A Colorado native made history on Tuesday, July 13, when he became one of the first Chinese-Americans and the first Saturday Night Live featured player to be nominated for an Emmy award.
Bowen Yang is one of eight contenders up for Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 2021 Emmy Awards.
Yang was raised in Aurora and is an alumnus of Smoky Hill High School. Back in 2008, his Smoky Hill High classmates awarded him with the senior superlative "Most Likely to Be a Cast Member on Saturday Night Live."
In 2019, Yang lived up to the superlative by joining the show's cast.
He is SNL's first Chinese-American and the third openly gay male cast member (after Terry Sweeney and John Milhiser).
As mentioned above, Yang is the first featured player in the show's 46-year history to receive an Emmy nomination. Every cast member starts out as a featured player for their first two seasons. If they make it to a third season, they typically become part of the main 'repertory' cast.
In just two years, Yang has become an indispensable part of the cast, churning out memorable performances in sketches and on the Weekend Update desk.
He also co-hosts the charming and hilarious podcast Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers which you can listen to on the iHeartRadio app.
You can root for Bowen Yang at the Emmys on Sunday, September 19.