1. To start, Ali Wong made a name for herself by making people laugh with her stand-up comedy and roles in Always Be My Maybe, American Housewife, and more.
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2. The comedian and actor was born on April 19, 1982, in San Francisco, making her a Taurus.
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3. Before pursuing her comedy dreams in her early 20s, Ali was dedicated to her studies and graduated with a degree in Asian American Studies from UCLA. Not to mention, she was also a Fulbright Scholar in Vietnam.
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4. If she hadn’t fallen in love with all things comedy, she would have taken a very different career path and became a professor.
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5. During the early days of her comedy career, she’d regularly perform up to nine stand-up acts a night in New York City.
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6. She considers Eddie Murphy her comedy idol and candidly spoke out about bombing her performance in front of him while opening for Dave Chapelle one night.
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“If you don’t bomb, you’ll think you’re good and there’s no work to do. But there’s always work to do,” she said. “That’s the beauty of stand-up. A joke is never finished.”
7. Between 2015 and 2016, Ali worked as a writer for ABC’s sitcom Fresh Off the Boat, which also happens to feature her Always Be My Maybe co-star Randall Park.
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8. She also served as a co-writer for Always Be My Maybe alongside Randall Park and Michael Golamco.
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9. You might recognize her voice talents in Tuca & Bertie, Human Resources, Big Mouth, and more.
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10. She’s the proud mother of two daughters and filmed her first and second Netflix specials Baby Cobra and Hard Knock Wife while pregnant.
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11. Speaking of kids, Ali named her daughter Mari after the organization guru Marie Kondo.
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12. She’s the youngest of four children.
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13. With 2 million followers on Instagram alone, it may come as a surprise that she only has a handful of posts on her feed.
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You can follow her: @aliwong
14. The actor learned how to cook vegan when she met her former husband, Justin Hakuta, noting she’s a big fan of vegetables, specifically leafy greens.
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15. When it comes to her #OOTD style, Ali prefers comfy attire rather than the glitz and glam of dressing up.
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16. In 2019, she penned her debut memoir, titled Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets & Advice for Living Your Best Life, in honor of her young daughters.
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17. Finally, two of the questions she hates being asked the most are: “What is it like being an Asian American woman in Hollywood?” and “What is it like being a female in comedy?”
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“Nobody wants his or her identity and defining characteristics reduced to just race and gender,” she said. “And I resent that white men never get asked, ‘What is it like being a white man in movies?'”