Awkwafina

Name

Awkwafina

Image

Caption

Awkwafina at the 2025 San Diego Comic-Con

Birth Name

Nora Lum

Birth Date

1988-6-2

Birth Place

Stony Brook, New York, U.S.

Occupation

Actress • rapper

Alma Mater

University at Albany (BA)

Years Active

2001–present

Module

Instrument	Vocals
Origin	Queens, New York, U.S.
Website	awkwafina.com

Awards

Full list

Module2

Child	yes
Name1	Nora Lum
C	林家珍
P	Lín Jiāzhēn
J	Lam4 Gaa1zan1
Y	Làhm Gāajān
Ci	lam4-gaa1.zan1

Nora Lum (born June 2, 1988), known professionally as Awkwafina (ˌɔːkwəˈfiːnə ), is an American actress and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She then released her debut album, Yellow Ranger (2014), and appeared on the MTV comedy series Girl Code (2014–2015). She expanded to films with supporting roles in the comedies Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). For her starring role as a grieving young woman in The Farewell (2019), she won a Golden Globe Award.

From 2020 to 2023, Awkwafina had been a co-creator, writer, and executive producer of the Comedy Central series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, where she also plays a fictionalized version of herself. In 2021, she portrayed Katy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. She has also performed voice roles in the animated films Storks (2016), The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), The Bad Guys (2022), The Little Mermaid, Migration (both 2023), Kung Fu Panda 4, IF (both 2024) and The Bad Guys 2 (2025). She won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie for starring in and producing the TV movie Quiz Lady (2023).

Early life

Awkwafina was born in Stony Brook, New York, the only child of Wally Lum, a Chinese American, and Tia Lum, a Korean American. Her father worked in the information technology field, and comes from a family of restaurateurs; her great-grandfather immigrated to the United States in the 1940s, and opened the Cantonese restaurant Lum's in Flushing, Queens, one of the neighborhood's first Chinese restaurants. Her mother was a painter who immigrated with her family to the United States from South Korea in 1972. Awkwafina's mother died from pulmonary hypertension in 1992 when she was four, and Awkwafina was raised by her father and paternal grandparents. She became especially close to her grandmother, Powah Lum.

Awkwafina grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, and attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, where she played the trumpet and was trained in classical music and jazz. At age 15, she adopted the stage name Awkwafina, "definitely a person I repressed" and an alter ego to her "quiet and more passive" personality during her college years. Her stage name referenced the way that brands such as Neutrogena feminize themselves, and her self-perception as "awkwardly fine". She cited Charles Bukowski, Anaïs Nin, Joan Didion, Tom Waits, and Chet Baker as early influences. From 2006 to 2008, she learned Mandarin at Beijing Language and Culture University to communicate with her paternal grandmother. She majored in journalism and women's studies at the University at Albany and graduated in 2011.

Career

Awkwafina began rapping at 13. She got her start producing music with GarageBand but eventually learned Logic Pro and Ableton. In 2012, her song "My Vag" became popular on YouTube. She wrote the song in college as a response to Mickey Avalon's "My Dick (Tribute to Nate)". She was fired from her job at a publishing house when her employer recognized her in the video. Her solo hip-hop album Yellow Ranger was released on February 11, 2014. Its 11 tracks include a number of her previous singles released on YouTube, including the title track "Yellow Ranger", "Queef" and "NYC Bitche$". In 2014, Awkwafina appeared in six episodes of the third and fourth seasons of Girl Code. In 2015 she co-hosted its spin-off, Girl Code Live, on MTV.

In 2016, she collaborated with comedian Margaret Cho on "Green Tea", a song that pokes fun at Asian stereotypes. She was part of the lineup at Tenacious D's Festival Supreme on October 25, 2014. She was also a disc jockey (DJ) at bars in New York. She is profiled in the 2016 documentary Bad Rap, an official selection at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. It puts the spotlight on her and Asian-American rappers such as Dumbfoundead, Rekstizzy and Lyricks. She released a 7-track EP, In Fina We Trust, on June 8, 2018; it won the 2019 A2IM Libera Award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album.

