Ken Jeong Biography

Kendrick Kang-Joh "Ken" Jeong (born July 13, 1969) is an American comedian, actor, and physician. He is best known for his role as Leslie Chow in The Hangover trilogy and as Ben Chang on the NBC comedy series Community.

Early life

Jeong was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of South Korean immigrants Young and Dong-Kuen Jeong, who was a professor at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jeong was raised in Greensboro and attended Walter Hines Page High School, where he took part in the High IQ team, played violin in the orchestra, and was elected to student council. He graduated at 16 and his achievements earned him Greensboro's Youth of the Year award.

Career

Medicine

Jeong completed his undergraduate studies at Duke University in 1990 and obtained his M.D. degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995. He then completed his internal medicine residency at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans while developing his stand-up comedy. Jeong is licensed as a physician in the state of California.

Show business

Jeong won the Big Easy Laff-Off, of which NBC president Brandon Tartikoff and The Improv founder Budd Friedman were judges, and they both urged Jeong to move to Los Angeles. Jeong began performing regularly at the Improv and Laugh Factory comedy clubs. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he initially practiced medicine for several years as a general practitioner at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Woodland Hills.

Jeong's background in theater and improv has led to several television appearances, including NBC's The Office, HBO's Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Jeong made his feature film debut as Dr. Kuni in Judd Apatow's Knocked Up which proved to be his breakout performance; from that point forward he was able to transition from medicine into a full-time career in the entertainment industry. Subsequently, he has appeared in Pineapple Express; Role Models as King Argotron; All About Steve; The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard; Couples Retreat; and as Mr. Chow in The Hangover, The Hangover Part II, and The Hangover Part III. He co-starred in Zookeeper and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released in summer 2011.

He attacked (kayfabe) pro wrestler John Cena with a cane on the August 3, 2009 episode of WWE Raw.

Jeong is a series regular as Señor Ben Chang on NBC's sitcom Community.

He was nominated for two 2010 MTV Movie Awards, winning the award for Best WTF Moment as well as being nominated for MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for The Hangover.

He was also nominated for "Male Breakout Star" for Community at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards.

In the fall of 2010, Adidas basketball began a wide-ranging marketing campaign in which Jeong stars as the character "Slim Chin" alongside NBA stars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose.

On May 22, 2011, Jeong hosted the 2011 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on ABC.

On June 15, 2011, he was featured in a Hands Only CPR PSA campaign from the American Heart Association.

He won a Streamy Award for "Best Guest Appearance" for Burning Love.

In 2013, he appeared in Michael Bay's Pain & Gain (2013), as Johnny Wu, a motivational speaker, and returned, in a significantly expanded role, as Mr. Chow in The Hangover Part III.

Jeong will star in and produce the film The Chung Factor, which was purchased by Lionsgate on October 25, 2011.

In an unusual, if informal, partnership, Jamie Foxx and Jeong have each agreed to star in movies written and produced by the other. Foxx has agreed to take a lead role in a new movie Jeong will produce called After Prom. Jeong will star in All-Star Weekend, a comedy Foxx is developing at his production company about two friends who find themselves fans of opposing NBA stars.

Personal life

Jeong's wife, Tran Ho, is Vietnamese American and is also a physician. They have twin daughters, Alexa and Zooey, and live in Southern California.

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2007	Knocked Up	Dr. Kuni
2008	Step Brothers	Employment Agent
	Pineapple Express	Ken
	Role Models	King Argotron
2009	The Hangover	Mr. Chow	MTV Movie Awards for Best WTF Moment Nominated"?MTV Movie Awards for Best Villain Nominated"?Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Villain
	The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard	Teddy Dang
	All About Steve	Angus
	Couples Retreat	Therapist No.2
2010	How to Make Love to a Woman	Curtis Lee
	Furry Vengeance	Neal Lyman
	Despicable Me	Talk Show Host	Voice
	Vampires Suck	Daro
2011	Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son	Mailman	Cameo
	Zookeeper	Venom
	The Hangover Part II	Mr. Chow	Nominated"?Teen Choice Award Choice Movie: Male Scene Stealer
	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	Jerry Wang
	'	Punch Teacher host	Cameo
2013	Pain & Gain	Jonny Wu
	The Hangover Part III	Mr. Chow
	Rapture-Palooza	God
	Despicable Me 2	Floyd Eagle-san	Voice
	Turbo	Kim-Ly	Voice

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1997	The Big Easy	Dr. Tang	Episode: "Night Music"
2001	The Downer Channel	Store Owner	Episode: "1.2"
2002	Girls Behaving Badly	Various characters	Main cast
2003	Cedric the Entertainer Presents	Asian Thunder	1 episode
2003"2005	MADtv	Various characters	4 episodes
2004	Significant Others	Gynecologist	Episode: "An Ache, a Fake & Forgot to Brake"
	Crossing Jordan	Steve Choi	Episode: "Slam Dunk"
	Grounded for Life	Owner	Episode: "I'm Looking Through You"
2005	Two and a Half Men	Male Nurse	Episode: "Woo-Hoo, a Hernia-Exam!"
	The Office	Bill	Episode: "E-mail Surveillance"
2006	Three Strikes	Roido's Interpreter	TV-pilot
	Entourage	Coffee Shop Manager	Episode: "The Release"
2007	The Shield	Skip Osaka	Episode: "Back to One"
	Curb Your Enthusiasm	Man in Jersey No.1	Episode: "The Anonymous Donor"
	Boston Legal	Coroner Myron Okubo	Episode: "The Innocent Man"
2008	'Til Death	Dr. Park	Episodes: "Snip/Duck" "Circumdecision"
	Worst Week	Phil	Episodes: "The Bird" "The Apartment"
2009, 2011	American Dad!	Dr. Perlmutter Butch Johnson	Voice Episodes: "Family Affair" "Every Which Way But Lose" "Flirting with Disaster"
2009	Party Down	Alan Duk	Episodes: "Sin Say Shun Awards After Party" "Stennheiser-Pong Wedding Reception"
	Men of a Certain Age	Kuo	Episode: "Pilot"
2009"present	Community	Señor Ben Chang	Series Regular TV Guide Award Favorite Ensemble (2012) Nominated"?Teen Choice Award Choice TV: Male Breakout Star (2010)
2012	Mary Shelley's Frankenhole	Hyralius	Episode: "Maly Sherrey's Hyralius, Mutant Monster!"
	Bob's Burgers	Dr. Yap	Voice Episode: "Dr. Yap"
2013	Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness	Woo	Voice Episode: "Shifu's Back!" "Secret Admirer"
	Sullivan & Son	Jason	Episode: "The Pilot, One More Time"

Web

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2012	Burning Love	Ballerina	Season 1 Won"?Streamy Award Best Guest Appearance (2012)