DENVER (KDVR) — In show business, they say everybody is nobody until they are somebody.
One of those somebodies is a native of Aurora, who is featured on one of the most famous comedy shows in the world, Saturday Night Live. With the Emmys on Sunday night, he can celebrate some of the history he has made with his record-breaking nomination this year.
It’s Bowen Yang.
Yang is a veteran of SNL and has been a staple as part of the latest generation of stars on the show’s legendary roster.
Born in Australia to Chinese immigrants, Yang would move to Canada, where he was first introduced to SNL, Yang said in an episode of The Three Questions with Andy Richter on Earwolf.
It wouldn’t be the last time the young Yang moved — when he was nine years old, his family relocated to Aurora, where he would spend the rest of his academic career through high school. He attended Smoky Hill High School and took part in an improv comedy group called Spontaneous Combustion, and was even voted by classmates to be “The Most Likely to Be a Cast Member on Saturday Night Live.”
The next step in his journey would lead him to New York University, where the world-renowned Tisch School of the Arts is hosted, but it wasn’t the reason he went there. He graduated with a degree in chemistry, while moonlighting with an improv group called Dangerbox in his free time.
After graduation, he could not resist the call of the stage, and co-created a weekly podcast called “Las Culturistas” with Matt Rogers.
He floated around the comedy scene, getting gigs on networks like Comedy Central, and in 2018, found himself as a writer on SNL. He wouldn’t stay behind the page for long and was made a full-time cast member in 2019.
Yang remains a cast member to this day, and during his period of comedic excellence, he has been nominated for several Emmy awards — but this year’s hits a little bit harder than the others.
For the fourth time, he was nominated for “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.” The nomination sees him break the record for the most-nominated male Asian performer in Emmys history, Variety reports.
The history-making fourth nomination in that category is Yang’s fifth overall, after he was also nominated for “Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series” in 2019.
Yang proves that stardom can truly start anywhere — even in the home of your neighbor in Aurora, Colorado.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
