Musician/actress Awkwafina was born Nora Lum June 2, 1988 in New York City, New York. Wednesday, June 2, 2021 is her 33rd birthday. Although young, she has already developed a substantial Geek Cred: Future Man, Weird City, The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run, Raya and the Last Dragon, Jumanji :The Next Level, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and more on the way.

Music

Awkwafina at the 2020 Golden Globes {image via Wikipedia}

Awkwafina began her career as a rapper when she was only thirteen. At Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts she played the trumpet and was trained in classical music and jazz. When she was twenty-two, her rap song “My Vag” became popular on YouTube. She has two albums, Yellow Ranger (2014) and In Fina We Trust (2018). Her second album won the 2019 A2IM Libera Award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album.

Voicework

Awkwafina already has an impressive pile of voice acting credits (interestingly, not all of it for animation):

  • She voiced Quail in the 2016 animated film Storks.
  • Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019), she was the voice of Courtney.
  • In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, she voiced one of the Skeksis, skekLach the Collector.
  • She portrayed Otto in The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run (2020).
  • In the live-action remake of Disney’s The Little Mermaid (currently being filmed), she voices Scuttle, Ariel’s bird friend.
  • More famously as of late, she was Sisu, the water dragon, in Raya and the Last Dragon.
  • She will be Ms. Tarantula in the animated feature The Bad Guys (due out in 2022).

She’s provided the voice of television characters as well, once for an episode of Tuca & Bertie, and twice on The Simpsons, first as once as Dr. Chang, once as Carmen. She also was the voice of Annie In the HBO series Animals.

Additional Genre Roles

Awkwafina will be appearing in the clone movie Swan Song with Mahershala Ali (Luke Cage, Hidden Figures) She’s appeared in the TV shows Future Man and Weird City. Awkwafina is joining the MCU in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, due to be released later this year. She was also Ming in Jumanji: The Next Level.

Other Roles

Awkwafina created and stars in the semi-autobiographical series Awkwafina is Nora from Queens. She was the first Asian-American woman to win a Golden Globe award in any lead actress film category. She won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical for her role as Billi Wang in The Farewell. She co-starred in Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean’s Eight. She appeared in Breaking News in Yuba County. She once hosted an episode of Saturday Night Live,

Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to a very busy, successful young lady: actress, musician, TV producer. Here’s wishing you a long and sucessful career.

-30-

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Susan Macdonald

Susan Macdonald is the author of the children's book "R is for Renaissance Faire", as well as 26 short stories, mostly fantasy in "Alternative Truths", "Swords and Sorceress #30", Swords &Sorceries Vols. 1, 2, & 5, "Cat Tails" "Under Western Stars", and "Knee-High Drummond and the Durango Kid". Her articles have appeared on SCIFI.radio's web site, in The Inquisitr, and in The Millington Star. She enjoys Renaissance Faires (see book above), science fiction conventions,  Highland Games, and Native American pow-wows.