Hong Chau

Hong Chau is an American actress known for her performances across feature films and television productions. She achieved widespread recognition for her role in the 2022 drama film The Whale, which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Chau first gained industry attention with her breakthrough role in the 2017 movie Downsizing, receiving multiple supporting actress award nominations. She has also gained praise for her television performances in series such as Watchmen and Homecoming.

Chau was born on June 25, 1979, in a refugee camp in Thailand. Her family had fled Vietnam earlier that year as part of the Vietnamese boat people migration, during which her mother was pregnant with her and her father suffered a severe gunshot wound. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans, Louisiana, arranged sponsorship through a local family, allowing Chau's family to settle in the United States. She grew up in New Orleans East with two brothers, speaking Vietnamese as her first language before learning English in school. Her parents worked as dishwashers and later operated a convenience store to support their children's education.

Chau attended secondary schools in New Orleans before graduating from the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in Natchitoches. She enrolled at Boston University with the assistance of Pell Grants, initially studying creative writing before shifting her major to film studies. To manage her introversion, she participated in student films and took public speaking and improv classes. After graduating from the Boston University College of Communication in 2001, she worked for PBS before relocating to Los Angeles to pursue professional acting.

Chau began appearing on screen in 2006, earning guest roles on television programs such as NCIS and How I Met Your Mother, along with a prominent role in the series Treme from 2010 to 2013. She made her feature film debut in 2014's Inherent Vice, participated in the Off-Broadway play John in 2015, and appeared in the first season of Big Little Lies in 2017. Her breakthrough came later that year with Downsizing, which earned her nominations for several supporting actress honors.

Following her breakout, Chau joined the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2018. She took on guest parts in shows such as BoJack Horseman and Forever, while playing a corporate secretary in the first season of Homecoming, later expanding to a main role for its second season in 2020. In 2019, she landed her first lead film roles in Driveways and American Woman, and portrayed Lady Trieu in the limited series Watchmen.

In 2021, Chau acted in four films: Showing Up, The Menu, Asteroid City, and The Whale. Showing Up debuted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, while The Whale and The Menu premiered later that year at international festivals before receiving commercial theatrical releases. Her performance in The Whale earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2023, Chau starred in the television series The Night Agent and appeared in Poker Face. She subsequently performed in the anthology film Kinds of Kindness and the action thriller The Instigators.

Chau resides with her husband, whom she met while studying in Boston. The couple has a daughter, born in November 2020.