Photo: Via
LifetimeMy Korean American girl next door icon, Margaret Cho
has definitely brought the Korean American woman into the spotlight. Now on "Drop Dead Diva" on the Lifetime tv network, Margaret is back showing off her cool attitude. With her reality show "The Cho Show" on VH1, her very Korean parents also made a public debut - as themselves. If you were wondering if her comedy act involving her mom was a huge exaggeration? Its not. She captures her mom perfectly. It must be so fun for her to have such open and relaxed parents. Margaret Cho - Cheers to you and the bright career ahead of you. Keep making us laugh!
By: Kathy Choi-Lee
Margaret
Cho has been performing stand-up since the age of 16, when she sneaked
into a comedy club above her parents’ bookstore in San Francisco. Soon
after, she won a comedy contest, with the first prize being an
opening-act gig on Jerry Seinfeld’s tour. After hitting the college
comedy circuit, she immediately became the most booked act in the
market, performing more than 300 shows within two years. Cho garnered a
nomination for Campus Comedian of the Year and subsequently won the
1994 American
Comedy Award for Female Comedian.
In 1999, her groundbreaking one-woman show, “I’m The One That I
Want,” was a hit off-Broadway and toured nationally to critical
acclaim, eventually becoming a best-selling book and a self-produced
feature film. In 2001, she launched “Notorious C.H.O.,” a smash-hit,
37-city national tour that culminated in a sold-out concert at the
legendary Carnegie Hall. The live show was also released as a feature
film and lauded by The New York Times as “brilliant.”
“Revolution” marked Cho’s third sold-out national tour, and
the CD of the show was nominated in 2003 for a Grammy for Best Comedy
Album of the Year. In 2004, Cho launched her politically charged “State
of Emergency” and was hailed by The New York Times as “murderously
funny.” That show ultimately gave rise to “Assassin,” perhaps her most
political and topical work to date. “Assassin” toured the United
States, Canada and Australia and aired on Here! TV in late 2005.
Cho’s first narrative feature, “Bam Bam and Celeste,”
premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2005 and
has also played at the AFI Fest, Frameline, Fusion and the London
Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
In the summer of 2007, Cho hit the road with ’80s legends Cyndi
Lauper, Debbie Harry and Erasure, along with indie faves The Dresden
Dolls and The Cliks, to host the True Colors tour, benefiting the Human
Rights Campaign. In the fall of 2007, Cho took her new burlesque-style
variety show, “The Sensuous Woman,” off-Broadway, where it enjoyed two
extensions and played for a successful eight-week run.
Cho has become an established writer and blogger. Her second
book, a collection of essays on all subjects political and pop, “I Have
Chosen to Stay and Fight,” was published by Riverhead Books, a division
of Penguin Group, in 2005.
Cho’s many television credits include her groundbreaking ABC
sitcom “All-American Girl,” a recent recurring role on Fox’s “’Til
Death” and, most recently, her semi-scripted comedy “The Cho Show” for
VH1. She also appeared in the smash-hit film “17 Again,” opposite Zac
Efron, and was featured in the FunnyorDie.com sketch “Prop 8: The
Musical.”
An advocate for equal rights, Cho has been honored by the ACLU
of Southern California, GLAAD, American Women in Radio and Television,
the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force, the Asian American Legal Defense and Education
Fund, PFLAG and the National Organization for Women.
Photo Credit: Kevin Parry/WireImage.com
Click here to watch Margret Cho's character on Drop Dead Diva
"Teri's Tude" on myLifetime.com.