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Lauren Tom (born August 4, 1961) is an American actress and voice actress. Her roles include Lena St. Clair in The Joy Luck Club, Julie in the NBC sitcom Friends, Dot in the final season of Grace Under Fire, and the voices for both mother and daughter characters on two animated TV comedy series: on Futurama she voiced Amy Wong and her mother Inez, and on King of the Hill as Minh and Connie.
Contents.Early life Tom was born in the Chicago suburb of, the daughter of Nancy ( Dare) and Chan Tom, Jr., who worked in the business. She has a brother named Chip. Their parents were born in Chicago, and their grandparents came from,.
Raised in Highland Park, Tom was bullied as a child about her Chinese heritage, making her and eventually inspiring her to study dance. Career Theatre At the age of 17, Tom landed a spot with a touring company of and was cast in the Broadway production of the show less than a year later in the role of Connie. She won an for her Off-Broadway acting and was cast in the Broadway shows.
In Chicago she starred in the 's production of. Film Tom had several small roles in movies including,. Her biggest role up until that point was as a waitress in the / film. This role led to being a guest on.Tom landed a lead role in the film in 1993, which led to roles in other films such as and.Since the mid-1990s, Tom has focused her work, primarily, in voiceover roles. She has appeared in a few live-action films, including the 2003 comedy and the critically acclaimed 2004 film.Television Lauren Tom's first role in television was that of Miko Wakamatsu on. She subsequently appeared on, Catfish With Black Bean Sauce,. She had an acting role in a bonus feature on the DVD.
She also had a supporting role on the 8th and 9th season of the drama series as prophet Kevin Tran's mother, Linda Tran. In 2018, she appeared in the second season of the drama series.Voice acting Tom began vocal work in the animated series playing Angela Chen. From there on, she voiced in and had minor roles on, before landing her regular roles on, where she voiced Minh and Connie Souphanousinphone and later, where she voices and Inez Wong.Since first playing the character on stage in the 1983 Doonesbury musical, Tom has periodically voiced the character in media related to, most notably in a series of animated shorts satirizing the.She has also lent her voice to, as Mrs. Lee and Nelson, and.She has also voiced the villains Gizmo and Jinx on, Yan Lin, Susan, Alchemy on, Tasumi on, Jake's mom, Counselor Chang on, and as Joo Dee on.
She also guest-starred in as Chuck Charles's co-anchor, Bonnie Chang, in 'Gator Watch' and 'All Tied Up With a Boa'.Recently in 2010, she did the voice of Song, Bai Li and Ming on the animated series, and also played the role of Jessica in the animated film,.Other animated movies Tom has voiced include, and the four Futurama movies:, and.She voiced Li Li Stormstout in and played Hayaku on an episode of. Personal life Tom married Glenn Lau-Kee on October 23, 1982. Following the end of that marriage, she wed actor Curt Kaplan in October 1999. She and Kaplan have two sons, Oliver and Leo Kaplan.
Filmography Film YearTitleRoleNotes1984Eloy1987Magic SticksRedhead1987Lady Broker1989Audry1989Mitzie1989Marjolene Ping the Female Reporter1990Helen1992Adele Bliss1993Lena St. Clair1993Amanda Chang1994Amy1994Mrs. Ho1998Yolanda Chin1998Carol1998SubZeroMariko (voice)Video1999Mai2001Angel2002Additional VoicesUncredited2003Bambi2003Lois2004Younghee (voice)2004Obstetrician2005Su (voice)Video2006God's Waiting ListSylvia2007AmyVarious (voice)Video2008Amy WongInez Wong (voice)Video2008AmyVarious (voice)Video2009Amy WongInez WongTrixie (voice)Video2010Jessica (voice)Video2011Market Sheep (voice)2015RoxannePost-production2015(voice)VideoTelevision YearTitleRoleNotes1982MikoEpisode: 'The Americanization of Miko'Episode: 'Runaway'1984SarahEpisode: 'Mom's on Strike'1985KimEpisode: 'The Exchange Student'1985Mrs. TomEpisode: 'China Rain'1985Episode: 'Children of a Tempest Storm'1985Mrs. GwynneEpisode: 'Denise's Friend'1990Angel of DeathJulieTV movie1990GailEpisode: 'The Distance'1991NurseEpisode: 'G.I. Retrieved 2011-02-15. Some sources cite 1959.
^ Tom in. August 1, 2013.
Event occurs at 00:03. Retrieved July 29, 2017. ^. From the original on September 21, 2015. Retrieved July 29, 2017. Pryor, Tim (October 1993).
Archived from on July 5, 2007. 2010-02-10 at the Accessed 7 February 2010. Bommer, Lawrence (1990-03-09). Lauren Tom @LaurenTom9000 (3 October 2012). (Tweet) – via.
Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved 7 August 2017.External links.
AN: Hope you're all having a wonderful Valentine's Day. In the spirit of the holiday, here's another story featuring our favorite snail couple. Enjoy.
Valentine's Day
Turbo and the rest of F.A.S.T. were doing some practice laps around the racetrack. It was a very windy day, and Whiplash wanted them all to learn how to handle themselves in intense weather.
'Hey Whiplash!' Turbo yelled over the strong winds. 'How much longer are we going to do this?'
'What's the matter, Garden Snail?' asked Whiplash. 'Is the breeze too much for you? I thought an Indy Champion could take a little wind resistance.'
'You have force yourself through the wind,' said Smoove Move. 'You have to let yourself glide with it.'
'I can handle anything,' Turbo confidently replied. 'And I know how to handle wind. It's just that we've been doing this for awhile now, and some of us probably have places to be today.'
![Fast Fast](https://scontent-yyz1-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/s640x640/81650484_168650300899884_4324250913806875545_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-yyz1-1.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=100&_nc_ohc=XunRqmsiQZ4AX9DZSeg&oh=ba700cbae8e2491295c4bb4dff2eb8d2&oe=5E98149D)
'Oh really?' Whiplash asked, obviously not believing him. 'And what, if you don't mind me asking, were you planning to do?'
'I'm not talking about me.' Everyone started to slow down and eventually stop after Turbo said that. 'I'm talking about Burn. You do realize what day it is, right?'
'Oh, I know!' White Shadow said excitedly. 'It's Friday.'
'True,' Skidmark began. 'But I think Turbo is referring to the fact that it's Valentine's Day. Right?'
'Exactly,' answered Turbo. 'And if I know Chet, which I do, he's been planning something special for her.'
'I haven't seen him all day,' Burn said. 'He'd better be planning something, or else he's going to experience why I call myself BURN.' To emphasize her point, Burn started running her shell engine, making huge gusts of fire come out of the back. Suddenly, the fire died down and her shell made a rumbling sound. 'Dang, out of fuel. I'll be right back.'
Burn then went back to the track entrance to refuel her tanks, leaving everyone else to stare at her with bewilderment and fear.
'So,' began Whiplash to Turbo, 'does you're brother have a death wish or something?'
'I honestly don't know what's going on with those two,' replied Turbo.
'It's complicated.' Everyone was surprised to hear Chet's voice come out of nowhere. He then appeared from around the corner. 'Is she gone?'
'Yeah,' Skidmark said. 'For now, at least.'
'Where have you been all day?' asked Turbo.
Chet went back around the corner and pulled out a rose without its stem. 'I've been picking this.'
'Whoa,' Turbo awed. 'That's a pretty rose.'
'I know,' said Chet. 'I've been looking all over for the perfect one. It took me forever to cut this thing off. Helicopter blades aren't meant for such tasks. My aerodynamics went haywire. I crashed too many times to count. At one point, I tried gnawing it off.' Chet held out his tongue. 'It hurt more than you could possibly imagine. Even after I got it down, I then had to figure out how to get it here. Don't ask. I'd rather forget that part.'
'You really went all out for this,' Turbo complimented.
'The rose is the key to a woman's heart, baby,' Smoove Move said. 'As the flower blooms, so does her heart.'
'That was beautiful, Smoove,' said White Shadow.
'I hope this isn't all you have planned for the rest of the day,' warned Turbo.
'I also have a nice dinner planned,' Chet said. 'Trust me. I've got everything under control.'
As if on cue, a large gust of wind blew by the snails. It was powerful enough to blow the rose up in the air and carry it away. Chet screamed in panic and tried to take after it in his helicopter shell, but the wind just made him crash into the wall. The snails watched as the rose blew out of sight. Whiplash went over to Chet.
'Well, Chet, let me be the first to say, it was nice knowing you.'
Chet just gulped loudly. 'I'm dead.'
'No, you're not.' Turbo tried to calm him down. 'We all saw the rose. We'll just explain to Burn what happened. She'll understand.'
The other snails backed away from the brothers. They obviously didn't want to get involved.
'Seriously, guys?' Turbo asked in disbelief. 'Whiplash, not even you.'
'I never get in between Burn and her men,' Whiplash said. 'I'm crazy, but I'm not that crazy.'
'Fine.' Turbo turned back to Chet. 'I'll help explain things to her. How bad could she be?'
'Yeah,' White Shadow said. 'I'm sure you won't end up like her last boyfriend.'
'Last boyfriend?' Chet asked, nervously. 'What happened to her last boyfriend?'
'Well,' Whiplash began, 'he was a good guy, and they were good together for a long time. Then they got into an argument. We all gave them some space, and when we came back…'
'Did she hurt him or something?'
