In 1979, the family was among the Vietnamese boat people who fled their country, and Chau's mother was six months pregnant with her. Chau has also played leading roles in the 2019 films Driveways and American Woman, and further supporting roles in the 2022 film The Menu and the 2023 Netflix series The Night Agent.īefore Hong Chau was born, her parents and her two brothers lived in Vietnam. She went on to have supporting roles in the HBO limited series Watchmen (2019) and the Prime Video series Homecoming (2018–2020). She appeared in the TV series Treme (2010–2013) and the film Inherent Vice (2014). She grew up in New Orleans and majored in film studies at Boston University College of Communication before pursuing an acting career. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans, Louisiana sponsored Chau and her family to move to the United States. She has received several award nominations for her film roles as Ngoc Lan Tran in Downsizing (2017) and as Liz, a nurse, in The Whale (2022), including one for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the latter.Ĭhau was born to Vietnamese parents who lived in a refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing Vietnam in the late 1970s. Hong Chau (born June 25, 1979) is an American actress.
Boston University College of Communication ( BA, 2001)
