Can’t get enough of Awkwafina? Comedy Central has given her a show about her life
- Crazy Rich Asians star lands a 10-episode series on US TV network about her life in Queens, New York, before rapper-comedian-actress hit the big time
- It will be the first scripted series fronted by an Asian American on Comedy Central
Capping off a banner year that included a role in the all-female heist sequel Ocean’s 8 and a scene-stealing turn in Crazy Rich Asians, rapper-comedian-actress Awkwafina is now slated to star in a Comedy Central show based on her life.
The network announced this week that it has ordered 10 episodes of the 29-year-old’s eponymous scripted series. The half-hour comedy will focus on her early twenties when she lived in Queens, New York, with her father and grandmother while dreaming of making it big.
BD Wong (Mr. Robot) will play her father, Lori Tan Chinn (Orange Is the New Black) her grandmother and Bowen Yang (The Outs) Awkwafina’s more successful cousin.
It will be the first scripted series fronted by an Asian American on the linear network. (The Daily Show correspondent Ronny Chieng had a digital series on the Comedy Central app that premiered this summer.)
Awkwafina, Karey Dornetto (SMILF, Portlandia) and Teresa Hsiao (Family Guy, American Dad) wrote the pilot, which is directed by Lucia Aniello (Broad City).
