Bi is a theatre actress, director, and originator of new work that celebrates and centers Asian American experiences. As an actor, she chooses roles that break stereotypes and seeks to embody characters with full dimensionality, bringing her specific cultural life to the characters she plays. As a director, she aims to create heart-opening spaces where the artists involved feel recognized, affirmed, and emboldened to bring their best selves to the creative process. As a solo artist and playwright, she creates work that centers Vietnamese and other Asian and Asian American characters and their unique voices and experiences.
Bi Jean Ngo grew up in Northern Virginia and attended W.T. Woodson High School. She attended the Governor’s School for the Performing Arts summer program in Richmond, and then went on to study Film & Television at Boston University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science. She furthered her studies in New York, and obtained her Masters of Fine Arts degree from The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School University. She currently resides in Philadelphia and has worked with many regional theatres, appeared in film & commercials, performs in filmed & live industrials, and teaches acting. She was also a 2016 recipient of the F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Barrymore Award and is a founding member of PAPA (Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists). She received the Fox Fellowship Foundation Award for Artist with Extraordinary Potential from TCG (Theatre Communications Group). She completed her fellowship activities with Philadelphia's Lantern Theatre Company. In 2019, Bi Jean received an Independence Fellowship Foundation Award and went abroad to study at the Suzuki Company of Toga in Japan and to Italy at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski.
Bi Jean Ngo grew up in Northern Virginia and attended W.T. Woodson High School. She attended the Governor’s School for the Performing Arts summer program in Richmond, and then went on to study Film & Television at Boston University, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science. She furthered her studies in New York, and obtained her Masters of Fine Arts degree from The Actors Studio Drama School at The New School University. She currently resides in Philadelphia and has worked with many regional theatres, appeared in film & commercials, performs in filmed & live industrials, and teaches acting. She was also a 2016 recipient of the F. Otto Haas Emerging Artist Barrymore Award and is a founding member of PAPA (Philadelphia Asian Performing Artists). She received the Fox Fellowship Foundation Award for Artist with Extraordinary Potential from TCG (Theatre Communications Group). She completed her fellowship activities with Philadelphia's Lantern Theatre Company. In 2019, Bi Jean received an Independence Fellowship Foundation Award and went abroad to study at the Suzuki Company of Toga in Japan and to Italy at the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski.