Bowen Yang

Yang was born in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, to a family that had emigrated from China in 1986. His father, Ruilin, was raised in a rural part of the Inner Mongolia region of mainland China, growing up in a straw and mud hut. When Yang was six months old, the family moved to Canada and eventually settled in Brossard, Quebec, where Yang first discovered Saturday Night Live (SNL). As a child, he was drawn to late-night comedians and hosts David Letterman and Conan O'Brien. At Smoky Hill High School, Yang's calculus teacher, Adrian Holguin, was also his coach for the school's improvisational comedy group, Spontaneous Combustion. He was named homecoming king and also voted "Most Likely to Be a Cast Member on Saturday Night Live". Yang graduated in 2008. When he was seventeen, Yang's father found out his son was gay from an "open chat window" on the family's computer. Yang's father cried often over the revelation and, being non-religious but wanting to "solve problems", arranged for him to attend eight sessions of gay conversion therapy. He came to accept being gay, incorporating it into his comedy, and hoped his parents would learn to accept that aspect of him. Yang was inspired by Sandra Oh's character Cristina Yang on ''Grey's Anatomy'' for her neurotic and relentless pursuits, and aspired to be a doctor. He went to pre-med classes and graduated from NYU with a bachelor's degree in chemistry. After realizing he was actually inspired by Oh for her acting ability, he decided to pursue a career in comedy instead. At NYU, he met Matt Rogers, with whom he started Las Culturistas, a weekly comedy podcast where Yang "unapologetically expresses his personality, story and himself by sharing his experiences as a member of the LGBTQ community". == Career ==

Early career Yang taught himself Adobe Photoshop and graphic design software and later worked at One Kings Lane, a luxury interior and home design website, from 2013 to 2018 as a graphic designer. The company was flexible with Yang's time-off needs for comedy. During this time, Yang designed graphics for his own shows and for his friends' comedy shows. The podcast premiered in 2016 and , has over 300 episodes. Yang appeared in shows such as Comedy Central's Broad City, a Vimeo web series The Outs, and the HBO web comedy High Maintenance. He was a supporting cast member in the 2019 film ''Isn't It Romantic''. Yang performed stand-up on HBO's 2 Dope Queens. In 2019, Yang received press coverage for his viral Twitter posts consisting of "expertly-timed lip-sync videos of famous movie scenes", in which he "reproduces dialogue from diva scenes" and well-known moments in popular culture. Past videos featured a monologue by Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, Tyra Banks yelling at contestant Tiffany Richardson on ''America's Next Top Model'', and a viral video of Cardi B talking about the 2019 government shutdown. Saturday Night Live Staff writer: 2018 In 2018, Yang was hired as a staff writer on Saturday Night Live for the show's 44th season. His writing included: "GP Yass", a play on a vehicle's GPS navigation device that utilizes drag queens to deliver driving directions; and two sketches co-written with Julio Torres, which features Yang's talent for infusing "drama, tension, and exquisite backstory" into an everyday activity like paying bills in "Cheques" with Sandra Oh, and an actress doing a cameo in a gay pornography film, "The Actress" with Emma Stone. "The Actress" was hailed by Out as the "gayest SNL sketch of all time", and featured Stone as an earnest method actress taking her role as a cheated-on housewife too seriously alongside real-life gay porn actor Ty Mitchell. The pre-tape—so-called as it is filmed days ahead rather than acted live—was championed by Stone to be included on air. On-air cast: 2019–2025 In September 2019, Yang was promoted to featured player for the 45th season, alongside improviser Chloe Fineman, both of whom were promoted to repertory status at the start of the show's 47th season in September 2021. SNL has had "little representation from Asian actors, as cast members or hosts" over several decades. A 2016 study of SNL revealed that 90% of 1975–2016's show hosts (826 total) were white, 6.8% were black, 1.2% were Hispanic, and 1.1% were labelled "other". Similarly, SNL has had comparatively low representation of LGBTQ on-air cast and guest hosts since the series started in 1975. Yang is the third gay male, and sixth LGBTQ cast member. The announcement of Yang's casting on Saturday Night Live was reported internationally, and within hours was overshadowed by revelations that comedian Shane Gillis, who had been hired at the same time, aired homophobic and anti-Asian jokes. Gillis issued an apology, but within days was fired by SNL. Notably he was included in the show's cold open playing Kim Jong-un giving advice to Trump on handling the Ukraine controversy including the whistleblower who helped trigger the 2019 impeachment hearings. Perhaps his "filthiest" sketch, also co-written with friend Julio Torres, was for guest host Harry Styles as an incompetent Sara Lee Corporation social media manager who mixes up his own gay BDSM account on Instagram with the company's "wholesome bread brand". The same year, Yang was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He is the first featured player to ever be nominated. He also played NBA hall-of-famer Yao Ming in January 2022. Yang also played embattled Congressman George Santos in multiple sketches in which he received critical praise. In 2021, Yang was applauded for speaking out on the recent surge in violence against Asian-Americans during a Weekend Update segment. He told audiences to "fuel up" (using the Chinese cheer Jiayou) and do more for Asian Americans. Also in 2021, he appeared on the Time 100, Times annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Yang departed the SNL cast in the show's 51st season, Other work Yang plays Nora Lin's mobile app-developer cousin in the Comedy Central sitcom Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, which premiered in January 2020 and was renewed for a third season in 2022. Yang is a writer on the Apple TV+ musical comedy series Schmigadoon!, which stars his former SNL castmate Cecily Strong. In September 2021, he appeared as a guest on the NPR news quiz ''Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! In 2022 he starred in Fire Island, written by and co-starring his close friend Joel Kim Booster, whom he met at the beginning of his comedy career. He appeared in the 2022 film Bros and is part of the cast of Dicks: The Musical with Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp, and Megan Thee Stallion. Yang appears as Pfannee in the first part, released in 2024, of the two-part film adaptation of the musical Wicked''. Yang is a signatory of the Film Workers for Palestine boycott pledge, which was published in September 2025. == Filmography ==

Film Television Writer ==Accolades==

In 2025, he became the most-nominated Asian male performer in Emmy history with his fourth nomination for NBC's Saturday Night Live. Only Sandra Oh has more Emmy nominations among Asian performers. • 2019 – Forbes 30 Under 30 Hollywood & Entertainment list • 2020 – Human Rights Campaign Visibility Award • 2021 – People Sexiest Man Alive • 2021 – Variety Power of Pride list • 2025 – Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Vantage Award == See also ==