Awkwafina hosted the short-form talk show web series Tawk for the digital production company Astronauts Wanted from 2015 to 2017. The first season premiered on YouTube and was picked up for exclusive streaming on Verizon's Go90 platform. It was an Official Honoree at the 2016 Webby Awards and was nominated for a 2016 Streamy Award in the News and Culture category. In 2016 she played a supporting role as Christine, a member of Kappa Nu in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, and voiced Quail in the animated comedy film Storks. In 2018 she starred in the indie comedy Dude, playing Rebecca, one of four best friends. She was among the principal cast in Ocean's 8, the all-female spinoff to the Ocean's Trilogy. She then co-starred in the film Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu, playing Goh Peik Lin, a Singaporean college friend of lead character Rachel Chu (Constance Wu). She had a recurring role in the Hulu original series Future Man in 2017. She hosted the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs.

Awkwafina hosted the October 6, 2018, episode of Saturday Night Live, becoming the second East Asian-American woman to host the show (after Lucy Liu, whose episode Awkwafina cites as her inspiration to one day be famous enough to host SNL). She did an impression of Sandra Oh, who later in the season became the first East Asian-Canadian woman to host an SNL episode and the third East Asian woman to host overall.

In 2019, Awkwafina starred in the film The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang. She played Billi, a writer who visits her ill grandmother in China. The film received critical acclaim. Awkwafina received the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, becoming the first person of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe Award in any lead actress film category, after being only the sixth woman of Asian descent to be nominated in the lead actress in a musical or comedy category. In the same year, she starred as avatar Ming Fleetfoot in the film Jumanji: The Next Level, which was a commercial success. In July 2019, Awkwafina was cast as Katy in Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings alongside actors Simu Liu and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the film was released in theaters on September 3, 2021, earning critical praise and grossing $430.5 million. She won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Shang-Chi. In August 2019, Disney announced that Awkwafina would voice Sisu the dragon in the animated film Raya and the Last Dragon, which was released on March 5, 2021. Awkwafina improvised much of her dialogue for the film, drawing comparisons to Robin Williams' performance as the Genie in Aladdin.

As of 2020, Awkwafina stars in the comedy series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens; she is also a writer and executive producer of that show. As part of the promotional campaign, she recorded new announcements for the 7 train of the New York City Subway, making jokes, such as "This is Hunters Point Avenue, a friendly reminder that seats are for people, not your bag" and "This is 46th Street, which is a lucky number, I just learned that on the internet. Also learned that pigeons and doves are the same things, WHAT?!", at every stop. These recordings were used until the series premiered on January 22. In a season one episode, Simu Liu made a guest appearance before the release of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In October 2023, National Geographic announced that Awkwafina narrated the documentary series A Real Bug's Life.

Public image

Awkwafina on the red carpet of the 77th Golden Globe Awards in 2020

Awkwafina has developed a profile as a fashion model, appearing regularly on magazine covers including Vogue, Allure, Harpers Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and feminist magazine Bust. In 2018, she was featured in Gap's "Logo Remix" campaign, which featured up-and-coming artists who "are remixing creative culture on their own terms" alongside SZA, Sabrina Claudio and Naomi Watanabe. Awkwafina was honored as Kore Asian Media's Female Breakout of the Year in 2017.

Awkwafina has expressed support for Time's Up, a movement started by Hollywood celebrities against sexual harassment. She has also advocated for more female directors and against the stereotyping of Asians in media.

Awkwafina has faced criticism for cultural appropriation of African-American Vernacular English (AAVE), including her use of a "blaccent", and mannerisms stereotypic of the African-American community. In 2018, she said, "I welcome that conversation because as an Asian-American identity, we're still trying to figure out what that is." On February 5, 2022, Awkwafina tweeted, "My immigrant background allowed me to carve an American identity ... as a non-black POC, I stand by the fact that I will always listen and work tirelessly to understand the history and context of AAVE". Certain activists criticized this response as being several years late and unapologetic. Conversely, Vulture writer Lauren Michele Jackson wrote that Awkwafina does not "conjure blackness any more than Ed Sheeran's bars", adding that, "In conversations around Awkwafina's blaccent, the actress's regional and musical background has been used to both defend and attack her".

