Midori Iwama (born April 16, 1994), known professionally as Midori Francis, is an American actress. She began her career in theatre, earning

NYIT The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a private research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long Island, and one in Manhattan. Additionally, it has a cybersecur ...

, Obie, and

Drama Desk Awards The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...

. She received a

Daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

nomination for her role as Lily in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

series '' Dash & Lily'' (2020).

Early life and education

Francis grew up in

Rumson, New Jersey Rumson is a borough in Monmouth County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and is part of the New York Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the borough’s population was 7,343, reflecting a 3.1% increase from the 7,122 enumera ...

. She is the daughter of Joanne and Ken Iwama, the current chancellor of

Indiana University Northwest Indiana University Northwest (IU Northwest) is a public university in Gary, Indiana. It is a regional campus of Indiana University and was established in 1963. Academics IU Northwest is located on a campus in the northwest corner of the state. ...

. Named after her paternal grandmother, Francis is of

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

descent on her father's side and Irish and Italian on her mother's. On growing up in a predominantly white town in the 90s and early 2000s, she commented "I was teased a lot for being Asian, I was bullied, made to feel like I was ugly or weird". She identifies as

Hapa Hapa is a Hawaiian word for someone of multiracial ancestry. In Hawaii, the word refers to any person of mixed ethnic heritage, regardless of the specific mixture.: "Thus, for locals in Hawai’i, both hapa or hapa haole are used to depict p ...

(a term for people of mixed European and Asian or Pacific Islander ancestry). Francis attended Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School, graduating in 2009. She went on to obtain a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting from the

Mason Gross School of the Arts Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is named for Mason W. Gross, the sixteenth president of Rutgers. Mason Gross offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance, Theater, Digi ...

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

in 2014. She studied abroad in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, training with Tim Carroll and performing ''

The Two Gentlemen of Verona ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1589 and 1593. It is considered by some to be Shakespeare's first play, and is often seen as showing his first tentative steps in laying ...

'' at

Shakespeare's Globe Shakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse for which William Shakespeare wrote his plays, in the London Borough of Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames. The original theatre was built in ...

Career

Upon graduating from Rutgers, Francis landed stage roles in regional productions of ''

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike ''Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike'' is a comedy play written by Christopher Durang. The story revolves around the relationships of three middle-aged single siblings, two of whom live together, and takes place during a visit by the third, ...

'' and ''

Peter and the Starcatcher ''Peter and the Starcatcher'' is a play based on the 2004 novel '' Peter and the Starcatchers'' by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, adapted for the stage by Rick Elice. The play provides a backstory for the characters of Peter Pan, Mrs Darling, Ti ...

'' as Nina and Molly respectively. She won Best Actress at the 2016

New York Innovative Theatre Awards The New York Innovative Theatre Awards (also known as NYIT Awards and IT Awards) are accolades given annually by the New York Innovative Theatre Foundation, a not-for-profit arts organization founded in 2004, to honor individuals and organizat ...

as well as receiving a Best Ensemble nomination for her role as Meghan in the Off-Broadway play ''Connected'' at 59E59 Theaters. From 2017 to 2018, she was in the original cast of '' The Wolves'', garnering ensemble awards at the Obie and

. At the latter, Francis was also nominated for Outstanding Actress in Play for her role in Ming Peiffer's ''Usual Girls''. In 2018, Francis made her feature film debut in ''

Ocean's 8 ''Ocean's Eight'' (stylized onscreen as ''Ocean's 8'') is a 2018 American heist action thriller comedy film directed by Gary Ross and written by Ross and Olivia Milch. The film is both a continuation of and a spin-off from Steven Soderbergh's ...

''. The following year, she appeared in '' South Mountain'' and '' Good Boys''. In October 2019, it was announced Francis would star in her first lead role opposite

Austin Abrams Austin Noah Abrams (born September 2, 1996) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Ron Anderson in the fifth and sixth seasons of the television series '' The Walking Dead'' (2015–2016), as Ethan Daley in ''Euphoria'' (since 2019) ...

in the 2020

Christmas romantic comedy series '' Dash & Lily'', an adaptation of the young adult novel by

David Levithan David Levithan (born September 7, 1972) is an American young adult fiction author and editor."David Levithan". October 30, 2008. Gale Database. ''Contemporary Authors Online''. UWM Golda Meir Library, Milwaukee. July 1, 2009. He has written numer ...

and

Rachel Cohn Rachel Cohn (born December 14, 1968) is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, '' Gingerbread'', was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collabora ...

. Francis was included in the creative process, as elements from her real life background and experiences were incorporated. For her performance, Francis was nominated for Lead Actress in a Daytime Fiction Program at the 2021

Daytime Emmy Awards The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

. Francis appeared alongside Victoria Justice in the Netflix fantasy comedy film ''

Afterlife of the Party ''Afterlife of the Party'' is a 2021 American supernatural comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Carrie Freedle. The film stars Victoria Justice as Cassie and Midori Francis as Lisa, two friends who experience challenges in th ...

'' in 2021. In March 2021, it was announced Francis had joined the main cast of the

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

series ''

The Sex Lives of College Girls ''The Sex Lives of College Girls'' is an American teen comedy-drama streaming television series created by Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble that premiered on HBO Max on November 18, 2021. In December 2021, the series was renewed for a second seas ...

'', which premiered later that year. In January 2022, Francis was set to star in the TV thriller film ''Unseen'' with Jolene Purdy, helmed by Yoko Okumura in her feature directing debut.

Personal life

Francis identifies as queer. She is vocal about Asian representation in media and speaks frequently about her experience as an Asian-American in Hollywood.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Midori Living people 1994 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from New Jersey American actresses of Japanese descent American film actors of Asian descent American film actresses American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent American stage actresses American LGBT actors American LGBT people of Asian descent LGBT people from New Jersey Mason Gross School of the Arts alumni People from Rumson, New Jersey Queer actresses Queer women Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School alumni Rutgers University alumni