Who Is Bowen Yang?

Andrew Bowen Yang is a stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster who made history by being the first Chinese-American cast member of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live.”
Who Is Bowen Yang and What Does He Do?
Born in Australia in 1990, Bowen Yang grew up in Canada and Colorado before returning to Australia. On Saturday Night Live, he is the first Chinese-American cast member in the program’s history, as well as the first homosexual male to be on the show for more than one season. 

A fresh point of view was introduced to SNL by Yang, who often performed in and/or wrote situations in which queerness was infused into characters without being exploited as a joke. As well as his work on the podcast Las Culturistas, Yang has featured on a number of television productions, including Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens, in which he played an important part.

Early Childhood and Family Life

Bowen Yang was born in Brisbane, Australia, in 1990. Yang’s family relocated from China to Australia so that his father could seek a degree in mining engineering at the University of Queensland. Yang has said that if his parents had remained in China, he would not have been born because of the one-child policy in existence at the time.

Yang’s mother worked as a gynecologist in her native China. Yang was raised in a Chinese-speaking household and attended Chinese Sunday school with his sister.

Yang’s family moved from Australia to Canada when he was a child, where they settled just outside of Montreal. When Yang was nine years old, the family relocated to Aurora, a Denver suburb. There, he developed a strong affection for Saturday Night Live.

Yang attended Smoky Hill High School and was a member of the improv ensemble Spontaneous Combustion, which performed in front of an audience. He was selected “Most Likely to Be a Cast Member on Saturday Night Live” before graduating from high school in 2008.

The Effects of Conversion Therapy and Their Aftermath
As a teen, Yang accidentally left a chat window open on a shared family computer, which notified his parents that their son was homosexual. Yang described what occurred next to The New York Times: “After that, they sat me down and said, ‘We don’t understand what you are saying.’ This does not occur in our own country.'”

“I have never seen my father weep until that time,” Yang told GQ. “And every day when I got home from school, he was weeping.” Yang’s parents arranged for him to attend conversion therapy sessions in Colorado Springs, which was a two-hour drive away. He consented to go. He described his feelings about the encounter as follows: “It was completely out of control. Pseudoscience may be used to explain the LGBT away.”

Yang was permitted to attend New York University after finishing the term of conversion treatment, where his sister was already enrolled and could keep an eye on him. Yang came out to his family for the second time during his college years. He waited until his parents started to accept, or at the very least live with, his sexual orientation, despite their initial disapproval. “Every now and again, my father will toe that line and say, “You might try ladies!” Yang is expected to be inducted in 2020. “And I’m like, “No, don’t.” If such a thing as adorable homophobia exists, then this is it.”

Yang’s bond with his family is still solid now. The two of them have had vacations together, and his parents are pleased with his performance on Saturday Night Live. “They understand that that position has been fought for and that it means a great deal to me, and they understand that it means a great deal to them as well,” Yang said in 2021. “They say to themselves, ‘Wow, he managed it.’ And my mother recently told me, ‘Bowen, you’re really fortunate to be doing what you’re doing.’ I said, ‘I know, mom.'”