Ronny Chieng

Chieng was born into a Malaysian Chinese^[1] family in Johor Bahru, Malaysia.^[2] He does not celebrate his birthday and prefers to keep his date of birth private.^[3][a] He grew up in both Singapore and the United States, living in Manchester, New Hampshire from 1989 to 1994.^[4][5]

In his youth, he was a Singapore Sea Scout of the Singapore Scout Association.^[6] When he lived in Johor Bahru, Chieng commuted to Fuchun Primary School in Woodlands, Singapore.^[6] He subsequently attended Pioneer Secondary School and Jurong Pioneer Junior College.^[7]

Thereafter, he attended the University of Melbourne in Australia, living at Trinity College and graduating in 2010 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree.^[8] He also obtained a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University in 2012.^[9]

In 2012 Chieng, alongside Matt Okine, won best newcomer at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival for his show The Ron Way.^[10]

Chieng performed with Trevor Noah in 2013 at the Just for Laughs comedy festival in Montreal.^[11][12] In 2015, he was asked to audition for the correspondent role on The Daily Show, which Noah hosted from 2015 to 2022.^[11] In July 2016, he was named one of 10 Comics to Watch by Variety.^[13] Three months later, he had a segment on The Daily Show in which he gave criticized 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.^[14] The video went viral and received coverage in The Washington Post and on Slate.^[15][16]

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.^[17] It was developed for Comedy Central in America and ABC TV in Australia.^[1][18] In 2018, he made his film debut in Crazy Rich Asians, as Eddie Cheng, an obnoxious banker.^[19][20]

In 2019, his first stand-up special with Netflix, Asian Comedian Destroys America!, was released,^[20][21] directed by his Daily Show collaborator Sebastian DiNatale.^[22] In early 2021, Chieng signed a deal with Netflix for two additional stand-up specials and a "docu-comedy."^[23] He also appeared as the original character Jon Jon in the Marvel Studios film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,^[24][25] and it was announced that Chieng and DiNatale will co-write a martial arts action-comedy film for Sony.^[22]

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.^[26] Chieng's second Netflix special, Speakeasy, was released on 5 April 2022.^[27][28]

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.^[29][30]

In July 2024, Mayor of Honolulu, Rick Blangiardi signed a proclamation that 27 July, will be known as Ronny Chieng Day for his contributions to the entertainment industry, during Chieng's stay in Honolulu for his The Love to Hate It tour.^[31]

In November 2024, Chieng was featured in the lineup for Comics Come Home 28 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.^[32]

Chieng has lived in New York City since moving to the U.S. in 2015.^[33] He is married to Hannah Pham.^[34] 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.^[35] Although Chieng lived in Australia for a decade, he does not have citizenship or permanent residency status there.^[36][37] In April 2025, Chieng became a United States citizen.^[38][39]

He practices Brazilian jiu-jitsu and holds the rank of blue belt.^[40][6]

Chieng 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 and a vintage GMT-Master Ref. 16753 "Root Beer".^[41] 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.^[2]