Hong Chau (born June 25, 1979) is an American actress who is most known for her performance in the 2022 film The Whale, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and other supporting-actress awards. Her breakthrough role was in the 2017 film Downsizing, for which she was nominated for several supporting-actress awards. Variety wrote in 2022 that Chau had "been prolific in recent years" and that she had "an acclaimed turn" in the TV series Watchmen (2019) and Homecoming (2018–2020).
Before Downsizing, she appeared in the TV series Treme (2010–2013) and the film Inherent Vice (2014). In 2018, she had guest star roles in several TV series. In 2019, she played a supporting role in the limited series Watchmen, and had leading roles in the films American Woman and Driveways. In 2020, she had a starring role in the second season of the TV series Homecoming, having had a supporting role in its first season in 2018. In 2022, she appeared in supporting roles in the films Showing Up, The Menu, and The Whale.
Chau was born to Vietnamese parents who lived in a refugee camp in Thailand after fleeing Vietnam in the late 1970s. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans, Louisiana sponsored Chau and her family to move to the United States. She grew up in New Orleans and studied film at Boston University before pursuing an acting career.
Early life
Before Hong Chau was born, her parents and her two brothers lived in Vietnam. In 1979, the family was among the Vietnamese boat people who fled their country, and Chau's mother was six months pregnant with her. During their escape, Chau's father was shot and nearly bled to death. Chau was born in a refugee camp in Thailand on June 25 that year. A Vietnamese Catholic church in New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States arranged for a local Vietnamese family to sponsor her family. Chau grew up speaking Vietnamese as her first language, and later learned English in school. Her family lived in government housing and used subsidized lunch programs.
Chau was raised in New Orleans East and attended Eleanor McMain Secondary School and Benjamin Franklin High School. She finished at Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Her parents worked as dishwashers then ran a convenience store, working to ensure that the children could attend college. Chau said her parents, who speak in heavy Vietnamese accents, were shunned as Asian migrants. She said, "My whole life, I've always felt like I was the more acceptable of my parents, and they were always the people who had to stay in the background, or hide in the broom closet."
Receiving Pell Grants, Chau attended Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts, where she initially studied creative writing. She changed her major to film studies when her parents requested that she study something more practical. She explored acting to challenge her introversion; she acted in other students' short films and was encouraged to pursue acting. After college, Chau got a job with PBS and anticipated a career in documentaries. Chau started taking public speaking classes to overcome being introverted, which led to improv classes. When Chau met a sitcom TV director, he encouraged her to move to Los Angeles and to get in contact with him. Chau decided to move to LA and began seeking acting opportunities there.
