Randall Park
Randall Park | |
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![]() Randall Park at a panel discussion for the new show Fresh Off the Boat in 2015. | |
Born | Los Angeles, California, U.S. | March 23, 1974
Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., M.A.) |
Occupation(s) | Actor, comedian, director, writer |
Years active | 2003–present |
Spouse |
Jae Suh Park (m. 2008) |
Children | 1 |
Website | www |
Randall Park (born March 23, 1974)[3] is an American actor, comedian, writer, and director. He played Kim Jong-Un in the 2014 film The Interview, Minnesota governor Danny Chung in Veep, and currently portrays Eddie Huang's father, American restaurateur Louis Huang, in ABC's television show Fresh Off the Boat.
Early life
Park was born in Los Angeles, California, and grew up in West Los Angeles, the son of Korean immigrant parents. His mother worked as an accountant at UCLA and his father owned a one-hour photo store.[4]
Park graduated from Hamilton High School's Humanities Magnet Program.[5][6] Park earned a bachelor's degree in English and creative writing and a master’s degree in Asian American studies from UCLA.[7] While attending UCLA, Park co-founded an Asian American theater group.[8]
Career
Film and television
Park made his acting debut in the 2003 short film Dragon of Love (as the main character, Joel), which won the Best Short Film at the 2003 Hawaii International Film Festival. Park has appeared in feature films such as Larry Crowne, Dinner for Schmucks, and The Five-Year Engagement. He appeared in various independent film projects such as Quentin Lee's The People I've Slept With (2009) and starred and co-wrote the feature film American Fusion (2005).
In television, Park has made guest appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm (as Doctor), New Girl (as Will), The Office (as Asian Jim), ER, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Four Kings, Las Vegas, House, iCarly (as Mr. Palladino), Cold Case, Reno 911!, among others. He appeared as Martin Fukanaga on Supah Ninjas and was a cast member on MTV's Wild 'n Out. In 2007, he regularly appeared as an actor in the filmmaking reality show On the Lot.
In 2014, Park played a company rep trying to recruit college students in Neighbors, co-starred in the Jason Segel/Cameron Diaz comedy, Sex Tape, which led to his casting in The Interview (2014),[9] where he portrayed Kim Jong-un.
Park has appeared as a recurring character on The Mindy Project since 2013. He plays the recurring character of Minnesota governor Danny Chung on the HBO comedy Veep. He appeared as "Jeff" in the prequel 2015 series for Netflix, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp. In 2015 he also appeared in Wong Fu Productions' first feature film, Everything Before Us.
Since 2014, Park has starred as Louis Huang, patriarch of a Chinese American family, in ABC's television show Fresh Off The Boat (based on Eddie Huang's memoir, Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir), written and produced by Nahnatchka Khan and executive produced by Jake Kasdan.[10] He was the first actor cast on the show, with the producers having approached him before the pilot was ordered.[11]
In 2015, Park appeared with John Malkovich in the music video for Eminem single "Phenomenal". The same year he also appeared as "Bryson", a co-worker of Amy Schumer's character in Trainwreck (2015), directed by Judd Apatow.
Writing and directing
In 2005, Park co-wrote and starred in the feature film American Fusion directed by Frank Lin, which won the Audience Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival. He has also created, directed, written, and starred in several short internet series for Channel 101, including Dr. Miracles, The Food, and Dumb Professor.
In 2013, he wrote and starred in a series for Channel 101 featuring his baby daughter entitled Baby Mentalist.[12] In Channel 101's bracket competition format for webseries, Baby Mentalist was voted number one the most times of any show at the time, ending with six episodes in 2013.[11][13]
Park also wrote a short film, Blueberry, which won an award for Best Actor at the NBC Shortcuts Film Festival for short films.[14] He was awarded the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment (CAPE) New Writers Award for his television pilot script, "The Erasists."[15]
Commercials and online work
Park has been featured in ads for HBO Go, Ally Bank, as well as the 2011 Father's Day Verizon Droid commercial.[16][17] He plays a "doggie daycare owner" in a print and online campaign for Chase Bank, which aired in early 2015.[18]
Park was featured in Wong Fu Productions' short film, Too Fast as Brandon, the web series Home Is Where the Hans Are as the stepfather and as Randall in their first feature film, Everything Before Us (2015).[19]
Personal life
Park is married to Jae Suh Park and they have one daughter. They reside in the San Fernando Valley.[2]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | The People I've Slept With | Nice but Boring Guy | |
2010 | Too Fast | Brandon | Short |
2010 | Dinner for Schmucks | Henderson | |
2010 | The 41 Year Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It | Officer Yo Ass | |
2011 | Larry Crowne | Trainee Wong | |
2012 | The Five Year Engagement | Ming | |
2014 | Neighbors | Rep | |
2014 | Sex Tape | Edward | |
