Margaret Cho

Margaret Moran Cho, born December 5, 1968, is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines that critique social and political issues, particularly regarding race and sexuality. Cho gained early television prominence starring in the ABC sitcom All-American Girl from 1994 to 1995. Throughout her career, she has performed in numerous stand-up specials, worked in fashion and music, launched her own clothing line, and engaged in extensive humanitarian advocacy.

Cho was raised in San Francisco in a family of Korean descent. Her parents, Young-Hie and Seung-Hoon Cho, ran a bookstore on Castro Street. Growing up in a diverse neighborhood near Ocean Beach, Cho faced bullying at school and endured childhood sexual abuse. After developing an interest in performance, she attended the San Francisco School of the Arts, where she joined an improvisational comedy group. She later studied drama at San Francisco State University, though she did not graduate.

She began her stand-up comedy career by performing in a club adjacent to her parents' bookstore. Her visibility grew through appearances on university campuses and television, including a role on The Golden Palace and a spot opening for Jerry Seinfeld. In 1993, Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian. ABC then created All-American Girl based on her routine. Production executives criticized her appearance, leading Cho to starve herself, which caused kidney failure. Following the show's cancellation in 1995, Cho struggled with substance abuse before pursuing recovery.

Cho refocused her material and launched the 1999 one-woman show and autobiographical book I'm the One That I Want, addressing her experiences in entertainment, body image, and recovery. She subsequently released concert films such as Notorious C.H.O. and Revolution. In 2005, Cho wrote and starred in the film Bam Bam and Celeste, published the essay collection I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, and launched her Assassin tour. She also created and toured the burlesque-style variety show The Sensuous Woman in 2007.

Cho expanded her acting roles, appearing as an FBI agent in the 1997 action film Face/Off and portraying paralegal assistant Teri Lee on Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva. Her guest appearance as Kim Jong Il on 30 Rock earned her a 2012 Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series. Cho also starred in VH1's The Cho Show, competed on Dancing with the Stars and The Masked Singer, and voiced characters for animated series.

In recent years, Cho embarked on her Mother comedy tour in 2013 and launched her podcast, The Margaret Cho, in 2019. In 2022, she co-starred in the romantic comedy film Fire Island, portraying the LGBTQ Asian American experience. She was later cast as one of the Gray Sisters in Percy Jackson and the Olympians and launched her political comedy tour Choligarchy in 2025. Cho frequently supports LGBTQ rights and has received awards for her humanitarian work supporting women, Asian Americans, and the LGBTQ community.