Awkwafina American comedian, actress, and rapper
Awkwafina (born June 2, 1988, Stony Brook, New York, U.S.) is an American comedian, actress, and rapper known for her low raspy voice, explicit comedy raps, and quick delivery of comedic one-liners. After she posted her rap song “My Vag” on YouTube in 2012, her fame steadily rose, and she soon landed parts in such movies as Ocean’s Eight (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and The Farewell (2019).
Early life and education
Nora Lum was born to a Chinese American father, Wally, and South Korean mother, Tia. When Lum was four years old, her mother died of pulmonary hypertension, and Lum’s grandmother, Powah, consequently moved to Queens, New York, to help raise Lum. Later, she would credit her grandmother’s strong personality and love of humour, including bawdy jokes, as being an influence on her comedy.
In her teenage years, Lum gravitated toward music. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, New York, also the alma mater of Friends star Jennifer Aniston, actor Timothée Chalamet, and rapper Nicki Minaj. There Lum played the trumpet and trained in jazz and classical music. During this time, Lum was given the nickname “Awkwafina” by a friend, and she began developing a persona that was brash and outspoken. After LaGuardia, Lum attended the University at Albany, State University of New York, where she majored in journalism and women’s studies. She then studied Mandarin at the Beijing Language and Culture University in China. When Lum came back to New York, she worked as an assistant in book publicity.
“My Vag”
Lum’s focus turned toward hip-hop and rap. In 2012 she uploaded a music video to YouTube for her rap song “My Vag” under the name Awkwafina. The rap featured her tongue-in-cheek combination of explicit comedy and gangster rap culture. The video went viral, and Awkwafina, who had left book publicity and was working as a cashier in a vegan grocery store, got her first booking for a comedy show. Her next rap song was “NYC Bitche$,” released in 2013, and the following year, she released an album, Yellow Ranger, which features her signature explicit comedic and satirical raps. Her profile continued to rise in 2014 when she landed a spot in the MTV comedy series Girl Code. In 2015 she wrote Awkwafina’s NYC, an irreverent guide to her favourite parts of New York City.
Early comedic roles
After establishing herself as a rapper and comedian, Awkwafina expanded into acting. In 2016 she had a supporting role in the movie Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, and she provided the voice of Quail in the animated feature film Storks. Her acting career soon took off with major roles in three 2018 films: Dude, a coming-of-age movie on Netflix; Ocean’s 8, an all-female variation of Ocean’s Eleven, the classic heist movie starring Frank Sinatra that was remade in the 21st century with George Clooney in the lead role; and Crazy Rich Asians, the film adaptation of the best-selling novel by Kevin Kwan. That same year she also released her second rap album, In Fina We Trust, and became only the second Asian American woman to host the American comedy show Saturday Night Live since its premiere in 1975.
The Farewell
Awkwafina moved away from her usual comedic supporting roles in 2019 with a dramatic starring role in The Farewell, a poignant story of a family’s debate over whether to tell its matriarch that she is dying. Awkwafina received positive reviews for her portrayal of Billi, the conflicted granddaughter, and won a Golden Globe award for best actress in a musical or comedy for the role. She was the first Asian American to win a Golden Globe in that category.
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