Ken Jeong honored with Hollywood Walk of Fame star
Ken Jeong walks the red carpet at the 75th Emmy Awards on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. (Photo by Mark Von Holden/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Images)
HOLLYWOOD – A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled Wednesday honoring doctor turned actor and comedian Ken Jeong for a television career including being part of the cast of the 2009-15 NBC comedy “Community.”
Jeong’s “Community” castmate Joel McHale, Robin Thicke, a fellow panelist of Jeong’s on Fox’s singing competition, “The Masked Singer,” and actor Randall Park joined Jeong in speaking at the 11:30 a.m. ceremony at 1708 Vine St., near the intersection with Hollywood Boulevard.
Park and Jeong have repeatedly appeared on each other’s series. Park appeared on a “Community” webisode and as himself in a sixth-season episode.
Jeong portrayed the brother of Park’s character on three episodes of the 2015-20 ABC comedy “Fresh Off the Boat.” Park guest-starred as the leader of the “Korean Men’s Club,” on a 2016 episode of “Dr. Ken,” the 2015-17 ABC comedy
Jeong starred in.
The ceremony comes the same day as Jeong sings “I’m Just Ken,” from the 2023 film “Barbie” as “The Masked Singer” celebrates the doll’s 65th birthday with “Barbie Night.”
All Walk of Fame ceremonies are streamed on its website and can be seen on its YouTube channel,
The star is the 2,794th since the completion of the Walk of Fame in 1961 with the initial 1,558 stars.
Born July 13, 1969, in Detroit and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, Jeong received his undergraduate degree from Duke University and a medical degree from the University of North Carolina. Jeong completed his internal medicine residency in New Orleans, all the while developing his comedy.
Jeong won the Big Easy Laff Off, which was judged by former NBC Entertainment President Brandon Tartikoff and Improv founder Budd Friedman, who both urged Jeong to move to Los Angeles.
Once in Los Angeles, he began performing regularly at the Hollywood Improv and the Laugh Factory.
Jeong made his acting debut by portraying a doctor on a 1997 episode of the USA Network New Orleans-set crime drama, “The Big Easy.” A breakthrough came when filmmaker Judd Apatow cast him as a short-tempered doctor who helps E! reporter Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) give birth in a hospital in the 2007 romantic comedy “Knocked Up.”
Jeong had his first major role, opposite Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott, as the villain in the 2008 comedy “Role Models.” That same year, he also appeared in cult comedy hits “Pineapple Express” and “Step Brothers.”
Jeong appeared as Asian mobster Mr. Chow in the 2009 sleeper-hit comedy “The Hangover,” which brought nominations for him MTV Movie Awards for best villain and a Teen Choice Award for choice movie villain.
He reprised the role in “The Hangover Part II,” released in 2011, receiving a Teen Choice Award nomination as best male scene stealer, and in “The Hangover Part II,” released in 2013.
Jeong’s other movie credits include “Crazy Rich Asians,” “My Spy,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” “The Duff’,” “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween,” “Couples Retreat.” He has supplied voices for the animated films “Over The Moon,” “Scoob,” “Lady And The Tramp” and “My Little Pony.”
Jeong hosts the Fox mystery music game show, “I Can See Your Voice.”
He will star in the Dec. 3 episode of the Fox crime anthology, “Accused,” as a kind-hearted jewelry store owner who confronts his wife’s secret past. (CNS)
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