Bowen Yang
| Bowen Yang | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1990 (age 34–35) |
| Residence | Brooklyn, New York City |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupation |
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| Years active | 2013–present |
| Bowen Yang | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 楊伯文 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 杨伯文 | ||||||
|
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Bowen Yang (born 1990)[1] is an American writer, comedian and actor. He joined the writing staff of Saturday Night Live (SNL) in September 2018. He is known for lip-syncing videos on Twitter.[1][2] In September 2019, Yang became an on-air cast member of SNL for the show's 45th season, becoming the show's first Chinese-American cast member; and the third openly gay male cast member.[lower-alpha 1]
Contents
Early life and education
Yang's parents are immigrants from China. He attended NYU and received a bachelor's degree in chemistry.[3]
Career
Yang appeared in shows such as Broad City and High Maintenance.[4]
He co-hosts a comedy podcast called Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers.[5] The show is about gay topics and popular culture. Yang states that he built a fanbase through the show.[1]
He co-stars in a show picked up by Comedy Central in November 2018, also starring Awkwafina and BD Wong.[6]
Yang posted videos to Twitter lip-syncing well-known moments in popular culture, such as 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. Each garnered thousands of likes and retweets.[2][7]
He was named to Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 - Hollywood & Entertainment 2019 list.[4]
Saturday Night Live
In 2018, Yang was hired as a staff writer on Saturday Night Live (SNL) for the show's 44th season. He also made a cameo appearance during the Sandra Oh/Tame Impala episode as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un while Oh played his translator.[8]
On September 12th, 2019, it was announced that Yang will be promoted from writer to featured cast member for the 45th season, alongside improviser Chloe Fineman and stand-up comic Shane Gillis.[9] Yang will be the show's first ever Chinese-American cast member, and third openly gay male cast member after Terry Sweeney and John Milhiser.[10]
SNL has had “little representation from Asian actors, as cast members or hosts” in its forty-four years.[8] Up until Yang’s promotion there has only been three cast members,[lower-alpha 2] and six hosts who were Asian or Asian-American.[lower-alpha 3] A 2016 study of SNL revealed: 90% of 1975-2016’s show hosts (826 total) were white, 6.8% were black, 1.2% were Hispanic, and 1.1% "other."[11]
Even though SNL is “predominantly, painfully straight,” it has had a reasonable amount of quality LGBTQ-focused content, some even campy like the “The Ambiguously Gay Duo”, mixed in with the embarrassing, like “It's Pat”.[12] Openly LGBTQ on-air talent though has been minimal. For the 1985-1986 season, Sweeney was SNL’s first openly gay male cast member—although he was not hired by Lorne Michaels who cast most of the seasons—and the first openly gay series regular on network television.[13][14][15] Milhiser was second, in the 2013-2014 cast;[16] he was the fourth LGBTQ cast member overall; Danitra Vance was also in the 1985-1986 cast but was in the closet, all three left after one season; Kate McKinnon has been an out lesbian before becoming a cast member in 2012 and has continued to the present.[17] Yang is now the fifth LGBTQ cast member in SNL history. Jake Weisman, co-star of Comedy Central’s Corporate, says the absence of gay men in the cast is rooted in homophobia and bigotry.[18] NewNowNext noted, “Even if the audience and writers have changed with the times—and even that’s debatable—Lorne Michaels hasn’t.”[18]
Numerous news outlets noted the disconnect of SNL hiring Yang, an out gay Chinese-American cast member, at the same time as Gillis, who as recently as a year prior aired homophobic and anti-Asian jokes.[19][20][21][22][23][24] In response to the backlash Gillis answered with what Vox and HuffPost characterized as a non-apology apology.[25][26] A spokesperson for Lorne Michaels later announced that Gillis would not be hired in light of the controversy.[27]
Personal life
Yang is gay.[5] He is mentored by Guy Branum.[1] He lives in Brooklyn.[4]
See also
Notes
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- Bowen Yang at the Internet Movie Database
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