Stephanie Ann Hsu (/ˈʃuː/ SHOO; born November 25, 1990) is an American actress. She originated the theatrical roles of Christine Canigula in Be More Chill and Karen the Computer in The SpongeBob Musical, performing in the Broadway runs of both. On screen, she had a recurring role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019–present) before co-starring in the comedy-drama film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) in the dual roles of Joy Wang and Jobu Tupaki, for which she received widespread acclaim by reviewers and viewers and it earned her a nomination for the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress.
Early life
Hsu was born to a single mother in Torrance, California. Her maternal grandmother moved from Mainland China to Taiwan to escape the civil war between Communist forces and Kuomintang troops. As a teenager, Hsu's mother moved to the United States for a better education. Hsu attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. She moved to Brooklyn to pursue theatre and graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2012. She also trained with the Atlantic Theater Company.
Career
Hsu began her career in experimental theatre and comedy. From 2013 to 2015, Hsu made regular appearances on the MTV reality comedy series Girl Code. She landed her first recurring television role as Joy Armstrong in the Hulu series The Path.
Hsu was called in for the first table reading of The SpongeBob Musical in 2012 to read for Karen, the anthropomorphic computer. She would go on to play the character on stage in Chicago in 2016 before making her Broadway debut in 2017.
Meanwhile, Hsu originated the main character of Christine Canigula in the first performance of Be More Chill at the regional Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. She would reprise the role in its off-Broadway run at the Pershing Square Signature Center in 2018 and Broadway run at the Lyceum Theatre in 2019. For her performance, she received Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations.
In 2019, Hsu joined the recurring cast of the Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for its third season as Mei Lin. She and the rest of the cast won the 2020 SAG Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Hsu starred in the 2020 independent film Asking for It.
Her breakthrough role came in 2022 when Hsu co-starred as Joy Wang, the depressed daughter of Michelle Yeoh's character, and as the nihilistic antagonist Jobu Tupaki in the A24's absurdist sci-fi dramatic comedy film Everything Everywhere All At Once. The film opened at the 2022 South By Southwest (SXSW) to near-universal acclaimed, and Hsu's performance was lauded by critics and audiences. She received the Independent Spirit Award For Best Breakthrough Performance and a nomination for the Critics' Choice Awards, to the Screen Actors' Guild and to the Academy Award For Best Supporting Actress.
In April 2021, it was announced Hsu would star in Adele Lim's upcoming film Joy Ride. In April 2021, it was announced Hsu would be a guest star in Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne's Peacock series Poker Face. She is also set to appear in Disney 's American Born Chinese, reuniting with Yeoh and fellow Everything Everywhere All At Once costar Ke Huy Quan.
