Stephanie Hsu

Stephanie Ann Hsu (/ˈʃuː/ SHOO: born November 25, 1990) is an American actress. She received critical acclaim for her dual role as Joy Wang and Jobu Tupaki in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), which earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Hsu trained at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and began her career in experimental theatre before starring on Broadway, originating the roles of Christine Canigula in Be More Chill (2015–2019) and Karen the Computer in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical (2016–2017). On television, she had recurring roles in the Hulu series The Path (2016–2018) and the Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2019–2023).

Early life and education

Hsu was born to a single mother in Torrance, California. Her maternal grandmother had moved from Mainland China to Taiwan to escape the Chinese Civil War. As a teenager, Hsu's mother moved to the United States for a better education. Hsu attended Palos Verdes Peninsula High School. She moved to Brooklyn to pursue theatre and graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts in 2012. She also trained with the Atlantic Theater Company.

Career

Hsu began her career in experimental theatre and comedy. From 2013 to 2015, Hsu made regular appearances on the MTV reality comedy series Girl Code. She landed her first recurring television role as Joy Armstrong in the Hulu series The Path.

Hsu was called in for the first table reading of The SpongeBob Musical in 2012 to read for Karen, the anthropomorphic computer. She would go on to play the character on stage in Chicago in 2016 before making her Broadway debut in 2017.

Meanwhile, Hsu originated the main character of Christine Canigula in the first performance of Be More Chill at the regional Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. She would reprise the role in its off-Broadway run at the Pershing Square Signature Center in 2018 and Broadway run at the Lyceum Theatre in 2019. For her performance, she received Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominations.

In 2019, Hsu joined the recurring cast of the Amazon Prime series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for its third season as Mei Lin. She and the rest of the cast won the 2020 SAG Award for Best Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Hsu starred in the 2020 independent film Asking for It.

Her breakthrough role came in 2022 when Hsu co-starred as Joy Wang, the depressed daughter of Michelle Yeoh's character, and as the nihilistic antagonist Jobu Tupaki in A24's absurdist comedy-drama film Everything Everywhere All at Once. The film opened at the 2022 South by Southwest (SXSW) to acclaim, and Hsu's performance was lauded by critics and audiences. She received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Breakthrough Performance and nominations for the Critics' Choice Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In June 2023, she was invited to join the Academy as an actor.

Hsu guest starred in the "Escape from Shit Mountain" episode of the first season of Peacock series Poker Face, which was released in 2023. Later that year, Hsu starred in Adele Lim's film Joy Ride. She also appeared in an episode of the Disney+ series American Born Chinese, reuniting with fellow Everything Everywhere All at Once costars Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, and James Hong.

Personal life

Hsu is queer.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Web

Awards and nominations

See also

• Taiwanese Americans in Los Angeles
• Asian Americans in arts and entertainment
• List of Academy Award winners and nominees of Asian descent
• List of LGBTQ Academy Award winners and nominees — Confirmed individuals for Best Supporting Actress
• List of actors with Academy Award nominations

External links

• at IMDb
• at the Internet Broadway Database
• at the Internet Off-Broadway Database (archived)
• at Playbill Vault