Awkwafina

Awkwafina began rapping at age 13.[12] She got her start producing music with GarageBand but eventually learned Logic Pro and Ableton.[15] In 2012 one of her songs, "My Vag", became popular on YouTube.[8] She originally wrote the song while in college[15] as a response to Mickey Avalon's "My Dick (Tribute to Nate)".[16] She was fired from her job at a publishing house when her employer recognized her in the video.[15][16]

Her solo hip-hop album Yellow Ranger was released on February 11, 2014.[17] The album consists of 11 tracks and includes a number of her previous singles released via YouTube, including the title track "Yellow Ranger", "Queef" and "NYC Bitche$". In 2016, she collaborated with comedian Margaret Cho on "Green Tea", a song that pokes fun at Asian stereotypes.[18] She was part of the lineup at Tenacious D's Festival Supreme on October 25, 2014.[19] Awkwafina was also a disc jockey (DJ) at bars in New York.[20][21][22]

Awkwafina is profiled in the 2016 documentary Bad Rap, which was an official selection at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. The film puts the spotlight on her as well as other fellow Asian-American rappers such as Dumbfoundead, Rekstizzy, and Lyricks.[23][24] She released an EP called In Fina We Trust which consists of 7 tracks on June 8, 2018.[25]

Awkwafina (right) with Ken Jeong

In 2014, Awkwafina was in the third season of Girl Code, appearing in six episodes of the third and fourth seasons.[26] In 2015, she served as co-host for the spin-off titled Girl Code Live on MTV.[27] She was the host of the short-form talk show web series Tawk for the digital production company Astronauts Wanted from 2015 to 2017. The first season premiered on YouTube and was later picked up for exclusive streaming on Verizon's Go90 platform.[28] The show was an Official Honoree at the 2016 Webby Awards and was nominated for a 2016 Streamy Award in the News and Culture category.[29]

In 2016, Awkwafina played a supporting role as Christine, a member of Kappa Nu in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising,[30][31] and voiced the role Quail in the animated comedy film Storks. In 2018, she starred in the indie comedy Dude, playing Rebecca, one of four best friends in the film. She was part of the principal cast in Ocean's 8, the all-female spinoff to the Ocean's Trilogy. She then co-starred in the film Crazy Rich Asians, directed by John M. Chu. She played Goh Peik Lin, a Singaporean college friend of lead character Rachel Chu (Constance Wu).[32]

She has a recurring role in the Hulu original series Future Man in 2017.[33] She hosted the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs.[34] She hosted the October 6, 2018, episode of Saturday Night Live, becoming the second East Asian-American female celebrity (after Lucy Liu, whose episode Awkwafina cites as her inspiration to one day be famous enough to host SNL) to host the show. Her celebrity impression for the episode was Sandra Oh (who also became the first East Asian-Canadian female celebrity to host an SNL episode within the same season and the third East Asian-American female celebrity to host overall).[35]

Awkwafina on the red carpet of the 77th Golden Globe Awards in 2020

In 2019, she starred in the film The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang. The film received critical acclaim and she played the lead role of Billi, a writer who visits her ill grandmother in China.[36] It earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical.[37][38] This made her the first person of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe Award in any lead actress film category, after being only the sixth woman of Asian descent to be nominated in the lead actress in a musical or comedy category.[39] In the same year, she starred as avatar Ming Fleetfoot in the film Jumanji: The Next Level,[40] which turned to be a commercial success.[41][42]

In July 2019, Awkwafina was cast in Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, alongside actors Simu Liu and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The film is slated to be released on July 9, 2021.[43] In August 2019, Awkwafina was announced to be providing her voice to Sisu the dragon in the upcoming Disney animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, which is scheduled to be released on March 5, 2021.[44]

She stars in the comedy series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens; she is also writer and executive producer of that show. As part of the promotional campaign, she recorded new announcements for the 7 train of the New York City Subway,[45] making jokes, such as "This is Hunters Point Avenue, a friendly reminder that seats are for people, not your bag" and "This is 46th Street, which is a lucky number, I just learned that on the internet. Also learned that pigeons and doves are the same thing, WHAT?!", at every stop. These recordings were used until the series premiered on January 22.[45]

Awkwafina used an "Asian gangster New Yorker persona" in her Crazy Rich Asians role and rapped using a "Blaccent" on My Vag, which met with criticisms of misappropriating African-American culture.[46][47]