Jennie Kwan
Encyclopedia
Jennie Kwan is a Filipino-American actress and singer from Los Angeles
, California
. She is best known for her roles as Samantha "Sam" Woo on California Dreams
and as Suki on Avatar: The Last Airbender
.
, a series based on the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors. http://www.jenniekwan.com/bio.html
Jennie is most notable for portraying the character Samantha Woo on NBC's hit show, California Dreams
. In 1992, she auditioned for the lead role as Tiffani, but lost out to Kelly Packard
. However, the incident led to them being best friends until this day. In that same year, she also appeared in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210
. In January 1993, she began performing the role as Kim in Chicago
's production of Miss Saigon
. Later that year, the producers of California Dreams called her back to join the main cast, playing the role of Sam, a foreign exchange student. Kwan replaced Heidi Noelle Lenhart (who, coincidentally, played the role of "Jenny") in the main cast and remained with the show until its cancellation in 1997.
During that year, Jennie appeared as a guest star on Family Matters, playing a snooty sorority girl, and on The Nanny
, playing Mai Ling, Fran's Unicef foster daughter. She also starred in the role of "Trish" in the film Trojan War
.
In addition, Kwan played the role of student Diane in the Los Angeles
production of musical Bare, a Pop Opera
as well as a starring role in the one-woman play, Faces of America
. Other stage credits include a brief appearance in Jewtopia
as well as time playing the role of Jasmine in Aladdin
. Jennie is also considered a pioneer in the web series genre for her work in the and the online series Fear of a Punk Planet
.
In 2001, Jennie left acting for a while to join the girl group Nobody's Angel
. In 2002, the members of the group received a Gold Record for their work on two songs featured on the soundtrack
of The Princess Diaries
. She is credited as being one of the creators of the Nobody's Angel television show for the ABC Family Network. Unfortantely for Jennie and the rest of the members of the group, the show's pilot
received terrible reviews and the series was never picked up. With the group's popularity quickly declining, highlighted by the show's failure, Nobody's Angel split up for good later that year.
Jennie returned to acting in 2005, when she played the role of female warrior Suki on the Asian
-influenced animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender
. She starred in the Las Vegas original cast of the musical "Avenue Q
", and spent time starring in the national tour as an understudy
for the role of Christmas Eve. In late 2008, Jennie was let go from the cast and released from her contract. Her bio was quickly taken off the show's site. No press release was issued announcing whether or not it was her decision to leave.
In 2009, she provided the voice for Bitgirl, Myang Myang and Edu in Random! Cartoons.
On the March 4, 2010 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
, Jennie participated in the California Dreams reunion with most of her former castmates. While introducing herself, Jennie blushed
after she suddenly became tongue-tied as she tried to discuss her recent television and stage work. http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/episodes/#vid=1206811
She is currently married to her husband, Mark.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. She is best known for her roles as Samantha "Sam" Woo on California Dreams
California Dreams
California Dreams is an American teen-oriented sitcom that aired from 1992 to 1996 on Saturday mornings during NBC's TNBC programming block. It was created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon and executive produced by Peter Engel, all known for their work on Saved by the...
and as Suki on Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...
.
Career
Jennie began acting at age 11, when she started performing with the touring company, "Kids of the Century." Her first television role was in 1991 as the voice of Audrey in Little ShopLittle Shop
Little Shop is a 1991 animated television series about a teenager and a giant talking plant that eats everything in sight. Little Shop was based on the off-broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors, which was based on the 1960 Roger Corman film The Little Shop of Horrors...
, a series based on the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors. http://www.jenniekwan.com/bio.html
Jennie is most notable for portraying the character Samantha Woo on NBC's hit show, California Dreams
California Dreams
California Dreams is an American teen-oriented sitcom that aired from 1992 to 1996 on Saturday mornings during NBC's TNBC programming block. It was created by writers Brett Dewey and Ronald B. Solomon and executive produced by Peter Engel, all known for their work on Saved by the...
. In 1992, she auditioned for the lead role as Tiffani, but lost out to Kelly Packard
Kelly Packard
Kelly Chemane Packard is an American actress who has starred in TV shows such as Baywatch and California Dreams and has also hosted shows such as Ripley's Believe It or Not!....
. However, the incident led to them being best friends until this day. In that same year, she also appeared in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
. In January 1993, she began performing the role as Kim in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
's production of Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...
. Later that year, the producers of California Dreams called her back to join the main cast, playing the role of Sam, a foreign exchange student. Kwan replaced Heidi Noelle Lenhart (who, coincidentally, played the role of "Jenny") in the main cast and remained with the show until its cancellation in 1997.
During that year, Jennie appeared as a guest star on Family Matters, playing a snooty sorority girl, and on The Nanny
The Nanny
Nanny may refer to:* Nanny, a child's caregiver* A grandmother * A Cajun word for godmother * A female goat* Nanny , a 1981–83 British drama series starring Wendy Craig* Nanny of the Maroons...
