Samantha Wan is a Canadian actress, screenwriter, producer, and

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

creator. She is known for co-creating, writing, and starring in the

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television series '' Second Jen''. Since 2017, she has starred in the

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series '' Private Eyes''. and in 2022

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's '' Run the Burbs''.

Career

Wan began her career in the early 2010s, playing supporting roles in several low-budget productions, including a recurring role on the popular

'' Out with Dad''.

''Second Jen''

Wan garnered further attention in 2016, when she co-created, co-wrote, and starred in the Canadian

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

'' Second Jen'', alongside Amanda Joy. The series follows two young Asian Canadian women experiencing the ups and downs of being independent after moving out of their parents' homes for the first time. The series received mixed reviews from critics upon release; Brad Wheeler of ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' hailed the show as "A Laverne & Shirley for the Digital Age" as it stars "two sparky second-generation Asian-Canadian millennial women coming of age in an era so economically challenging that Laverne and Shirley would be crying in their beers instead of merrily goofing off at the bottling plant." In contrast, John Doyle, also of ''The Globe and Mail'', panned the show, calling it "light, slight, silly and only occasionally outright funny." However, he also called it "mediocre," writing: "''Second Jen'' is notable for having two female Asian lead characters but it is not notable, nor funny, as a comedy." Nevertheless, it was renewed for a second season in late 2017. The second season premiered on August 4, 2018.

Other work

In addition to her work on ''Second Jen'', Wan is also the creator, writer, and star of ''Sudden Master'', which is a female-centric web series that focuses on

Chinese martial arts Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

. It was funded and produced with OMNI and has won several awards, including Best Action Series at the Vancouver Web Series Festival in 2016. The series was released on

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via the KindaTV channel, which is run by Smokebomb Entertainment. As of 2022, she has a recurring role in the CBC Television sitcom '' Run the Burbs''.

Personal life

Wan is of Chinese descent. In interviews, Wan has been outspoken about the need for more diversity and accurate Asian representation on television and in the media.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wan, Samantha Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian television actresses Canadian film actresses Canadian actresses of Chinese descent Canadian women screenwriters 21st-century Canadian actresses