---
name: "Constance Wu"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/constance-wu"
fi1m_id: "constance-wu"
imdb_id: "nm2090422"
tmdb_id: 206444
wikidata_id: "Q5163596"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "22 March 1982"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-27T08:26:35.049045+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Constance Wu

## Identity

Constance Wu

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/constance-wu
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** constance-wu
- **IMDb ID:** nm2090422
- **TMDB ID:** 206444
- **Wikidata ID:** Q5163596
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Wu, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5163596, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2090422/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/206444

Actor. Born 22 March 1982 in Richmond, Virginia, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 22 March 1982, Richmond, Virginia, USA
- **Active:** 2018–present
- **Also known as:** Constance Tianming Wu, Wú Tiánmǐn, Wu Tianming
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constance_Wu, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5163596, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2090422/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/206444

## Fi1m on Constance Wu

> Constance Wu is the clever outsider who has worked out the joke a beat before anyone tells it, in comedy and drama alike. She is a reliable centre for a film; her parts rarely let her be the one who does the damage.

Constance Wu's people have usually done the sum before the scene starts. In *Crazy Rich Asians* (2018) Rachel Chu, an economics professor from New York, works out on the plane to Singapore that her boyfriend is heir to one of the richest families in Asia, and Wu plays the rest of the film as a woman who is clever, unimpressed and out of her depth, all three at once. That is the Wu part in short. She is not the one who knows the rules of the house; she is the one who has just spotted them.

She came up through New York theatre and small independent films, among them *Sound of My Voice* (2011), before *Fresh Off the Boat* (2015–2020) made her a television lead as Jessica Huang, opposite Randall Park, in the first network Asian-American family sitcom in more than twenty years. Jon M. Chu then cast her as the romantic lead of a studio film with an all-Asian principal cast, the first in decades. She has said of it: "I never thought I'd be considered for something like [Crazy Rich Asians] because I'd never seen any Asian American be a lead." Since then she has been Destiny in Lorene Scafaria's *Hustlers* (2019), opposite Jennifer Lopez, a part she prepared for by researching strip clubs undercover; Grace, a ghost, in Christopher Makoto Yogi's *I Was a Simple Man* (2021); Katie Buranek, an investigative journalist, in *The Terminal List* (2022); and a turn in *Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile* (2022).

What she does well is stand in for us without making a show of it. Rachel is the outsider brought home to meet the money, and Wu keeps her grounded and watchful while the film spends its wit around her. The cost of that job is plain in the same film. Michelle Yeoh gets "how American" on the lawn and the kitchen scene we would not describe; Wu gets to hold the centre while Yeoh gives the performance, and we said so. Yet at that first meeting we found ourselves watching Rachel for the reply rather than Eleanor for the line, which, with Yeoh delivering it, is not nothing. Wu had spent the first act making Rachel someone who notices everything and lets little show, so when the blow landed we needed to know whether she had felt it.

That is the reservation, and it belongs to the parts more than to her. Being the reasonable person at the table is honest work, and she is good at it, but it keeps the camera on whoever is being unreasonable. The reviews so far of *Hustlers* and *I Was a Simple Man* point the same way: she is at her best when she is not asked to explain the world to us and is allowed instead to be a woman with her own trouble.

Somebody should give her the money for once, and fly another actor in to be appalled by it.

## Biography

Constance Tianming Wu is an American actress. She was born on 22 March 1982 in Richmond, Virginia, and graduated with a BFA in acting from the State University of New York at Purchase in 2005. She began her career in theatre before moving into film and television.

Wu's breakthrough came as Jessica Huang in the ABC sitcom *Fresh Off the Boat* (2015–2020). She is also known for her roles as Rachel Chu in *Crazy Rich Asians* (2018) and Katie Buranek in *The Terminal List* (2022). Other credits include *Hustlers* (2019) and voice work in *Wish Dragon* (2021) and *Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile* (2022).

In 2018 she was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, taiwaneseamericanhistory.org.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Crazy Rich Asians* (2018), Fi1m 74, as Rachel Chu — [page](https://film.one/film/crazy-rich-asians.md)

