More about me!

My name is Isabel and I’m a professional actor & singer based in the SF Bay Area. I’m also a loving cat mom, and the daughter of Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants who have come to accept my life decisions. Thanks Mom and Baba! I was born in the United States of America but my first language was Mandarin Chinese, which I still speak fairly fluently. My commercial voiceover demo is proudly bilingual!

Like many of my generation, I have lost the ability to read and write Chinese characters (despite 10 years of Saturday Chinese school, womp womp), but I can still read and write Hànyǔ pīnyīn (the Mandarin phonetic romanization system). Fun fact: I placed or won several times in the annual Chinese penmanship (never calligraphy) contest at the aforementioned Saturday school. My mom instilled humility in me early on, pointing out that each of the previous winners had graduated school by the time I started “winning”…and SEGUE!

I’m incredibly fortunate to be able to live out my artistic dreams: bringing my whole self to countless characters, and breathing life into stories that delight and invite audiences to feel and think and laugh and cry, free to just be present (and/or escape) for an hour or two. My performing experience (11 years as a professional) has run the gamut: opera, musicals, theatre for young audiences, straight plays, improv with immersive murder mystery dinner theatre, short plays, and sketch comedy. I especially love helping to develop new works, so I have a lot of table and staged readings and workshops under my proverbial belt!

The common thread throughout my performing history is the absolute joy and the kick I get out of being part of the creative team that takes someone’s written words, adds dimensions and artistic elements, and makes them into something that other human beings get to enjoy. I thrive when I get to collaborate and create!

When I’m not on stage or working at my day job at a social services nonprofit, I enjoy cross-stitching, jigsaw puzzling, baking, roadtripping, and slowly reading my way through a high-fantasy series (that I started in 2018!). [Update 10/26/24: I’m 79% through the penultimate book!]

I’m so grateful you stopped by my website today. And I so look forward to working with you on and/or supporting your next project one of these tomorrows! :)