Biography
Ali Wong was an American actor, writer and comedian who broke out in 2016 with the release of her highly-acclaimed Netflix comedy special "Baby Cobra" (Netflix, 2016). Born and raised in the Pacific Heights of San Francisco, Wong never intended on becoming a comedian. A gifted student, she excelled in the classroom and dreamt of becoming an academic. When it came time to enter college, Wong enrolled at UCLA, where she majored in Asian American studies. While attending the school, however, she start acting on stage with an L.A.-based theater company, and with that, her love of performing was born. Wong quickly dropped her ambitions to become an academic, and despite graduating summa cum laude from UCLA, she moved to New York City after graduation to pursue a career in standup comedy. She started working some of New York's most time honored clubs, like the Comedy Cellar, and within a few years had been voted by Variety Magazine as one of "10 Comics to Watch." After her profile in Variety, Wong began booking appearance on all the late night shows, including "The Tonight Show" (NBC, 1954- ) and "Chelsea Lately" (E!, 2007-2014). With her comedy career on the rise, by the early 2010s Wong was also landing recurring acting roles on TV shows like "Are You There, Chelsea?" (NBC, 2012), "Inside Amy Schumer" (Comedy Central, 2013- ), and "Black Box" (ABC, 2014). Then in 2016 Wong got her big break when her first major comedy special "Baby Cobra" premiered on Netflix. The special was critically-acclaimed and was noted for featuring Wong when she was 7-months pregnant. In addition to her accelerating standup career, Wong was also working as a writer on the ABC sitcom "Fresh off the Boat" (ABC, 2014- ), while continuing to perform standup in her free time. In addition to the premiere of her widely-popular Netflix special, 2016 was also the year Wong joined the cast of the ABC sitcom "American Housewife" (ABC, 2016- ). The series debuted on the network in October of that year, with Wong appearing in the cast as a series regular.
