Jessica Lu is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Ming Huang on the MTV television series Awkward.

Jessica Lu
Jessica Lu in 2014
Born
Alma materColumbia College Chicago
OccupationActress
Years active2009–present

Early life

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Jessica Lu was born and raised in Schaumburg,[1] a northwest suburb of Chicago, Illinois. Her parents are from South Korea, with her father being Chinese and Japanese, and her mother Chinese. They speak English, Mandarin and Korean at home. Her father is a photographer, and her mother, a singer. After arriving in the United States, they established a restaurant in Chicago.

Lu has been a natural performer since early childhood. At 6 years old, she started dancing, specializing in ballet, tap, and jazz. After watching Kristi Yamaguchi and Michelle Kwan compete in the 1992 Olympics, she pursued figure skating and took private lessons at 4am every morning before school. She also had singing, piano, and violin lessons. With her parents’ restaurant as her stage with a daily rotating audience, Jessica would entertain each table with a theatrical reading, violin playing, a tap dance, or a song.

After starting modeling and acting, she became a sought after child talent in Chicago. By the time she was 10 years old, she had worked on ad campaigns such as Calvin Klein, Oshkosh, Marshall Fields, Got Milk?, and Chicago Place, as well as commercials for McDonald's, Ford Motors, Orville Redenbacher's, Samsung, and Kaiser Permanente.

Lu graduated with honors from Columbia College Chicago[1] with a degree in Musical Theater Performance.

Career

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Lu moved to Los Angeles, California in 2008. Soon after, she was cast in the role of Ming Huang on the critically acclaimed MTV series Awkward. Other work followed, in both drama and comedy, including roles such as an insufferable hipster opposite Kathy Bates on FX's American Horror Story: Hotel, for which Popsugar listed her as one of “The 25 Best American Horror Story Guest Stars”; an upscale escort opposite Tim Robbins on HBO's Here and Now, with a performance that The A.V. Club wrote was “one of the subtlest, best motivated characters”; an adoring admirer opposite Ashton Kutcher and Jon Cryer on CBS's Two and a Half Men; and a lovesick teenager with a terminal illness on FOX's Red Band Society.

In 2018, Lu played tech genius CEO Alexis Barrett on NBC's Reverie,[1] starring alongside Sarah Shahi, Dennis Haysbert, Sendhil Ramamurthy and Kathryn Morris. IndieWire called her a “promising scene stealer” in the pilot episode. SYFYWIRE, as well as other fan sites, expressed their appreciation for Lu's performance week after week, and she quickly became a favorite character. TVLine gave her a "Performer of the Week" honorary mention by the last episode of the first season, for her “tender performance”. Jessica co-starred on the CBS television drama God Friended Me as Joy.

Filmography

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Film roles
Year Title Role Notes
2010 Mortal Kombat: Rebirth Whitney Short film
2014 About Last Night Ad executive
2019 Line of Duty Clover
Television roles
Year Title Role Notes
2009 Life Riceburner Girlfriend Episode: "Re-Entry"
2009 90210 Catholic School Girl #2 Episode: "The Dionysian Debacle"
2009 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Lily Episode: "Appendicitement"
2010 Law & Order: LA Kai Ng Episode: "Hollywood"
2011–2014 Awkward Ming Huang Recurring role (seasons 1–2); main cast (season 3)
2012 The New Normal Tabitha Episode: Pilot
2014 Two and a Half Men Jean Episode: "Alan Shot a Girl"
2014 Salvation Hayley Stern TV movie
2015 Red Band Society Mae 2 episodes
2015 Weird Loners Molly Episode: "Pilot"
2015–2016 American Horror Story: Hotel Bronwyn 2 episodes
2018 Reverie Alexis Barrett Main cast
2019–2020 God Friended Me Joy Guest star (season 1), recurring role (season 2)
Web series roles
Year Title Role Notes
2013–2014 Storytellers Mai Himura Main cast (season 1)
2015 Saving the Human Race Emma Carlsen Main cast (Season 1)

Theater

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  • Flower Drum Song — Lead
  • West Side Story — Supporting
  • Ragtime! — Supporting/Ensemble

References

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