Other ventures

Before launching her entertainment career, she worked as an intern at the Gotham Gazette in New York City; as an intern at the Times Union newspaper in Albany, New York; and as a publicity assistant for publishing house Rodale Books, which fired her after they discovered her music videos. She later worked at a vegan bodega. In 2015, she released a New York City guidebook, Awkwafina's NYC. On May 16, 2019, she headlined The Infatuation's annual food festival, EEEEEATSCON where she spoke about her upbringing in Queens, and her family's Cantonese restaurant.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2016	Bad Rap	Herself	Documentary
	Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising	Christine
	Storks	Quail	Voice role
2018	Dude	Rebecca
	Ocean's 8	Constance
	Crazy Rich Asians	Goh Peik Lin
2019	The Farewell	Billi Wang
	Paradise Hills	Yu
	The Angry Birds Movie 2	Courtney	Voice role
	Between Two Ferns: The Movie	Herself
	Jumanji: The Next Level	Ming Fleetfoot
2020	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	Otto	Voice role
2021	Breaking News in Yuba County	Mina
Raya and the Last Dragon	Sisu	Voice role
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings	Katy
Swan Song	Kate
2022	The Bad Guys	Ms. Tarantula	Voice role
2022	The Bad Guys in Maraschino Ruby	Ms. Tarantula	Voice role; short film
2023	Renfield	Rebecca Quincy
	The Little Mermaid	Scuttle	Voice role
	Once Upon a Studio	Sisu	Voice role; short film; archival recordings
	Quiz Lady	Anne
	Migration	Chump	Voice role
2024	Migration: Fly Hard	Chump	Voice role; short film
	Kung Fu Panda 4	Zhen	Voice role
	Kung Fu Panda: Dueling Dumplings	Zhen	Voice role; short film
	IF	Bubble IF	Voice role
	Jackpot!	Katie
2025	The Bad Guys in Little Lies and Alibis	Ms. Tarantula	Voice role; short film
2025	The Bad Guys 2	Ms. Tarantula	Voice role
2026		Voice role; in production
2026	Ming Fleetwood	Filming
TBA		Post-production
TBA		Filming

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014–2015	Girl Code	Herself	6 episodes
2015	Girl Code Live	Herself (co-host)	10 episodes
2015	Regular Show	Apple (voice)	Episode: "Hello China"
2015–2017	Tawk	Herself (host)	36 episodes
2016	Mary + Jane	Gina	Episode: "Noachella"
2017	Future Man	Woman at Video Game Store	3 episodes
2018	Animals.	Annie (voice)	Episode: "Roachella"
2018	Saturday Night Live	Herself (host)	Episode: "Awkwafina/Travis Scott"
2019	Weird City	Charlotta	Episode: "Below"
	The Simpsons	Carmen (voice) Dr. Chang (voice)	Episode: "Bart vs. Itchy & Scratchy" Episode: "D'oh Canada"
	Tuca & Bertie	Bertie's Left Boob (voice)	Episode: "The Promotion"
	The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance	skekLach the Collector (voice)	7 episodes
2020–2023	Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens	Nora Lin	27 episodes Also co-creator, writer and executive producer
2020	One World: Together at Home	Herself	Television special
2022	The Boys Presents: Diabolical	Sky / Areola / Turd (voice)	Episode: "BFFS" Also writer
2024–2025	A Real Bug's Life	Narrator	Documentary series
2025	No Taste Like Home with Antoni Porowski	Herself	Episode: "Awkwafina and her Korean Heritage"
	Black Mirror	Kimmy	Episode: "Hotel Reverie"
	Poker Face	Maddie Saint Marie	Episode: "A New Lease on Death"
	Marvel Zombies	Katy (voice)	3 episodes
	Saachi (voice)	Main role

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021	Discord: The Movie	Herself	With Danny DeVito

Discography

Title	Details
Yellow Ranger	* Released: February 11, 2014 * Label: self-released * Format: Digital download
In Fina We Trust	* Released: June 8, 2018 * Label: self-released * Format: Digital download

Title	Year	Album
"Mayor Bloomberg (Giant Margaritas)"
"Queef"
"Come Stop Me" (featuring Dumbfoundead)
"Green Tea" (featuring Margaret Cho)
"My Vag"	2012
"NYC Bitche$"	2013	Yellow Ranger
"Daydreamin'"			2014	rowspan="4"
"Yellow Alert" (featuring Dumbfoundead)			2014	2016
"Pockiez"	2018	In Fina We Trust		2016