Hong Chau
Birthdate: June 25, 1979 (47 Years Old)
Birthplace: Thailand
In a mere eight years of feature film acting credits, Hong Chau has already collaborated with filmmakers Kelly Reichardt (Showing Up), Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice), Alexander Payne (Downsizing), Darren Aronofsky (The Whale), Mark Mylod and Adam McKay (The Menu), Miguel Arteta (Duck Butter) and Kenneth Branagh (Artemis Fowl).
Add to this an impressive roster of TV and streaming credits (most notably three lauded HBO series, Big Little Lies, with Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon; Treme, with Khandi Alexander, Wendell Pierce, and Melissa Leo; and Watchmen, with Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Jeremy Irons), and Chau can claim to have one of the great American refugee success stories of our time.
The child of Vietnamese “boat people” who became an in-demand actor by America’s top filmmakers, Chau has been part of a new wave of younger Asian actors in Hollywood at a time when Asian roles are finally, if gradually, becoming possible.
Hong Chau’s feature debut was in Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation of Thomas Pynchon’s novel, Inherent Vice (2014), with Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, and Owen Wilson. After a period of busy television work (including Treme and a lead in NBC’s sitcom A to Z), Chau landed her most eye-catching role as a Vietnamese political activist in Payne’s Downsizing (2017), with Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig, earning her several award nominations.
In 2018, Chau joined the cast of Arteta’s Duck Butter, including Alia Shawkat and Laia Costa, and then was cast in the acclaimed final film starring the late Brian Dennehy, Driveways (2019). In 2020, Chau did an uncredited voice performance in Branagh’s Artemis Fowl for a role that was ultimately deleted. In 2021, Chau enjoyed a wave of new castings, including with Reichardt on Showing Up with Michelle Williams, Aronofsky’s The Whale with Brendan Fraser and Samantha Morton, and opposite Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicholas Hoult in the Mark Mylod/Adam McKay production, The Menu.
Hong Chau Photos and Videos
Personal life
Known For
Awards
Nominee, Best Supporting Actress, Golden Globes Awards (2017); Winner, Robert Altman Award, Independent Spirit Awards (2014); Nominee, Best Female Lead, Independent Spirit Awards (2019); Nominee, Best Supporting Female Actor, Screen Actors Guild Awards (2017).
Hong Chau Movies
Actor
Previous (10)
- 2026 |
Wuthering Heights
asNelly
A passionate and tumultuous love story set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire moors, exploring the intense and destructive relationship between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw.
- 2026 |
The Sheep Detectives
asBeth Pennock
Every night a shepherd reads aloud a murder mystery, pretending his sheep can understand. When he is found dead, the sheep realize at once that it was a murder and think they know everything about how to go about solving it.
- 2024 |
Kinds of Kindness
A man seeks to break free from his predetermined path, a cop questions his wife's demeanor after her return from a supposed drowning, and a woman searches for an extraordinary individual prophesied to become a renowned spiritual guide.
- 2023 |
Showing Up
asJo
A sculptor preparing to open a new show tries to work amidst the daily dramas of family and friends.
- 2022 |
- 2022 |
- 2019 |
American Woman
A woman raises her young grandson after her daughter goes missing.
- 2017 |
Downsizing
asNgoc Lan Tran
A social satire in which a man realizes he would have a better life if he were to shrink himself to five inches tall, allowing him to live in wealth and splendor.
- -- | as Liz
- -- | as Beth Pennock
