Jimmy O. Yang talks Silicon Valley, Mike Judge and his book". CNET. 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  19. ^ "Jimmy O. Yang brings 'How to American' to S.F." SFGate. Retrieved 2018-06-09.
  20. ^ "Crazy Rich Asian (2018)". IMDb. Retrieved January 28, 2019.
  21. ^ https://twitter.com/FunnyAsianDude/status/1086428704689946624[dead link]

External links[]

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