Lauren Tom Bio - Lauren Tom Biography

Lauren Tom: Biography

Lauren Tom was raised in Highland Park, Illinois as part of the only Asian family in a largely Jewish neighborhood. She started as a dancer with the Hubbard St. Dance Company and at 17 moved to New York to perform in "A Chorus Line" on Broadway. She has also performed on Broadway in "Hurlyburly" and "Doonesbury" and in numerous plays at the New York Shakespeare Festival including "American Notes" for which she received an Obie Award. She has worked with directors Peter Sellars and Joanne Akalaitis at the Goodman Theater, The Guthrie Theater, La Jolla Playhouse and the Kennedy Center. Film credits include "The Joy Luck Club," "Cadillac Man," "Mr. Jones," "When A Man Loves a Woman," "Bad Santa," and "In Good Company". On television she currently has a starring role as Mai Washington on "Men in Trees". Lauren is an accomplished voiceover actress and has starring roles as Minh on "King of the Hill," and as Amy Wong on "Futurama." "Lauren's writing credits include "Tiger on the Right" for which she won a DramaLogue Award in 1991.

Lauren Tom writes and performs in her solo-performance show "25 Psychics," which is a look at her own life as a self-professed "New Age Seeker." She has done everything from growing her own fungus to fire-walking in her quest, ultimately discovering her own grandmother as a source of wisdom and comfort. The humor at the heart of the work rests in the similarities and differences between herself and the powerful family matriarch underscoring our own difficulties as creatures from (if not of) a tradition while still living in the modern world. Tom portrays a host of characters including a few of the title's psychics who she meets along the way to becoming her own woman.

Tom is a featured performer with Great Leap's productions of "A Slice of Rice" and "A Slice of Rice, Frijoles and Greens."

Lauren appears in every episode of Futurama, except, "Space Pilot 3000."(edit)
After Lauren's final taping on Friends, the National Enquirer had an article claiming she had been fired. However, this was false as her contract had only been for six episodes.(edit)
Lauren has two dogs.(edit)
Lauren's first appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" was postponed to a later episode because guest star Bill Cosby was on longer than expected.(edit)
Lauren's father was a successful businessman and sold Chinese food.(edit)
Lauren's grandmother came to America as a Chinese immigrant. (edit)
Lauren has an older brother named Chip.(edit)
When Lauren was a child she was raised on a combination of Catholic beliefs and Chinese ancestral worship. (edit)
Lauren's favorite charity is Smile Train, a charity dedicated to raising money for children in need of cleft surgery.(edit)
When Lauren was a child her grandfather called her Little Tiger.(edit)
Lauren is 5 feet, 1.5 inches tall.(1.56m)(edit)
What inspired Lauren to dance was when she was a kid other children would tease her about her Chinese heritage.(edit)
Lauren met directors Peter Sellars and Joanne Akalaitis while she was acting at the New York Theatre.(edit)
Lauren did a one-women show called 25 Physics which won two Dramalogue Awards for Best Performance and Best Direction.(edit)
Lauren won an Obie Award for her Off-Broadway acting.(edit)
The first role that she did in television was of Miko Wakamatsu on "The Facts of Life".(edit)
She managed to land a spot in the touring company of "A Chorus Line" when she was 17 years old.(edit)
She was almost cast in "Miss Saigon" - whose producers found her to be "the best actress of the lot" out of thousands who auditioned for the role of "Kim" - but they thought she just didn't have enough singing experience.(edit)
Lauren has been married to Curt Kaplan since 1999, and they have a son together named Oliver Kaplan.(edit)
She is Chinese-American.(edit)

Lauren (Referring to her role on Men in Trees): Mai is based on my grandmother, who came over from China. She's a combination of my grandmother and my three-year-old son.(edit)
Lauren: In a weird way, all the projects I work on reflect my emotional growth.(edit)
Lauren: I was the leader on the block, and I was really energetic. Being a little kid is one of the purest forms you can be-you don't have all that crud on top of you. And when you get back to that is when you can find peace in your life. That's when things start coming to you.(edit)
Lauren (Referring to her role on King of the Hill): I actually never stopped to think about that, but it absolutely has! And it's my favorite all-time job too, I'd say.(edit)
Lauren: Once you're focused, you don't have to concentrate.(edit)
Lauren (Referring to a 1994 earthquake): I thought, Oh my God, we're going to have an earthquake, because in China they believe dogs can predict them. So I ordered earthquake insurance, and the next day we had that huge quake.(edit)