Personal details
Born:
- Birthday: 1985-09-19
- Born Place: Providence, Rhode Island, USA
Zoë Chao
Zoë Carroll Chao (born September 19, 1985, in Providence, Rhode Island) is an American actress and screenwriter of Chinese and English‑Irish descent who graduated from Brown University with a B.A. in Art History before earning her M.F.A. in Acting from UC San Diego in 2011 . She made her screen debut in the comedy short My Girlfriend’s Abroad (2006), but rose to wider prominence starring as Isobel in the Sundance‑premiered web‑series Strangers and as Sara Yang in HBO Max’s Love Life.Chao’s versatility is further shown in standout roles such as Zoe in Amazon Prime’s Modern Love—playing a woman with delayed sleep phase syndrome—and Zoë Zhu in Apple TV+’s genre‑bending murder‑mystery comedy The Afterparty. In film, she has appeared in Downhill (2020), The High Note (2020), Senior Year (2022) and, most recently, Netflix’s rom‑com Your Place or Mine (2023) alongside Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher . Beyond acting, Chao wrote and co‑produced the TV series God Particles and co‑produced the short Like Animals, while remaining active in theater and voice work (including DC’s Creature Commandos) . Praised for her grounded, empathetic performances, she balances indie credibility with mainstream appeal and continues to expand the range of Asian‑American roles on screen.
