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- Stephanie Hsu is an American actress who got her start on Broadway
- The artist had a recurring role on TV’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
- She earned a SAG and Oscar nomination for ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’
Stephanie Hsu made a name for herself on the 2023 awards circuit for her compelling work in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Playing dual roles of daughter and villain in the multiverses of the hilarious sci-fi film, Stephanie earned an acting nomination from both the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Academy Awards.
While she lost the SAG to her co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie did take home Breakthrough Performance at the Independent Spirit Awards. Plus, she still has Sunday’s Oscars to secure the top prize.
And come time for the ceremony, she won’t be alone, as Everything Everywhere All At Once has racked up 11 Oscar nominations in all, including a Best Actress Oscar nod for Michelle Yeoh and Best Supporting Actor nod for Ke Huy Quan. Unfortunately, Stephanie will be up against her co-star Jammie Lee again for Best Supporting Actress!
With all the hype surrounding the film and its celebrated cast, fans want to know more about the stunningly gorgeous actress. Let’s take a deep dive to learn all about Stephanie, below.
Stephanie is a Southern California native
The star was born on November 25, 1990 in Torrance, California, just outside Los Angeles. There she attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School before moving to Brooklyn to pursue acting. Stephanie ended up graduating from N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2012 with a BFA in drama. She also trained with the Atlantic Theater Company.
“I was born in the South Bay, and then I lived in New York for 11 years. That, I think, was the huge thing that shaped me,” she told Deadline in 2022. “I always thought I’d be bicoastal, and I go all the time for work, but I don’t need to plant myself there as much anymore.”
She worked on a farm before performing on Broadway
During her studies in New York, Stephanie paid the bills by doing what aspiring actors usually do: farm. “I worked on a farm when I was in college,” she divulged to Deadline. “I really love agriculture, and valuing something outside of what this industry is just keeps me sane and healthy.”
After she graduated and left the farm behind, Stephanie won the roles in two Broadway productions: SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical and Be More Chill. “I started in experimental theater and comedy. I never wanted an agent, never wanted to do commercial stuff,” she said to Deadline. “Truth be told, I think I was really afraid to sell out, because at that time there was no Crazy Rich Asians. I was one of two Asian people in my acting class, and then one of maybe less than 10 people of color in the whole department.”
How Stephanie landed ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’
After her run on the Great White Way, Stephanie joined her Saturday Night Live star buddy Bowen Yang on an episode of Nora from Queens, where she met Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, the directors of Everything Everywhere. The trio hit it off instantly at the time and the duo asked her to be a part in their next project.
“The first day we worked together, they blew a leaf blower into my face, made me speed rap against a green screen and then Daniel Scheinert got up on a ladder to dump mud on me,” she recalled to Deadline. “I said, ‘These are my guys,’ and followed them out to L.A. Within a week of getting there, they called me to say, ‘Hey, we’re working on this movie. No pressure, but we think you’d be perfect for it.'”
She said film representation of Asians still has a long way to go
While Stephanie said she was ecstatic for the 2023 Oscars to have a record-breaking number of Asians as nominated actors, she also said that there is still work to be done for representation in Hollywood. “We have to remember that so much change continues to happen, and we’ve crossed a few thresholds in the last five to 10 years. I’m excited for us to cross that threshold and find new ways of including and measuring art,” she told Variety.
“Responsibility … I feel like that’s been my whole career,” she added. “When I got to be a female lead on Broadway, or on Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and played a bilingual Chinese woman in the 1950s on television, those barriers were in front of me before they were kicked down. I was brought up in an artistic community where regardless of identity, any opportunity you have is an opportunity to bring 10 other people with you. That is my greatest joy. This is beyond race, identity and sexuality. This is about making people who are good, good artists.”
Stephanie’s acting dance card is full, including a Ryan Gosling project
Stephanie’s next film, Joy Ride, directed by Crazy Rich Asians writer Adele Lim, will screen at SXSW. “We’re going to play the second weekend because I have to go to the Oscars,” she told Variety. “It’s pretty wild.” She is also set to appear in Disney+’s American Born Chinese, reuniting with fellow Everything Everywhere All At Once costars Michelle and Ke Huy!
“It’ll be sweet,” she told the outlet of working with her fellow Oscar nominees again. “I pop in and out…but people are so excited that we’re all together. The show is going to be really special.”
She’s also working on the upcoming comedy The Fall Guy with Ryan Gosling. “Ryan is hilarious, and he’s someone cut from the same cloth as well because he’s someone who is invested in the craft of the story and protects the story,” she told Variety. “There’s been a lot of giggling happening.”