Ronny Chieng

Ronny Xin Yi Chieng (born 21 November 1985) is a Malaysian comedian and actor based in the United States. He is a senior correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show, and he created and starred in the Australian Broadcasting Corporation sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student. He has also portrayed roles in films such as Crazy Rich Asians and the English version of Inspector Sun and the Curse of the Black Widow.

Early life
Chieng was born into a Malaysian Chinese family in Johor Bahru on 21 November 1985. He grew up in both Singapore and the United States; from 1989 to 1994, he lived in Manchester, New Hampshire.

In his youth, he was a Singapore Sea Scout of the Singapore Scout Association. When he lived in Johor Bahru, Chieng commuted to Fuchun Primary School in Woodlands, Singapore. He subsequently attended Pioneer Secondary School and Pioneer Junior College in Jurong, Singapore.

Thereafter, he attended the University of Melbourne in Australia, living at Trinity College and graduating in 2009 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree in finance and a Bachelor of Laws degree. He also obtained a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University in 2012.

Career
Chieng performed with Trevor Noah in 2013 at an Australian comedy festival in Melbourne. In 2015, he was asked to audition for the correspondent role on The Daily Show, which Noah hosted from 2015 to 2022. In July 2016, he was named one of 10 Comics to Watch by Variety. Three months later, he had a segment on The Daily Show in which he gave an expletive-laden criticism of a Jesse Watters clip on Fox News deemed by many as racist. He also revisited New York City's Chinatown neighborhood, where Watters had mocked residents, and conducted more respectful interviews in Mandarin and Cantonese. The video went viral and received coverage in The Washington Post and on Slate.

In 2017, Chieng began co-writing and starring in the sitcom Ronny Chieng: International Student, based on his own experience as a Malaysian student in Australia. It was developed for Comedy Central in America and ABC TV in Australia. In 2018, he made his film debut in Crazy Rich Asians, as Eddie Cheng, an obnoxious banker.

In 2019, his first stand-up special with Netflix, Asian Comedian Destroys America!, was released, directed by his Daily Show collaborator Sebastian DiNatale. In early 2021, Chieng signed a deal with Netflix for two additional stand-up specials and a "docu-comedy." He also appeared as the original character Jon Jon in the Marvel Studios film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and it was announced that Chieng and DiNatale will co-write a martial arts action-comedy film for Sony.

The new "docu-comedy", titled Ronny Chieng Takes Chinatown, was released in 2022 and co-stars YouTuber David Fung, with guest appearances from fellow Shang-Chi actor Simu Liu and professional NBA player Jeremy Lin. Chieng's second Netflix special, Speakeasy, was released on 5 April 2022.

In October 2022, Chieng commented on Rishi Sunak becoming Britain's first Asian Prime Minister during a Daily Show segment. He said, “I know everyone is excited that this is the first Asian prime minister, but let’s be clear: Indians are not Asians, OK? They’re still people — great people — just not Asian people.” Many internet netizens have criticized the joke, particularly Indians.

Personal life
Chieng has lived in New York City since moving to the U.S. in 2015. He is married to Hannah Pham. The couple met and began dating while studying commerce and law at the University of Melbourne. Pham later obtained a Master's degree in law at New York University and worked as an attorney in the United States. Although Chieng lived in Australia for a decade, he does not have citizenship or permanent residency status there. He practices Brazilian jiujitsu and holds the rank of blue belt.

He is an avid collector of watches, an interest that first began with a Seiko 5 that he purchased during his university years in Australia. His watch collection was featured on an episode of the Hodinkee series Talking Watches and includes a rare variant of the Seiko Chronograph Ref. 6139-6010 (widely acknowledged as being worn by Bruce Lee) and a vintage GMT-Master Ref. 16753 "Root Beer". Another of his watches, a two-tone Rolex dated to 1984 that he inherited from his late father, appeared on an episode of Antiques Roadshow and was valued at $5,000.