2014 | They Came Together | Martinson | |
2014 | The Interview | Kim Jong-un | |
2015 | Southpaw | Jed Wang | |
2015 | Trainwreck | Bryson | |
2015 | The Hollars | Dr. Fong | |
2015 | Everything Before Us | Randall | |
2015 | The Night Before | Ethan's Boss | |
2016 | The Meddler | Officer Lee | |
2016 | Office Christmas Party | Fred | Filming |
2017 | Mother/Daughter | Filming |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2005 | House | Brad | 1 episode, "Autopsy" |
2005–2007 | Wild 'n Out | Himself/Various | 16 episodes |
2008 | iCarly | Mr. Palladino | 1 episode |
2009 | Curb Your Enthusiasm | Doctor | 1 episode |
2010–2015 | Community | Crime Boss / Himself | 2 episodes |
2011–2013 | Supah Ninjas | Martin Fukanaga | 27 episodes |
2012 | The Office | Steve (more popularly known as Asian Jim Halpert) | 1 episode |
2012 | New Girl | Will (a phone seller) | 1 episode |
2012–2015 | Veep | Danny Chung | 10 episodes |
2014 | Newsreaders | Clavis Kim | 4 episodes |
2014 | Robot Chicken | Kim Jong-un | 1 episode |
2015–present | Fresh Off the Boat | Louis Huang | Regular Role[20] |
2015 | Repeat After Me | Himself | 1 episode |
2015 | Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp | Jeff | 4 episodes |
2015 | Comedy Bang! Bang! | Himself | Episode: "Randall Park Wears Brown Dress Shoes With Blue Socks" |
2016 | $100,000 Pyramid | Himself/Celebrity Guest |
Music videos
Year | Artist | Title | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Eminem | "Phenomenal" |
Web series
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2006 | Dr. Miracles | Dr. Miracles | Also writer/director |
2009 | The Food | Wallace | Also writer |
2009 | Ikea Heights | James | YouTube Series only filmed in ikea without staff noticing |
2010 | Dumb Professor | Professor Raymond Nash | Also writer/director |
2011 | Siamese Dad | Russell | Also writer/director |
2012 | Listen to Grandpa, Andy Ling | Andy Ling | Starred opposite Elliott Gould |
2012 | Home Is Where The Hans Are | Andrew | Wong Fu Productions short |
2013 | Baby Mentalist | Detective Chung | Also writer |
2014 | CollegeHumor - If Google was a Guy (2) | Bing | |
2014 | Adult Swim - The Broomshakalaka | Mark | |
2014 | Talking Marriage with Ryan Bailey | Himself | Guest with Jae |
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References
- ^ Ashok Kondabolu (July 26, 2013). "Ashok and Randall Park Celebrate Father's Day". Asian American Writers' Workshop. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Tseng, Ada (February 13, 2014). "Randall and Jae Suh Park: Baby Makes Three". LA Weekly. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
- ^ "People Search & Directory Services". Intelius.com. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ Tseng, Ada (December 23, 2014). "Off Script with Randall Park". KoreAm. Retrieved December 25, 2014.
- ^ "April Issue: Randall Park Reflects on the Riots « KoreAm Journal". Iamkoream.com. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ "Randall Park Video | Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi". Ovguide.com. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ Edward (January 4, 2011). "The Working APA Actor: Randall Park". 8Asians.com. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ Ashok Kondabolu (July 26, 2013). "Ashok and Randall Park Celebrate Father's Day". Asian American Writers' Workshop. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
- ^ Steinberg, Don (February 4, 2015). "Randall Park on ABC's New 'Fresh Off the Boat': The first Asian-American sitcom in 20 years premieres". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Nellie Andreeva. "Constance Wu, Randall Park Join 'Fresh Off The Boat'; Windell Middlebrooks In 'Mason Twins'", Deadline.com, February 7, 2014.
- ^ a b "Sound and Fury Podcast Episode 18: Randall Park". blog.angryasianman.com. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
- ^ Angry Asian Man, Baby Mentalist, blog.angryasianman.com, April 2013.
- ^ "Channel 101 - Baby Mentalist". Channel 101. Retrieved 2015-12-07.
- ^ "NBC Shortcuts". Guts.Glam.Grace. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ "Short Cuts Film Festival". Nbcshortcuts.com. August 6, 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ John (May 23, 2011). "Asian American Commercial Watch: Randall Park in HBO Go". 8Asians.com. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ "Too Fast". YouTube. December 10, 2010. Retrieved 2013-01-17.
- ^ Primack, Dan (January 7, 2015). "When 'Kim-Jong Un' did an ad for Chase Bank". Fortune Magazine. Retrieved February 22, 2015.
- ^ "Too Fast". Wong Fu Productions. December 2010.
- ^ Rottenberg, Josh (December 16, 2014). "'The Interview's' Kim Jong Un actor, Randall Park, knew it was 'insane'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
External links
- 1974 births
- American male actors of Asian descent
- Male actors from Los Angeles, California
- American male comedians
- American male film actors
- American male television actors
- Living people
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
- American writers of Korean descent
- Male actors of Korean descent
- 21st-century American male actors
- American television writers
- Male television writers
- American film directors of Asian descent
- Film directors from California
- American film producers
- Film producers from California