Awkwafina was born on Long Island, New York, on June 2, 1988, as Nora Lum to Tia, a Korean-American painter, and Wally, who is of Chinese origin. She was raised in the Forest Hills district of Queens. Awkwafina’s mother died when she was four, and she was raised by her father and paternal grandparents. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School as a kid, where she studied jazz and classical music and played the trumpet. She adopted the sobriquet “Awkwafina” at this time. She studied Mandarin at the Beijing Language and Culture University from 2006 to 2008. Following that, Awkwafina attended the State University of New York’s University at Albany, where she earned degrees in journalism and women’s studies in 2011.
Career
Awkwafina worked as an intern at the Gotham Gazette and the Times Union in New York before entering the entertainment industry. She also worked as a PR assistant for the publishing company Rodale Books. Awkwafina eventually put her long-standing rap abilities to work. Her song “My Vag,” which went popular on YouTube in 2012, gave her a chance. She was sacked from her job at Rodale Books after her boss identified her in the video. Awkwafina went on to work in a vegan bodega. “Yellow Ranger,” her debut hip-hop album, was published in 2014. She also starred in many episodes of the MTV comedy television series “Girl Code” that year, and she later co-hosted a spin-off called “Girl Code Live.” From 2015 to 2017, Awkwafina presented the online series “Tawk,” a short-form conversation show.
Awkwafina made her film debut in 2016 as a supporting actress in the comedic sequel “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising.” She also provided the voice for the animated children’s feature “Storks” that year. In addition to the coming-of-age dramedy “Dude,” Awkwafina co-starred in the heist comedy spinoff “Ocean’s 8” and the romance dramedy “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018. She portrayed Goh Peik Lin, a Singaporean companion of the main female character, in the latter.
Awkwafina had her busiest film year yet in 2019, appearing in five projects. The fantasy flicks “Paradise Hills” and “Jumanji: The Next Level” were among them. Nevertheless, Awkwafina’s most notable 2019 film was “The Goodbye,” in which she appeared as a Chinese-American lady visiting her dying grandmother in China. Awkwafina won the Golden Globe for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical for her performance. She later appeared in the crime drama “Breaking News in Yuba County,” the Disney animated film “Raya and the Last Dragon,” in which she voiced Sisu the dragon, the Marvel superhero film “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” the science-fiction drama “Swan Song,” and the animated comedy “The Bad Guys.”
In 2017, Awkwafina earned her first regular series acting job, appearing in three episodes of the Hulu streaming series “Future Man.” She later appeared in episodes of “Weird City,” “The Simpsons,” and “Tuca & Bertie,” as well as in the Netflix streaming series “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance” as skekLach the Collector. Awkwafina debuted her programme, “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens,” in 2020, on which she stars, writes, and executive produces. The comedy, which airs on Comedy Central, follows a twenty-something woman in Queens as she navigates the ups and downs of early adulthood.
Awkwafina has also appeared in a Gap commercial campaign focusing on emerging artists who remix their creative cultures as they see appropriate. In 2015, she published “Awkwafina’s NYC,” a travel guide. She later headlined EEEEEATSCON, the annual culinary event of restaurant recommendation service The Infatuation, in 2019.
Net Worth
Awkwafina is an $8 million-wealthy American rapper, comedian, actor, and television personality. Awkwafina rose to prominence in 2012 with her popular YouTube song “My Vag.” She went on to record a hip-hop album, feature in MTV’s comedy series “Girl Code,” and act in films such as “Ocean’s 8,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” and “The Goodbye.” Awkwafina is the co-creator and writer of the television series “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens,” among other things.
