2.3 2006–present: Full-time entertainer.I'll allow it" is a memorable quote uttered by senor chang (played by ken jeong) and an exploitable image macro from the 2009 tv comedy community. Jeong was born in Detroit, Michigan, to South Korean immigrant parents, D.K. in economics from Wayne State University. Jeong was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jeong was a professor of economics at North Carolina A&T State University. Jeong attended Walter Hines Page High School, where he participated in the regional quiz bowl, was elected to the student council, and played violin in the school orchestra. He graduated in 1986 at the age of 16, and later went on to receive Greensboro's Youth of the Year award for his achievements. Jeong began pursuing acting while a sophomore at Duke University. He briefly considered majoring in drama while still continuing his pre-med coursework.
He graduated from Duke in 1990 and obtained his M.D. The summer before medical school, he took theater classes at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Jeong's background in theater and improv started while he was still a medical student in North Carolina. He was a regular at open mic nights in the Raleigh-Durham circuit, performing at Charlie Goodnights in Raleigh and Tootie's Durham Comedy Club.
He also emceed The Comedy Spot programming series on Duke University campus 19 (produced by his friend Kendrick Jahng) opening for Margaret Cho, Jeff Dunham, and others. Jeong completed his residency in internal medicine at the Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. Jeong won the Big Easy Laff-Off in 1995 while still in residency. NBC president Brandon Tartikoff and The Improv founder Budd Friedman were judges and they both urged Jeong to move to Los Angeles. Jeong moved to Los Angeles in 1998 and practiced medicine for several years as a physician of internal medicine at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Woodland Hills. He began performing regularly at The Improv and Laugh Factory comedy clubs. His stand-up work led to several television appearances, including NBC's The Office, FOX's MADtv, HBO's Entourage, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. In 2002, Jeong landed a spot on Comedy Central's Comic Groove. He made his film debut in Judd Apatow's Knocked Up as Dr. Kuni, which proved to be his breakout performance. From that point forward he was able to transition from medicine into a full-time career in the entertainment industry.
Jeong gave up the practice in 2006 in favor of his acting career however, he maintains his medical license and has assisted with medical emergencies during performances and on-set. 2006–present: Full-time entertainer Įarly in Jeong's career, he studied with director Natalia Lazarus at the Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory where she coached him for his film debut in Knocked Up. Lazarus coached Jeong from 2006 - 2012 for all of his film and television roles through The Hangover Part II. Subsequently, he has appeared in Step Brothers Pineapple Express Role Models as King Argotron All About Steve The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard Couples Retreat and as Mr. Chow in The Hangover, The Hangover Part II, and The Hangover Part III. He co-starred in Zookeeper and Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released in summer 2011. Jeong played Señor Chang on the NBC sitcom Community and was nominated for the show's "Male Breakout Star" at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards.
He was nominated for two 2010 MTV Movie Awards, winning the award for Best WTF Moment and for MTV Movie Award for Best Villain for The Hangover. In fall 2010, Adidas basketball began a wide-ranging marketing campaign in which he starred as "Slim Chin", alongside NBA stars Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose.
On May 22, 2011, he hosted the 2011 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on ABC and was featured in a Hands Only CPR PSA campaign from the American Heart Association on June 15, 2011.