Lori Tan Chinn is a second-generation Chinese/Vietnamese American, born and raised in Seattle, Washington. An actress, dancer, singer, writer, choreographer, musician, speaker of the original Chinese dialect, Hoisanese (the first Chinese immigrants in America and Canada), she celebrates 53 years in the performing arts, landing her first role on the NY stage, as well as, her Broadway debut, after being plucked from the chorus and placed into the show’s female comic lead role.
She is considered by Mary Rodgers (Richard’s daughter), members of the Hammerstein Family, and R&H devotees as the Definitive Bloody Mary, having won the Helen Hayes Award for her portrayal of the role at Arena Stage in Washington, DC, followed by two later stage productions, and the ABC-TV movie, starring Glenn Close and Harry Connick, Jr.
Awards she has received include The New Dramatists Charles Bowden Actor Award; the O’Neill Theater Center/American Theatre Wing/Clarence Ross Fellowship; seven seasons at the prestigious O’Neill Theater Center, and another four seasons working directly with artistic director, Lloyd Richards and is currently on the advisory board of Dancers Over 40 & Friends. A veteran of three Broadway shows and recently, Half Time, a musical that was Marvin Hamlisch’s last project.
Film credits include Mickey Blue Eyes, She-Devil, What About Bob?, Glengarry Glen Ross and Disney Pixar’s Turning Red. Television credits include “Roseanne,” “Orange is the New Black,” “Awkwafina is Nora from Queens,” and soon, the much-anticipated Nathan W. Pyle book series-adapted-into-animation on Apple TV+, “Strange Planet.”