Ali Wong’s Multifaceted Hollywood Stardom
By James Moreau | 27 May, 2025

From early stand-up days to recent Golden Globe and Emmy triumphs, Ali Wong has consistently captivated audiences with a unique blend of humor and poignance.

At 43 Ali Wong is now a Hollywood quintuple threat, having achieved acclaim and a rare degree of financial success as a comedian, writer, actor, producer and director.  

In 2025 the Chinese Vietnamese force of nature was awarded a Golden Globe for best stand-up comedy performance for her special Single Lady (2024) – one of her four Netflix comedy specials along with Baby Cobra (2016), Hard Knock Wife (2018), and Don Wong (2022). Single Lady and Don Wong were part of an eight-figure deal with the streaming giant.

Wong was both lead and executive producer for the critically acclaimed 2023 limited series dramedy Beef.   Her performance won an Emmy for best lead actress in a limited series in a heavily stacked field, making her the first Asian woman to score the award. Beef also won a 2024 Emmy and Golden Globe for most outstanding series.

Wong co-wrote, produced, and starred in the 2019 rom-com movie Always Be My Maybe set in her hometown of San Francisco.  The film scored an 89% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes. 

Wong also starred in the 2020 film Birds of Prey which grossed over $205 million.  

She has a long-running role in the ABC sitcom American Housewife, appearing in all 103 episodes from 2016 to 2021.

As if that wasn’t enough to keep Wong busy, she is slated to direct Sheng Wang in another Netflix comedy special in 2026, reprising her role on the 2022 Sheng Wang comedy special Sweet and Juicy.

During its first two seasons from 2015-2016 the critically acclaimed series Fresh Off the Boat benefited from Wong’s contributions as a staff writer where she was credited on 24 episodes.

Wong began stand-up comedy at age 23, after returning from a year’s study abroad in Hanoi, Vietnam.  She graduated from UCLA in 2005 with a BA in Asian American studies.