Jake Choi


Jake Choi is an American actor who now resides in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his role as series regular Miggy on the 2018 ABC comedy Single Parents. He previously starred in Front Cover, an LGBTQ independent film. Choi has also appeared in Younger, EastSiders, and The Sun Is Also A Star.

Early life and education

Choi was born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, New York. He is Korean American. He graduated from Newtown High School in 2004, where he played on the school varsity basketball team. He was raised by his single mother, and came from "working-class immigrant roots." During high school he played in the AAU. After graduating, he moved to South Korea to play basketball at Yonsei University, and subsequently played in the Korean Basketball League. He returned to the States and pursued acting, taking classes at Lee Strasberg Institute before dropping out due to the expense.

Career

In 2015, Choi played his first lead role as Ryan in the independent film Front Cover, an LGBTQ romantic comedy that featured two Asian male leads. Choi's performance received positive critical reviews. According to Sheri Linden at The Hollywood Reporter: "Chen’s career-driven Ning defies easy labels, but ultimately the movie is about Ryan’s transformation, one that Choi deftly conveys."
Choi has appeared in guest roles on several television shows since 2015, including Broad City, Younger, and Hawaii 5-0. He played a recurring role on HBO's Succession in 2018.
Choi gained wider prominence after he was cast as a series regular on the fall 2018 ABC show Single Parents in the role of Miggy, a 20-year-old single dad. The show was cancelled in May 2020 after two seasons.
As of January 2019, he has a recurring role on EastSiders, a Netflix dark comedy. The same year, he played Charles Bae, brother of Charles Melton's Daniel Bae, in the film adaptation of the YA novel The Sun Is Also a Star.

Personal life

In 2018, Choi came out as sexually fluid. In an interview with The Advocate he stated, "I feel like a lot of people understand it better if you just say 'bisexual', which is not the same thing, but it's like sometimes when people say, 'Oh, so you're bi?' — I don't even want to argue anymore. It's just like, 'Yeah — sure.' I feel like the term pansexual is a little bit closer. With me, I say fluid because it's always changing."

Filmography

Film

Television