, playing Mai Ling, Fran's Unicef foster daughter. She also starred in the role of "Trish" in the film Trojan War
Trojan War (film)
Trojan War is a 1997 romantic comedy directed by George Huang. It stars Will Friedle, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Marley Shelton.-Plot:High school student Brad has had an unrequited crush on a classmate named Brooke for years. After she asks him to come over one night to tutor her, she ends up...
.
In addition, Kwan played the role of student Diane in the Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
production of musical Bare, a Pop Opera
Bare, a Pop Opera
bare, also known as bare: A Pop Opera, is a rock musical with a book by Jon Hartmere, Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo, lyrics by Hartmere and music by Intrabartolo...
as well as a starring role in the one-woman play, Faces of America
Faces of America
Faces of America is a four-part Public Broadcasting Service Public television television series hosted by Professor Henry Louis Gates. The series originally aired February 10 – March 3, 2010 from 8–9 p.m. ET. In Australia, this program aired on SBS One each Sunday at 7:30pm from 9 -30...
. Other stage credits include a brief appearance in Jewtopia
Jewtopia
Jewtopia is a comedic play by Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson.It focuses on two friends, Chris O'Connell and Adam Lipschitz, both approaching their 30th birthdays. Gentile Chris is interested in dating Jewish women because he feels that they will make his life easier by making all of life's decisions...
as well as time playing the role of Jasmine in Aladdin
Aladdin
Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....
. Jennie is also considered a pioneer in the web series genre for her work in the and the online series Fear of a Punk Planet
Fear of a Punk Planet (show)
An internet TV show paid for and first appearing on DEN.NET from 1998-1999 produced and written by Joe Escalante and featuring Kyle Gass, NOFX, Sick of it All, and The Bouncing Souls. It has since been Illegally released on DVD by Kung Fu Records....
.
In 2001, Jennie left acting for a while to join the girl group Nobody's Angel
Nobody's Angel
Nobody's Angel was an American pop girl group of the late 1990s. The group consisted of four members Ali Navarro, Alitzah Wiener Amy Hardy and Sarah Smith. The band was put together after they became friends and discovered they had something in common: a shared taste for music, dancing and...
. In 2002, the members of the group received a Gold Record for their work on two songs featured on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
of The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries
The Princess Diaries is a series of epistolary novels by Meg Cabot in the chick-lit and young-adult fiction genre, and the title of the first volume, published in 2000....
. She is credited as being one of the creators of the Nobody's Angel television show for the ABC Family Network. Unfortantely for Jennie and the rest of the members of the group, the show's pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
received terrible reviews and the series was never picked up. With the group's popularity quickly declining, highlighted by the show's failure, Nobody's Angel split up for good later that year.
Jennie returned to acting in 2005, when she played the role of female warrior Suki on the Asian
Culture of Asia
The culture of Asia is human civilization in Asia. It features different kinds of cultural heritage of many nationalities, societies, and ethnic groups in the region, traditionally called a continent from a Western-centric perspective, of Asia...
-influenced animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an American animated television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz...
. She starred in the Las Vegas original cast of the musical "Avenue Q
Avenue Q
Avenue Q is a musical in two acts, conceived by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who wrote the music and lyrics. The book was written by Jeff Whitty and the show was directed by Jason Moore and produced by Kevin McCollum, Robyn Goodman, and Jeffrey Seller...
", and spent time starring in the national tour as an understudy
Understudy
In theater, an understudy is a performer who learns the lines and blocking/choreography of a regular actor or actress in a play. Should the regular actor or actress be unable to appear on stage because of illness or emergencies, the understudy takes over the part...
for the role of Christmas Eve. In late 2008, Jennie was let go from the cast and released from her contract. Her bio was quickly taken off the show's site. No press release was issued announcing whether or not it was her decision to leave.
In 2009, she provided the voice for Bitgirl, Myang Myang and Edu in Random! Cartoons.
On the March 4, 2010 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon is an American late-night talk show hosted by Jimmy Fallon on NBC. The show premiered on March 2, 2009, as the third incarnation of the Late Night franchise originated by David Letterman....
, Jennie participated in the California Dreams reunion with most of her former castmates. While introducing herself, Jennie blushed
Blushing
Blushing refers to the involuntary reddening of a person's face due to embarrassment or emotional stress, though it has been known to come from being lovestruck, or from some kind of romantic stimulation. It is thought that blushing is the result of an overactive sympathetic nervous system...
after she suddenly became tongue-tied as she tried to discuss her recent television and stage work. http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/episodes/#vid=1206811
Personal Life
Jennie, a former cheerleader, graduated high school in 1994, while she was still appearing on California Dreams and other shows. Jennie admits she was often embarrassed in high school because despite being famous, she never had a boyfriend. http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-02-01/features/9402010058_1_love-letters-characters-miss-saigonShe is currently married to her husband, Mark.
External links
- http://www.jenniekwan.com/bio.html