Charlyne Amanda Yi (born January 4, 1986) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer. Their performances include music, magic, games, and often audience participation. Their screenwriting debut, the feature film '' Paper Heart'', won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2009

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

. They are also known for their role as Dr.

Chi Park Chi Park, M.D. is a fictional character on the Fox medical drama '' House''. Portrayed by Los Angeles born actress and comedian Charlyne Yi, she joins Dr. Greg House's team of diagnosticians in the department of Diagnostic Medicine at the fic ...

on the Fox medical drama ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

'', the voice of Ruby on the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

animated series ''

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe ( Zach Callison), who lives with the Crystal Gems—magical, mineral ...

'' (2013–2019), and its epilogue series '' Steven Universe Future'', the voice of Chloe Park on ''

We Bare Bears ''We Bare Bears'' is an American animated sitcom created by Daniel Chong for Cartoon Network. The show follows three bear brothers, Grizzly, Panda, and Ice Bear, and their awkward attempts at integrating with the human world in the San Francisc ...

'' (2014–2019), the voice of Alice on ''

Summer Camp Island ''Summer Camp Island'' is an American animated television series created by Julia Pott for Cartoon Network. Produced by Cartoon Network Studios, it premiered on July 7, 2018. The series depicts the episodic adventures of Oscar and Hedgehog, bot ...

'' (2018–present), and the voice of Mai in ''Next Gen'' (2018).

Early life

Yi was raised in

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It is now a regional h ...

; their mother has Filipino and Spanish ancestry and their father is of Korean, Irish, Mexican, German, French and Native American descent. They attended the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

before leaving to pursue a full-time career in comedy. They had an early interest in performing while attending Bloomington High School and were involved in theatre.

Career

Yi began their career by performing in Bloomington, California. After high school, they performed shows in Los Angeles at

The Steve Allen Theater The Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry in Hollywood, California, was a 99-seat theater which was developed by founding artistic director Amit Itelman. Moved to The Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Theater. The Center for Inquiry is a nonprofit ...

, and

The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts (American actor), Ian Rober ...

. In 2005 and 2006 they performed in the New York Comedy Festival, and in 2007

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the '' Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (Chin ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. Yi's film debut was in

Judd Apatow Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American comedian, director, producer, and screenwriter, best known for his work in comedy and drama films. He is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he produced and directed the films '' ...

's 2007 film ''

Knocked Up ''Knocked Up'' is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, and Leslie Mann. It follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between a sl ...

''. In 2008, Yi performed as part of the Apatow for Destruction Live comedy show at Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival. In the 2009 film '' Paper Heart'', a "hybrid documentary" in which Yi served as both executive producer and co-writer, Yi starred as a fictional version of themself, alongside

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera (; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor and musician. He started his career as a child actor, voicing the character of Brother Bear on the children's television show ''The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series), The Berenstain ...

. Yi was chosen as one of ''

Venus Zine ''Venus Zine'' was a quarterly internationally circulated magazine covering women in music, film, art, entertainment, literature, fashion, indie culture and DIY culture. It was published from 1995 through 2010. Venuszine.com was the daily update ...

''s "25 under 25" women for 2009. They appeared alongside ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' cast member

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series '' Portlandia''. ...

in the 2009 music video for the song "Rabbit Habits" by Philadelphia experimental band

Man Man Man Man is an American experimental rock band from Philadelphia currently based in Los Angeles. Their multi-instrumental style is centered on the piano playing of lead singer, songwriter, and lyricist Honus (Ryan Kattner). Honus is accompanied ...

. Yi and

Paul Rust Paul Robert Rust (born April 12, 1981) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred in the 2009 film '' I Love You, Beth Cooper'' and in the Netflix series ''Love''. Early life Rust was born in Le Mars, Iowa, the son of Jeanne and Bob ...

formed the band The Glass Beef. The duo share one electric guitar and both sing lead vocals. In 2006, they released their debut album, ''The Farewell Album'', produced by John Spiker, bassist of

Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "tenacio ...

. Yi was featured in the video "Song Away" by

Hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

. They are currently in the band Sacred Destinies. In January 2010, Yi performed a duet about break-up lines (the opposite of pick-up lines) with

Demetri Martin Demetri Evan Martin ( el, Δημήτριος Ευάγγελος Μάρτιν, ''Dimitrios Evangelos Martin''; born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, cartoonist and musician. He was a contributor on ''The Daily Show'' ...

on the episode "2" for the Comedy Central sketch series ''

Important Things with Demetri Martin ''Important Things with Demetri Martin'' was a sketch-variety show that aired on Comedy Central starring comedian Demetri Martin. Each episode examined a single theme, the "important thing", such as timing, power, control and money. All sketches ...

''. However, the duet was cut from the final edit of the episode. From October 2011 to May 2012, Yi starred in the

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

television series ''House'' as Dr. Chi Park, a young doctor with

anger management Anger management is a psycho-therapeutic program for anger prevention and control. It has been described as deploying anger successfully.Schwarts, Gil. July 2006. Anger Management', July 2006 The Office Politic. Men's Health magazine. Emmaus, PA: ...

issues.

Non-profit work

Yi has been involved with

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent charitable organizations focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. History Founded at 17 Broad Street, Oxford, as the Oxford Co ...

America since 2010, working to raise awareness about poverty and hunger around the world. Yi started the non-profit Caring is Cool in 2011, and hosted a benefit show to raise money for the organization.

Personal life

Yi describes their gender identity as "

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

genderfluid Non-binary and genderqueer are umbrella terms for gender identities that are not solely male or femaleidentities that are outside the gender binary. Non-binary identities fall under the transgender umbrella, since non-binary people typicall ...

enby". On

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, Yi accused

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

of sexual harassment on the set of ''

''. In 2018

Amber Tamblyn Amber Rose Tamblyn (born May 14, 1983) is an American actress and writer. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' as Emily Quartermaine at the age of 11. She followed with a starring role on the pr ...

said of her husband

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, director, and writer known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series ''Mr. Show'' (1995–1998), and his role as Tobias Fünke in the Fox/Netflix sitcom ...

, "Basically he was rightfully accused of doing something racist to the comedian Charlyne Yi," following tweets that Yi had posted on the subject in 2017. In 2021, they spoke out about their experience with

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. For his role in '' 127 Hours'' (2010), he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Franco is known for his roles in films, such as Sam Raimi's ''Spider-M ...

, specifically discussing their efforts to quit his 2017 film, ''

The Disaster Artist ''The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made'' is a 2013 non-fiction book written by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell. Sestero details the troubled development and production of the 2003 cult film ''The Room,'' hi ...

,'' after learning of the sexual misconduct allegations against him. Yi also criticized

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series ''Freaks and Geeks'', and then got a part on ...

for enabling Franco's behavior and continuing to work with him following the allegations.

Filmography

Film

Television

Books

References

External links

*
June 2009 Interview
with ''

L.A. Record ''L.A. Record'' is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In Mar ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Yi, Charlyne 1986 births Living people 21st-century American actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century LGBT people Actors from Los Angeles County, California American actors of Filipino descent American actors of Korean descent American actors of Mexican descent American comedians of Asian descent American comedy musicians American film actors American musicians of Filipino descent American musicians of Korean descent American musicians of Mexican descent American non-binary actors American people of French descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American people of Spanish descent American people who self-identify as being of Native American descent American performance artists American stand-up comedians American television actors American voice actors American LGBT people of Asian descent LGBT people from California Non-binary comedians Non-binary musicians Non-binary voice actors Non-binary writers People from Fontana, California University of California, Riverside alumni Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers