Lo Mutuc, born Charlyne Yi (January 4, 1986), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer, known for their role as Dr. Chi Park in the

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

medical drama ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

'' (2011–2012), and for providing the voices of the Rubies in the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

animated series ''

Steven Universe ''Steven Universe'' is an American animated television series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It tells the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Steven Universe (character), Steven Universe (Zach Callison), who lives with the Crys ...

'' (2015–2018) and its epilogue series ''

Steven Universe Future ''Steven Universe Future'' is an American animated series created by Rebecca Sugar for Cartoon Network. It serves as an epilogue to ''Steven Universe'' (2013–2019) and a follow-up to its Television film, television film Sequel, sequel ''Steven ...

'' (2019–2020), Chloe Park in ''

We Bare Bears ''We Bare Bears'' is an American animated series created by Daniel Chong for Cartoon Network. The show follows three bear brothers, named Grizz, Panda and Ice Bear, and their awkward attempts at integrating with the human world in the San Franci ...

'' (2015–2019), Alice in '' Summer Camp Island'' (2018–2023), Mai in '' Next Gen'' (2018), and Larry in ''

StuGo ''StuGo'' is an American animated television series created by Ryan Gillis. A co-production between Disney Television Animation and Titmouse, Inc., ''StuGo'' premiered on Disney Channel on January 11, 2025. On June 8, 2025, it was announced tha ...

'' (2025–present). Mutuc’s screenwriting debut, the feature film '' Paper Heart'', won the

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award This is a list of winners of the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Awardfor dramatic features at the Sundance Film Festival. History It is an award given each year by U.S. Dramatic jury, starting in 1991. The award is named for screenwriter Waldo Salt, ...

at the 2009

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

. As a comedian, their performances include music, magic, games, and often audience participation.

Early life

Mutuc was raised in

Fontana, California Fontana is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Founded by Azariel Blanchard Miller in 1913, it remained essentially rural until World War II, when entrepreneur Henry J. Kaiser built a large steel mill in the area. It ...

. They are of Filipino, Mexican, and Korean descent. They attended the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

before leaving to pursue a full-time career in comedy. They had an early interest in performing while attending Bloomington High School and were involved in theatre.

Career

Mutuc began their career by performing in

Bloomington, California Bloomington is an urban unincorporated community in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 24,339 at the 2020 census, up from 23,851 at the 2010 census. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has d ...

. After high school, they performed shows in Los Angeles at

The Steve Allen Theater The Steve Allen Theater at the Center for Inquiry in Hollywood, California, was a 99-seat theater which was developed by founding artistic director Amit Itelman. Moved to The Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Theater. The Center for Inquiry is a nonprofit ...

, and The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. In 2005 and 2006 they performed in the New York Comedy Festival, and in 2007

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. Mutuc’s film debut was in

Judd Apatow Judd Apatow (; born December 6, 1967) is an American director, producer, screenwriter, and comedian known for his work in comedy films. Apatow is the founder of Apatow Productions, through which he wrote, produced, and directed his films ''The 4 ...

's 2007 film ''

Knocked Up ''Knocked Up'' is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Jason Segel and Martin Starr. It follows ...

''. In 2008, Mutuc performed as part of the Apatow for Destruction Live comedy show at Montreal's Just for Laughs Festival. In the 2009 film '' Paper Heart'', a "hybrid documentary" in which Lo served as both executive producer and co-writer, Mutuc starred as a fictional version of themself, alongside

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera ( ; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor. Over his career he has received nominations for a British Academy Film Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. Cera beca ...

. Mutuc was chosen as one of '' Venus Zine''s "25 under 25" women for 2009. They appeared alongside ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' cast member

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and writer. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, he co-created and co-starred in the IFC sketch comedy series '' Portlandia''. He also co-created ...

in the 2009 music video for the song "Rabbit Habits" by Philadelphia experimental band

Man Man Man Man is an American experimental rock band from Philadelphia currently based in Los Angeles. Lead singer, songwriter, and lyricist Honus Honus (Ryan Kattner) is accompanied by a group of multi-instrumentalist musicians and vocalists. Histo ...

. Mutuc and

Paul Rust Paul Rust is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred in the 2009 film '' I Love You, Beth Cooper'' and in the Netflix series ''Love''. Early life Rust is the son of Jeanne and Bob Rust. His family is of German heritage. Rust was ra ...

formed the band The Glass Beef. The duo shares one electric guitar, and both sing lead vocals. In 2006, they released their debut album, ''The Farewell Album'', produced by John Spiker, bassist of

Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles in 1994 by the actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass. Their music showcases Black's theatrical vocal delivery and Gass' acoustic guitar playing. Critics have described their fusion of ...

. Mutuc was featured in the video "Song Away" by

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

. In 2013, Mutuc and Jet Elfman formed the band Sacred Destinies. From October 2011 to May 2012, Mutuc starred in the

television series ''House'' as Dr. Chi Park, a young doctor with

anger management Anger management is a psycho-therapeutic program for anger prevention and control. It has been described as deploying anger successfully.Schwarts, Gil. July 2006. Anger Management', July 2006 The Office Politic. Men's Health magazine. Emmaus, PA: ...

issues.

Non-profit work

Mutuc has been involved with

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

America since 2010, working to raise awareness about poverty and hunger worldwide. Lo started the non-profit Caring is Cool in 2011, and hosted a benefit show to raise money for the organization.

Personal life

Lo describes their gender identity as

genderfluid Gender fluidity (commonly referred to as genderfluid) is a non-fixed gender identity that shifts over time or depending on the situation. These fluctuations can occur at the level of gender identity or gender expression. A genderfluid person m ...

. They use ''they''/''them'' pronouns. In 2016, Lo married Jet Elfman, their Sacred Destinies bandmate. After a year of separation, Elfman filed for divorce in April 2018. On

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, Lo accused

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He is the lead singer and the only original member remaining of the Marilyn Manson (band), same-titled band he founded in 1989. Th ...

of sexual harassment on the set of ''

''. In 2018,

Amber Tamblyn Amber Rose Tamblyn (born May 14, 1983) is an American actress and author. She first came to national attention in her role on the soap opera ''General Hospital'' as Emily Quartermaine at the age of 11. She followed with a starring role on the p ...

said of her husband

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director. Cross is best known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show with Bob and David'' (1995–1998), his role as Ian Hawk ...

"Basically he was rightfully accused of doing something racist to the comedian Charlyne Yi" following tweets that Lo had posted on the subject in 2017. Cross asked Lo to reach out via direct message to discuss the situation. He later publicly apologized to Lo, claiming that he would "never intentionally hurt someone like that". In 2021, Lo spoke out about their experience with

James Franco James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...

, specifically discussing their efforts to quit his 2017 film, ''

The Disaster Artist ''The Disaster Artist: My Life Inside The Room, the Greatest Bad Movie Ever Made'' is a 2013 non-fiction book written by Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell, in which the former details the troubled development and production of the panned 2003 cult ...

'', after learning of the sexual misconduct allegations against him. Lo also criticized

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known primarily for his comedic Leading actor, leading man roles in films, the accolades he has received include nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, ...

for enabling Franco's behavior and continuing to work with him following the allegations. In 2024, Lo stated that while filming ''

Time Bandits ''Time Bandits'' is a 1981 British fantasy adventure film co-written, produced, and directed by Terry Gilliam. It stars David Rappaport, Sean Connery, John Cleese, Shelley Duvall, Ralph Richardson, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael ...

'' for

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

, they were repeatedly assaulted by a male actor who injured Lo’s back. An on-set source disputed Lo’s claims, which were investigated and found unsubstantiated.

Filmography

Film

Television

Books

References

External links

*
June 2009 Interview
with '' L.A. Record'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Yi, Charlyne 1986 births Living people 21st-century American actors 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American LGBTQ people Actors from Los Angeles County, California American comedy musicians American film actors American non-binary actors American performance artists American stand-up comedians American television actors American voice actors LGBTQ people from California Non-binary comedians American non-binary musicians American non-binary writers People from Fontana, California University of California, Riverside alumni Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers Genderfluid writers American LGBTQ comedians American actors of Filipino descent American actors of Mexican descent American actors of Korean descent Comedians from Los Angeles County, California Genderfluid actors