NBC recently announced that Bowen Yang would join the cast of Saturday Night Live, one of a handful of Asian Americans to ever be part of the long running program. Since the release of the news, Yang has been praised by numerous media outlets for breaking boundaries in the comedic world .
Yang is a child of immigrant parents who came from China. He acquired his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from New York University. Before joining the casting team at SNL, Yang was already a staff writer for the sketch show.
This isn’t Yang’s first appearance in front of the camera on the show. He had a previous role portraying North Korean leader Kim Jung Un back in March with Sandra Oh. According to a previous interview with NBC News, Yang revealed that joining SNL as a writer was a huge milestone for his career. His contribution to the team not only added color but also a queer personality .
Leslie Jones also started as a writer on SNL before joining the regular cast in 2014. She is now leaving the program.
Aside from his SNL endeavors, Yang also co-hosts the comedy podcast Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers produced on Forever Dog Podcasts. Las Culturistas is a contemporary pop-culture talk show where Yang and Roger converse about the latest trends and news that forms the pop-culture experience. He told Forbes magazine in Nov. 2018 that starting Las Culturistas is one of his greatest achievements. The magazine listed Yang in its 2019 list of 30 Under 30 award in Hollywood and entertainment. In addition, Yang is also well-known on Twitter for posting unforgettable lip-sync videos.
He joins the cast of SNL 45th season alongside with Chloe Fineman and Shane Gillis.
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