James Setsuo Tom (formerly Jes Tom, born ) is an American comedian, actor, and writer based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. His work explores themes including sex,

gender identity Gender identity is the personal sense of one's own gender. Gender identity can correlate with a person's assigned sex or can differ from it. In most individuals, the various biological determinants of sex are congruent and consistent with the in ...

, and

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...

representation.

Early life and education

Tom was born and raised in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, California. Tom’s grandfather is Japanese American activist Edison Uno. He enjoyed acting in high school, and later joined the

improvisation Improvisation, often shortened to improv, is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. The origin of the word itself is in the Latin "improvisus", which literally means un-foreseen. Improvis ...

team at

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

. Tom graduated from Smith in 2013. In 2016, he completed a two-year acting program at the Maggie Flanagan Studio.

Career

In 2011, Tom started performing at

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, often taking place at night (an open mic night), in which audience members may perform on ...

s in San Francisco. In 2013, he moved to

to pursue a career in comedy. In 2021, Tom was named a New Face of Comedy at the Just for Laughs comedy festival. In 2022, Tom's solo show, ''Less Lonely'', had its

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

premiere at the

Cherry Lane Theatre The Cherry Lane Theatre is the oldest continuously running off-Broadway theater in New York City. The theater is located at 38 Commerce Street between Barrow and Bedford Streets in the West Village neighborhood of Greenwich Village, Manhattan, ...

. The show returned to off-Broadway in 2023 for a limited engagement at the Greenwich House Theater, presented by his friend

Elliot Page Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor, producer, and activist. He is known for his leading roles across Canadian and American film and television, and for his outspoken work as an activist for LGBTQ righ ...

. Tom worked as a story editor for the

HBO Max Max (known in other countries as, and soon to be reverted globally to HBO Max) is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Streaming on behalf of Home Box Of ...

series ''

Our Flag Means Death ''Our Flag Means Death'' is an American period romantic comedy television series created by David Jenkins. Set in the early 18th century during the Golden Age of Piracy, the series follows the misadventures of gentleman-turned-pirate Stede Bon ...

''. His other credits include the animated series ''

Tuca & Bertie ''Tuca & Bertie'' is an American animated sitcom created by cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt for Netflix. It began streaming on May 3, 2019. It stars Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong, with a supporting cast including Steven Yeun, John Early (comedian), John ...

'', the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

Funny or Die Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a regular staf ...

short film ''Soojung Dreams of Fiji'', and an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

live advice show for Netflix, ''Dear Jes''. In March 2024, Tom appeared in a Netflix comedy special, '' Hannah Gadsby's Gender Agenda'', hosted by

Hannah Gadsby Hannah Gadsby (born 12 January 1978) is an Australian comedian, writer, author and actor. They began their career in Australia after winning the national final of the Raw Comedy competition for new comedians in 2006. In 2018, their show '' Nanet ...

and also featuring fellow

genderqueer Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

comedians Alok, Chloe Petts, DeAnne Smith, Krishna Istha, Asha Ward, and Mx. Dahlia Belle.

Personal life

Tom is a fifth-generation

, of Japanese and Chinese descent. He is

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and

transmasculine A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes persons whose gender ...

, and goes by ''

he/him In Modern English, ''he'' is a singular, masculine, third-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''he'' has four shapes representing five distinct word forms: * ''he'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''him'': the accu ...

'' and ''

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

'' pronouns. In March 2025, Tom publicly announced his name change to ''James Setsuo Tom'' on

, referencing that he had been going by James for some time. He subsequently published an article in ''

them Them or THEM, a third-person singular or plural accusative personal pronoun, may refer to: Books * ''Them'' (novel), 3rd volume (1969) in American Joyce Carol Oates' ''Wonderland Quartet'' * '' Them: Adventures with Extremists'', 2003 non-fict ...

'' titled ''Why I'm Changing My Name to James'', where he explores moving on from his "placeholder name" of "Jes Tom" explaining the change as a "demand that other people see what I see."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tom, Jes Living people 1990s births American actors of Asian descent American comedians of Asian descent American LGBTQ comedians American LGBTQ people of Asian descent American non-binary actors American non-binary writers Comedians from New York City Comedians from San Francisco LGBTQ people from New York (state) LGBTQ people from San Francisco Non-binary comedians Smith College alumni American stand-up comedians