Awkwafina (Nora Lum) Biography, Age, Family, Husband, Net Worth

Who is Awkwafina (Nora Lum)?

Nora Lum whose stage name is Awkwafina is an Asian-American actress, rapper, and comedian. She rose to fame in 2012 after her rap song, “My Vag”, became popular on YouTube. She released her debut album, Yellow Ranger in 2014, and she appeared on MTV comedy series Girl Code from 2014-2015.

In this article, I would be writing about Awkwafina (Nora Lum) biography, age, family, husband, and net worth but let’s take a look at her profile below.

Awkwafina (Nora Lum) Profile Summary

Awkwafina (Nora Lum) Biography

Lum was born on June 2, 1988, in Stony Brook, New York, on Long Island. She was born to a Chinese American father, Wally, and a Korean mother, Tia, a painter who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1972. Lum grew up in Forest Hills, Queens.

At the age of 4, her mother died from pulmonary hypertension and she was raised by her father and paternal grandparents. She became close to her paternal grandmother. Her paternal great-grandfather was a Chinese immigrant in the 1940s who opened the Cantonese restaurant Lums in Flushing, Queens, one of the neighborhood’s first Chinese restaurants. Lum attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School, where she played the trumpet and was trained in classical music and jazz. She adopted the stage name Awkwafina at the age of 15. She learned Mandarin at the Beijing Language and Culture University from 2006-2008. She studied journalism and women’s studies at the University of Albany, State University of New York, and graduated in 2011.

According to her, her early influences were Charles Bukowski, Anaïs Nin, Joan Didion, Tom Waits, and Chet Baker. Before her entertainment career, she was an intern at local New York publications Gotham Gazette and the Times Union newspaper in Albany, and she was also a publicity assistant for publishing house Rodale Books. She later worked at a vegan bodega after being let go from the publishing house when they discovered her music videos.

Awkwafina (Nora Lum) Career

Awkwafina began rapping at 13 and she started producing music with GarageBand but eventually learned Logic Pro and Ableton. Her song “My Vag” became popular on YouTube in 2012. On February 11, 2014, her solo hip-hop album Yellow Ranger was released. She collaborated with comedian Margaret Cho on “Green Tea” in 2016.on October 25, 2014, she was part of the lineup at Tenacious D’s Festival Supreme. She was also a Disc Jockey (DJ) at bars in New York. On June 8, 2018, she released a 7-track EP, In Fina We Trust. The track won the 2019 A2IM Libera Award for Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album.

As an actress, Awkwafina appeared in six episodes of the third and fourth seasons of Girl Code in 2014, and in 2015, she co-hosted its spin-off, Girl Code Live, on MTV. She has featured in many other films and comedy including; Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Dude, and Ocean’s 8. She co-starred in the film Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu, playing Goh Peik Lin, a Singaporean college friend of lead character Rachel Chu (Constance Wu). She starred in the comedy series, Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens; she is also a writer and executive producer of that show. 

As part of the promotional campaign, she recorded new announcements for the 7 train of the New York City Subway, making jokes, such as “This is Hunters Point Avenue, a friendly reminder that seats are for people, not your bag” and “This is 46^th Street, which is a lucky number, I just learned that on the internet. These recordings were used until the series premiered on January 22.

Awkwafina (Nora Lum) Awards/Nominations

Lum has received many awards and nominations and these include Kore Asian Media’s Female break out of the Year (2017), Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, the Satellite Award for Best Actress -Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Virtuoso Award, Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, and BAFTA Rising Star Award.

Awkwafina (Nora Lum) Family 

Lum was born to a Chinese American father, Wally, and a Korean mother, Tia, a painter who immigrated to the United States from South Korea in 1972. At the age of 4, her mother died from pulmonary hypertension and she was raised by her father and paternal grandparents. She became close to her paternal grandmother. Her paternal great-grandfather was a Chinese immigrant in the 1940s who opened the Cantonese restaurant Lum’s in Flushing, Queens, one of the neighborhood’s first Chinese restaurants.

Awkwafina (Nora Lum)Relationship/Dates

Lum is currently dating but she is yet to reveal the identity of her boyfriend.

Awkwafina (Nora Lum) Net Worth

Lum has an estimated net worth of $8 million.