Jean Yoon

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Jean Yoon, Actress (Kim’s Convenience)

IMAGE: DENISE GRANT PHOTOGRAPHY

Jean Yoon was born in 1962 in Illinois before being raised in Toronto. She is an actress, writer, poet, and playwright. She is known for her role on CBC’s award winning TV series, Kim’s Convenience.

For her role in Kim’s Convenience, she won an Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists (ATRA) Award. She plays the role of Umma, or Mrs. Kim, Appa’s 54 year-old Korean wife, and the co-owner of Kim’s Convenience.

Yoon’s theatre career began in the 1980s, but she soon quit after struggling to find opportunities. She later returned in the 1990s, writing and producing plays commenting on the Korean diaspora. Her persistence was rewarded as her acting career started to flourish with several small roles in television series in the 2000s.[1] As a playwright, her best known work is The Yoko Ono Project. Other films include Bruce McDonald’s The Husband, The Time Traveler’s Wife and the upcoming feature Rupture, directed by Steven Shainberg. Television credits also include Orphan Black, the Syfy series The Expanse and Remedy, and she voices “Connie” on the Emmy Award winning PBS Kids show Peg + Cat. She is also very proud of her work on the Radio Canada series L’Or, as well as on the CBC mini-series Dragon Boys for which she earned a Gemini nomination in 2007.[2]

[1] http://www.canadiantheatre.com/dict.pl?term=Yoon,%20Jean

[2] http://www.cbc.ca/kimsconvenience/cast/jean-yoon