Sumalee Montano is an American actress and film producer. Originally, she worked as an

investment bank Investment is traditionally defined as the "commitment of resources into something expected to gain value over time". If an investment involves money, then it can be defined as a "commitment of money to receive more money later". From a broade ...

analyst in New York City and Hong Kong before starting her acting career. For TV and film, Montano has appeared on '' Close to Home'', ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

'', ''

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

'', ''

Scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

'', ''

The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in the fictional Genoa City (named after the real-life Genoa City, Wiscon ...

'', ''

This Is Us ''This Is Us'' is an American drama television series created by Dan Fogelman that aired on NBC from September 20, 2016, to May 24, 2022. The series follows the lives and families of two parents and their three children in several different ti ...

'' and ''

Veep ''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci. The series follows Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the fictional Vice Pres ...

''. As a voice actress, she has provided the voices of Pudding in '' Space Channel 5'' and its

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

, Arcee on '' Transformers: Prime'', Cali in the '' Skylanders'' series,

Katana A is a Japanese sword characterized by a curved, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands. Developed later than the ''tachi'', it was used by samurai in feudal Japan and worn with the edge fa ...

on '' Beware the Batman'', the President in '' Saints Row IV'', the female Inquisitor in '' Dragon Age: Inquisition'' and Yuna in ''

Ghost of Tsushima In folklore, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from an invisible presence to translucen ...

''. She has also guest-starred as Nila on the web series '' Critical Role''. She resides and works in Los Angeles.

Early life

Montano is of Filipino and Thai descent and grew up mostly in the United States, but also spent a few years in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estim ...

, Thailand. During her high school career, she began acting as an extracurricular activity. Her great-uncle is Filipino actor and writer Severino Montano.

Education and acting career

She graduated from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 1993 and is a U.S.

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the peopl ...

. After graduation, she worked as an investment banking analyst for

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in 42 countries and more than 80,000 employees, the firm's clients in ...

for a few years. After realizing investment banking wasn't something she was passionate about, Montano quit and went backpacking through Africa before realizing she wanted to pursue acting professionally. Montano has taken on a variety of different roles, both live-action and voice-over. She is talented in using many different accents, including Chinese, Filipino, British, Southern, Thai, Vietnamese, Eastern European and Japanese. Her first voice acting role was as Pudding in the 1999 music-rhythm game, '' Space Channel 5''. Her first major acting role was playing the nurse Duvata Mahal for three seasons of the TV show '' ER''. In 2021, Sumalee Montano gained acclaim for her role as Inoue Sato in the

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

TV series '' The Lost Symbol''. Following her portrayal as Sato, she had also appeared in the 2021 animated

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

series '' The Ghost and Molly McGee'', voicing Sharon McGee, the titular character's mother, and Grandma Nin.

Filmography

Voice acting

Video games

Film

Animation

Live-action

Television

Film

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montano, Sumalee Living people 21st-century American women Actresses from Columbus, Ohio Actual play performers American actresses of Filipino descent American film actresses American people of Thai descent Actors of Thai descent American television actresses American video game actresses American voice actresses American women film producers Harvard University alumni Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)