Ali Wong Wiki Bio
Alexandra Dawn ‘Ali’ Wong was born in San Francisco, California USA, on 19 April 1982 – her zodiac sign is Aries and she holds American nationality. She is an actress, comedienne and a writer, who might be known best for her portrayal of the lead character in the romantic comedy series “Always Be My Maybe” written by Ali and Randall Park, directed by Nahnatchka Khan and which also starred Randall Park and James Saito. It follows two people – Sasha and Marcus – who were once best friends and who decide to start dating after meeting again 15 years later – the series won a Chicago Independent Film Critics Circle Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for a Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Original Song, and a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Comedy Movie Star (for Ali).
Childhood, family and education
Ali was raised alongside her three siblings by their mother Tam ‘Tammy’ Wong, who was a social worker and who came to the US from Hue in South Vietnam in 1960, and their father Adolphus Wong who worked for 30 years at Kaiser Permanente as an anesthesiologist. Ali is very close to her family, and occasionally uploads pictures featuring her siblings onto her Instagram account.
She studied at San Francisco University High School, at which she steadily became interested in comedy and acting, but it wasn’t until she matriculated in 2000 and enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) that she decided to focus on her career as an actress and a comedienne.
Ali practiced her acting skills with the university’s LCC Theatre Company, graduating in 2005 with a Bachelor’s degree in Asian American studies – she also spent some time at The Lair of the Golden Bear summer family camp, and an entire year in Hanoi in Vietnam, and after graduating, also spent a year there on a Fulbright scholarship.
Roles in movies
Ali made her (uncredited) debut film appearance in 2011, when she portrayed a movie executive in the short comedy horror “When Harry Met Sally 2”, then the following year saw her star in the short film “Controversial Racist”, written and directed by Nick Wiger, and which also starred Will McLaughlin.
She appeared in her first full-length movie in 2012, when cast to play Claire in the crime thriller drama “Savages”, which starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Taylor Kitsch and Blake Lively, and is about two men – Chon and Ben – who are fighting a Mexican drug cartel after the girl they are both sleeping with is kidnapped; it was nominated for seven awards. The following year saw her play Katie in the comedy “Dealin’ with Idiots”, while the year 2014 saw her portray the lead character Raq in the short comedy “Super Sleuths”, written and directed by Benjamin Dickinson, and which starred Lindsay Burdge, Kate Lyn Shell and Emily Jon Mitchell – it follows Marie who is trying to help her best friend find her lost boyfriend.
Ali made her debut voicing performance in 2016, when she voiced Betty Bird in the 2016 animated action adventure film “The Angry Birds Movie”. The following year she played a supporting character in the romantic western drama “The Hero”, written and directed by Brett Haley and which starred Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon and Krysten Ritter – it follows an old movie star who makes peace with the fact that he is old, and it won two awards and was nominated for six others.
Some of her following roles were in the 2017 animated action adventure “The Lego Ninjago Movie” in which she voiced General Olivia, the 2017 comedy drama “Father Figures” portraying Ali, her namesake, and the 2018 animated adventure comedy “Ralph Breaks the Internet” in which she voiced Felony.
She went on to star as Debbie in the 2019 short science fiction movie “Bonfire”, written and directed by Eric Darnell, and most recently in early 2020, she played Ellen Yee in the action adventure crime film “Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn”.
Two of Ali’s most recent voicings have been in the 2020 animated adventure comedy “Onward” in which she voiced Officer Gore, and the 2020 animated adventure comedy “Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe”, voicing Super Super Big Doctor.
Roles in TV series
Ali made her debut TV series appearance in 2011, when cast to play Ana Ng in three episodes of the crime comedy “Breaking In”, which starred Bret Harrison and Alphonso McAuley.
In 2012, she was invited to play Olivia, one of the lead characters in all 12 episodes of the comedy “Are You There, Chelsea?”, which also starred Laura Prepon and Lauren Lapkus, and follows the life of a woman in her twenties.
In 2014, Ali played Dr. Lina Lark in all 13 episodes of the drama “Black Box”, and then went on to appear in three episodes of the comedy “Inside Amy Schumer”, voice a character in the episode “Escape from L. A.” of the animated comedy drama “BoJack Horseman”, and also voice a character in the episode “Rats” of the animated comedy “Animals.”
From 2016 to 2020, Ali portrayed one of the lead characters Doris in the critically acclaimed comedy “American Housewives” created by Sarah Dunn and which also starred Katy Mixon, Diedrich Bader and Daniel DiMaggio – it is about a woman who is raising her children in a city filled with rich and perfect women.
It won Devin Weaver a Young Artist Award for Best Performance in a TV Series – Guest Starring Young Actress while the series was nominated for two other awards.
Concurrently, Ali appeared in an episode or two of several other series, such as the comedies “Drive Share” and “Fresh Off the Boat” both in 2017, as well as the romantic comedy drama “Love, Victor” in 2020.
Love life and husband
Ali met her future other half, Justin Hakuta, in 2010 at a wedding of mutual friends – they exchanged phone numbers and went on a date several weeks later. After four years of being together, Ali and Justin married in a private ceremony on 27 November 2014, attended by their closest friends and family, and Ali went on to give birth to their two daughters – before her pregnancy with their first daughter Marie (born in November 2015), she became pregnant with twins, but suffered a miscarriage.
Their second daughter, Nikki was born in December 2017.
Justin is mostly known for being the son of Ken Hakuta, a famous Japanese-American inventor and TV personality. Justin obtained his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School, and was at one point working for the healthcare company GoodRx as their Vice President.
As of November 2020, Ali is married to Justin Hakuta, and they have two children together.
Hobbies and other interests
Ali is a philanthropist and a fighter for human rights, who supported the protests related to the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck and stayed there until George fainted and later died in hospital.
Look who dropped by again today to sign books. This time we had a healthy pile, but come get the signed ones while you can! pic.twitter.com/dHiS15o9Cb
— Green Apple Books (@GreenAppleBooks) December 30, 2019
She also urged people to vote during the 2020 elections, stating how every vote could contribute to change.
Ali likes to taste various cuisines, and her favorite is Japanese, especially sushi.
She is keen on watching movies in her spare time, and is a huge fan of the franchise “Star Wars” – a few of her favorite actors are Jim Carrey, Kevin Hart and Will Smith, and a couple of movies she could watch numerous times are “Ace Venture: Pet Detective”, “Bad Boys” and “Men in Black”.
Age, height and net worth
Ali’s age is 38. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, her height is 5ft 3ins (1.6m) and she weighs around 110lbs (50kgs).
As of November 2020, her net worth has been estimated at over $3 million.