Randall Park

Randall Park
Randall Park at a panel discussion for the new show Fresh Off the Boat in 2015.
Born	(1974-03-23) March 23, 1974 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Residence	San Fernando Valley[1][2]
Alma mater	University of California, Los Angeles (B.A., M.A.)
Occupation	Actor, comedian, director, writer
Years active	2003–present
Spouse(s)	Jae Suh Park (m. 2008)
Children	1
Website	www.randallparkplace.com

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 beginning in 2015 he portrayed Eddie Huang's father, American restaurateur Louis Huang, in ABC's television show Fresh Off the Boat.

Early life

Park was born to Korean immigrant parents in Los Angeles, California. He was raised in West Los Angeles. His mother was 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.^[1]

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. He 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).^[8]

Park has made guest appearances on television shows including Curb Your Enthusiasm, New Girl, The Office, ER, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Four Kings, Las Vegas, House, iCarly, Cold Case, and Reno 911!. 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 being cast in The Interview (2014),^[9] portraying Kim Jong-un.

Park was a recurring character on The Mindy Project beginning in 2013. He played 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 February 2015, 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]

Park appeared in 2015 with John Malkovich in the music video for Eminem's single "Phenomenal". He also appeared as a co-worker of Amy Schumer's character in 2015's Trainwreck.

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.^[8] 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 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, and 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

Television

Music videos

Web series

References

External links

• Randall Park at the Internet Movie Database
• Comedy Zen