Bowen Yang

Bowen Yang (; born November 6, 1990) is an Australian-born American actor, comedian, writer, and podcaster based in New York City. Yang was hired to join the writing staff of the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live in September 2018, ahead of its 44th season, and a year later, in September 2019, he was promoted to on-air cast status for SNL's 45th season as a featured player alongside Chloe Fineman, becoming its first Chinese-American, first Australian-American, third openly gay male, and fourth-ever cast member of Asian descent. He made history becoming the first SNL featured player to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 2021. He was promoted to repertory status before the 47th season. He co-hosts a comedy pop-culture podcast, Las Culturistas, with Matt Rogers. Yang has appeared in the television series Girls5Eva, Ziwe, and The Other Two, and is a cast member on Awkwafina is Nora from Queens. He is also known for his appearances in the LGBTQ romantic comedies Fire Island and Bros, both released in 2022. Early life and education Yang was born in Brisbane, Queensland, to a family that had emigrated from China in the 1980s. 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. Ruilin's parents were illiterate, but he read books for hours by candlelight and eventually got into university. Yang's mother is an obstetrician-gynaecologist. The couple moved to Brisbane so Ruilin could earn his doctorate in mining explosives. Yang has an older sister, Yang Yang. The children spoke Mandarin in their home, and attended Chinese Sunday school. When Yang was six months old, the family moved to Canada and eventually settled in Montreal, where Bowen first discovered Saturday Night Live (SNL). When he was nine, they moved again to Aurora, Colorado. As a child, he was drawn to late-night comedians and hosts David Letterman and Conan O'Brien. Yang is allergic to almonds (but no other tree nuts).