Elaine Kao


Elaine Kao is a Taiwanese-American theatre, television and film actress, best known for her roles in Bridesmaids, Funny People and Red Doors.

Early life

Kao was raised in the San Fernando Valley. She graduated with a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Irvine and earned her MFA in Acting from CalArts.

Career

Kao has appeared in films such as Bridesmaids, as Julie Wong in Georgia Lee's Red Doors, Funny People, Home Game, the J.J. Abrams-penned TV movie pilot The Catch, and the TV movie Supreme Courtships.
Kao has also appeared in TV shows such as American Koko, Netflix's Disjointed, Fresh Off the Boat, Hawaii Five-0, Hart of Dixie, The Comeback, Liv and Maddie, Incredible Crew, Entourage, ', Cold Case, 24, Eleventh Hour, How I Met Your Mother, The Closer, In Gayle We Trust, Grey's Anatomy, Close to Home, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under, Big Day, Girlfriends and All-American Girl starring Margaret Cho.
Kao also appeared in a number of short films and independent films, as the female protagonist Mai in Kevin Lau's Made in Chinatown, which won Best Short, Best Writing and Best Actor at the 2013 8th Annual NBC Short Cuts Film Festival, with Kao also winning a Best Actress award for her starring role in that film at the 2013 Asians on Film Festival as well. Susie Choi in Christine Yoo's Wedding Palace, as Marianne Quon/Lai Yee in Timothy Tau's short film bio-pic Keye Luke, as Delia in Cynthia Liu's "Red Thread," as Linda Ahn in Philip Chung's "A Ribbon of Dreams" and as the Mother in James Huang's "Chapter 21."
She has also provided her voice talents to the Hong Kong underworld video game ' starring Jet Li and has also produced Kerri Higuchi's film, Mr. Isaac and a comedy short film entitled The Cure for a Diseased Life directed by Ray Chang. Kao has also appeared in commercials from Target, Microsoft, MasterCard, Dell, Capital One, Travelocity and more.
Kao has also appeared in various theatrical productions from the Lodestone Theatre Ensemble, East West Players, Company of Angels, the Center Theater Group and the Mark Taper Forum, The Sacred Fools Theater Company in Los Angeles, California, as well as South Coast Repertory, the Rude Guerilla Theater The Cleveland Playhouse and The Met Theater.

Filmography