“I didn’t grow up wanting to be an actor,” begins Hong Chau. Known for her roles in Downsizing , The Menu and The Whale —the last one earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress—Chau has spent the past 18 years building an impressive repertoire. But Hollywood, she muses, was never on her mind growing up.
The daughter of Vietnamese refugees, Chau describes herself as a quiet child who found her sanctuary in school and books. After graduating with a degree in film production—switching from a major in creative writing at the persuasion of her father who encouraged her to pursue something more practical—she began taking improvisation and public speaking classes after work as a way to combat her introversion. “I knew it was a problem that I had such difficulty talking to and being open with people,” she shares.
Acting lessons later joined the mix. One thing led to the next, and soon, she found herself in audition rooms. “This was at the time when you could look in the back of the newspaper and find different auditions,” Chau says.
“It wasn’t that I thought that I would get anything, but there was a thrill in being scared but overcoming the fear and getting it done. Eventually, I landed a role and that’s how my acting career started.” It’s hard to imagine, chatting with Chau now, that she once struggled with shyness.
She is introspective and thoughtful with her words, but speaks with a quiet confidence that belies her years of .