'Maybe. We don't actually know. No one ever saw or heard from him again. It was like he never existed.'
'There are plenty of theories as to what happened,' Skidmark took out a piece of paper from seemingly nowhere. 'There's a chance he left out of fear for his own life. But, someone did say they heard a crunching sound as a truck went by that day. Also, there was a lot of salt missing from Dos Bros after the fight.'
Chet made a big gulp after that last one.
'Okay,' Turbo said. 'I think that's enough of your conspiracies for now, Skidmark.'
'Actually,' Whiplash interrupted. 'That last one was mine.'
![Turbo Fast Hayaku Turbo Fast Hayaku](/uploads/1/2/5/7/125727052/624694553.jpg)
'I always thought that she fed him to the crows,' added White Shadow.
'That settles it,' said Chet. 'I'm leaving. Goodbye, everyone. It's been a pleasure.'
'Chet,' Turbo said to his brother. 'Stop being ridiculous. Burn cares about you. You know she does. We'll just explain the rose and you two will spend the rest of the day together. Take her through the park or something before you have that dinner you were talking about.'
'It's a small dinner,' Chet explained. 'The rose was the main part. She's going to think I forgot Valentine's Day and came up with something really fast and made you come up with some story about a rose that drifted away in the wind and she'll think I don't care and…' Chet took a big breath from talking so fast.
'Easy, easy,' Turbo said, trying to calm his brother down. 'You're overreacting again.'
'But, didn't she say that she was going to burn him alive just a few minutes ago?' asked White Shadow.
'That's not really helping, Shadow,' Turbo irritatedly said. 'Think for a second. Is there anything else you can do for Burn? Something that will put her in a good mood, or help her forget about your absence the entire day?'
Chet thought about it for a second, but didn't get much time before Burn came back.
'There you are, Boo,' she said as soon as she saw Chet.
'Everyone back away slowly,' Whiplash whispered to everyone else. They all were too afraid not to obey.
'Where have you been all day?' Burn asked him, a little anger apparent in her voice. 'I've been starting to worry.'
'Chet's not doing too good right now,' Turbo tried explaining to her. 'He spent all day trying to get you this rose, and it just blew away a moment ago.'
'Really?' asked Burn, having a little trouble believing it.
'I know it sounds kind of odd that it went away a second before you showed up, but…'
'I'm sorry,' Chet interrupted his brother. 'I let you down.'
'What?'
'I let you down, Burn,' Chet repeated. 'It's something I promised myself I would never do.' Everyone became quiet at this point. 'I haven't known you for all that long, but ever since you came into my life, you've messed up my ordered and safe existence in ways that I've never knew were possible. But the thing is, I've never been happier. My life was boring before you came along. I just didn't know it at the time. Since I've been with you, you've given me excitement and thrills that, if given to me by anyone else, I'd hate. But with you, it's different. You make everything seem less scary. With you, I feel like I can take on the world. You mean more to me than anyone. I don't quite know how this started, but I'm happy that it did. I would never want to hurt you, because I… I love you.'
There was silence in the area for a while as everyone took in the words Chet gave to Burn.
'He's quite the romantic, huh?' Turbo whispered to Whiplash, only to see that he had tears in his eyes. 'Are you crying?'
'No!' Whiplash yelled back. 'The wind blew dust in my eyes! I can't help it if that happens!'
'Oh, Chet,' Burn said as she moved into close the difference between her and Chet. 'I love you, too.' She then leans in and gives him a passionate kiss. 'Look I don't care what we do today. Just as long I I'm spending it with you.'
'Me too,' Chet agreed.
'Tell you what,' Burn suggested. 'Why don't we go out looking for that flower of yours?'
'Really?' asked Chet. 'You want to spend Valentine's Day randomly searching all over the place for a flower, even though we have no idea where it could've floated off to?'
'No,' answered Burn. 'I want to go out searching, with you, alone, where no one else will be.'
'Oh,' said Chet as he put two and two together. 'Sure. I'm up for that.' The two then proceeded to exit the track, side by side.
'Wow,' Skidmark was the first to comment. 'That was intense.'
'Your brother sure has a way with the words,' Smoove Move told Turbo.
'Tell me about it,' Turbo said. 'I think I finally understand those two. Well, sort of.'
'I still say he's going to get himself killed,' said Whiplash.
'I don't think Chet cares,' said Turbo. 'He seems perfectly happy with the way things are. By the way, Burn's previous boyfriend didn't really disappear, did he? You were all just making that up to scare Chet, right?' The other snails just laughed as if it were a joke and went off in different directions. Turbo stood there in the center of the track, looking confused. 'That's a no, right?!' He yelled after them. 'Right?!'
THE END
AN: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!
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