Hank Chen

Born as Henry Chen in Silver Spring, Maryland to Taiwanese immigrants, Chen spoke Mandarin Chinese at home before learning English. His parents are engineers. He has a younger sister.

Chen grew up in a religious and conservative household.^[1] He is a founding member of advocacy group, OneWheaton^[2][3] supporting LGBT students and alumni from his alma mater.^[4]

Raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.,^[5] Chen graduated with an International Baccalaureate diploma from Springbrook High School. At Wheaton College, he majored in sociology with minors in Communications and English, and studied theatre at the University of Westminster in London. Chen remained near Chicago after graduation to work, take acting classes, and perform comedy.^[6] He trained with The Second City and joined Stir Friday Night, a sketch comedy ensemble of Asian-American performers. Other SFN alumni include Danny Pudi and Steven Yeun.^[7] He attended the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University MFA program, moving to Brooklyn, New York, where he began his career with a credit on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.^[8]

Chen has appeared on television since 2011 with credits including Blue Bloods, Lopez, and Transparent.

He made his film debut in The Angriest Man in Brooklyn opposite Robin Williams, followed up by roles in Reese Witherspoon-starrer Home Again,^[9] and Janicza Bravo's first full-length feature, Lemon.^[10]

In 2018, Chen co-starred in Freeform's Life-Size 2 opposite Tyra Banks and Francia Raisa.^[11][12][13] In 2021, Chen co-starred in Lifetime's Holiday in Santa Fe opposite Mario Lopez and Emeraude Toubia.

As a young vlogger, Chen was very active on social media which led to many opportunities including being selected to host Verizon's online campaign for 4G LTE in 2011.^[14] Chen was the co-host of RealBeauty.com's comedy and fashion show, Visible Panty Lines from Hearst Corporation in 2012.^[15]

In 2013, Chen was among one of 100 influencers selected by Ford Motor Company to participate in the Ford Fiesta Movement in which creators were given a Ford Fiesta and sent on "missions" for 6 months.^[16][17] At the conclusion of the campaign, he was awarded "Best Vlog" for his first mission, Fiesta Aqua Agent.

Chen's debut comedy special, Hank Chen: I'm Not Supposed to be Here was taped and produced by Comedy Dynamics at the El Portal Theatre 6 days after he was involved in a motorcycle collision in spring 2023.^[18] He was prescribed painkillers, wheeled on-stage, and performed sitting on a couch with a fractured pelvis.^[19] The special premiered on streaming platforms and satellite radio later that year.

In 2023, he was recruited by producers, Seven Graham and Alyssa Poteet to perform at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland with LGBTQIA+ comedy show, Alphabet Soup.^[20] The show was well-reviewed^[21][22] and made additional international festival headlines when it became known the performers were staying at old Second World War base and Cold War nuclear bunker, Barnton Quarry due to the inflated costs of reasonable accommodations during that time of year in Edinburgh.^{[23][24][25][26][27]} Graham made the decision "after being quoted £35,000 on Airbnb for a month’s stay."^[28]