## Complete filmography (43)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Outer Threat* (2026), as Michelle
- *Happy Hours* (2026), Actor
- *Not Suitable for Work* (2026), series, as Vanessa Hsu
- *The Friend* (2025), as Tuesday
- *Mistress Dispeller* (2025), Executive Producer
- *Elsbeth* (2024), series, as Dr. Mallory Haynes
- *Velma* (2023), series, as Daphne (voice)
- *Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile* (2022), as Katie Primm
- *East Bay* (2022), as Sara
- *The Terminal List* (2022), series, as Katie Buranek
- *I Was a Simple Man* (2021), as Grace
- *Solos* (2021), series, as Jenny
- *Wish Dragon* (2021), as Mom (voice)
- *Nine Minutes* (2020), as Lilian
- *Hustlers* (2019), as Destiny
- *The Last Days of TJ Staggs* (2018), as Executive
- *Crow: The Legend* (2018), as Skunk (voice)
- *Next Gen* (2018), as Molly (voice)
- *Crazy Rich Asians* (2018), as Rachel Chu — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/film/crazy-rich-asians.md)
- *All the Creatures Were Stirring* (2018), as Gabby
- *Family Feud* (2018), as Foremother
- *The Lego Ninjago Movie* (2017), as Mayor (voice)
- *The Feels* (2017), as Andi
- *Dimension 404* (2017), series, as Captain Jane Lee
- *100 Years* (2017), as Narrator (voice)
- *Parallels* (2015), as Polly
- *Fresh Off the Boat* (2015), series, as Jessica Huang
- *High Moon* (2014), as Mikiko Kobiyashi
- *Electric Slide* (2014), as Mika Oh
- *Deadly Revenge* (2013), as Kym
- *Browsers* (2013), as Prudence Yu
- *Best Friends Forever* (2013), as Melanie
- *EastSiders* (2012), series, as Kathy
- *Watching TV with the Red Chinese* (2011), as Kimi Hu
- *Franklin & Bash* (2011), series, as Caroline Chilton
- *Sound of My Voice* (2011), as Christine
- *Childrens Hospital* (2008), series, as Pepsi Lamarr
- *Year of the Fish* (2007), as Lucy
- *Stephanie Daley* (2007), as Jenn
- *The Architect* (2006), as Michelle
- *Torchwood* (2006), series, as Shawnie Yamaguchi — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/tv/torchwood.md)
- *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit* (1999), series, as Candy
- *You and Me Both*, as Producer

## Gallery

- ![Constance Wu at the Opening Night of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" on Broadway, 2025](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-8eafd84ac098.jpg) Constance Wu at the Opening Night of "The Picture of Dorian Gray" on Broadway, 2025 — PhilipRomanoPhoto, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/ConstanceWu-byPhilipRomano.jpg/1280px-ConstanceWu-byPhilipRomano.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Constance Wu](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-022379c9e6f3.jpg) Constance Wu — Bryan Berlin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bf/Constance_Wu_at_the_2024_New_York_Film_Festival.jpg/1280px-Constance_Wu_at_the_2024_New_York_Film_Festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![TIFF 2019 hustlers (1 of 1)](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-3e59c9ae1bf4.jpg) TIFF 2019 hustlers (1 of 1) — John Bauld from Toronto, Canada, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/56/2019_TIFF_premiere_of_Hustlers%2C_Constance_Wu_%2848696841647%29_%28cropped-2%29.jpg/1280px-2019_TIFF_premiere_of_Hustlers%2C_Constance_Wu_%2848696841647%29_%28cropped-2%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Golden Globe-nominated actress Constance Wu pays tribute to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washi (2020)](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-97b6f75a1161.jpg) Golden Globe-nominated actress Constance Wu pays tribute to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg during a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washi (2020) — Jay Godwin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Constance-Wu-2020-JG8_9456.jpg/1280px-Constance-Wu-2020-JG8_9456.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Constance Wu](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-c2803be78adc.jpg) Constance Wu — Image via TMDB
- ![Constance Wu](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-efdc94455632.jpg) Constance Wu — Image via TMDB
- ![Constance Wu](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-ef3a555fc146.jpg) Constance Wu — Image via TMDB
- ![Golden Globe-nominated actress Constance Wu and Emmy Award-winning co-host of ABC’s The View Sunny Hostin On Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, the LBJ Foundation awarded](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-77cd6f200977.jpg) Golden Globe-nominated actress Constance Wu and Emmy Award-winning co-host of ABC’s The View Sunny Hostin On Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, the LBJ Foundation awarded — LBJ Library from Austin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/Constance_Wu_and_Sunny_Hostin_%2849469500158%29.jpg/1280px-Constance_Wu_and_Sunny_Hostin_%2849469500158%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Golden Globe-nominated actress Constance Wu and Emmy Award-winning co-host of ABC’s The View Sunny Hostin On Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, the LBJ Foundation awarded](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-6545eb5233ae.jpg) Golden Globe-nominated actress Constance Wu and Emmy Award-winning co-host of ABC’s The View Sunny Hostin On Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020, the LBJ Foundation awarded — LBJ Library from Austin, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Constance_Wu_%2849469500158%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Constance Wu](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-11d1ff75ae93.jpg) Constance Wu — Image via TMDB
- ![Constance Wu](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-afac35a3dc66.jpg) Constance Wu — Image via TMDB
- ![Constance Wu](https://film.one/media/person/3725069/gallery-5ae0a3d10284.jpg) Constance Wu — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Other awards — 1 won

- Time 100 2022: Time 100 (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/constance-wu