Jean Yoon is a multifaceted artist, born in Illinois and raised in Toronto, with a rich and diverse background in both acting and playwriting.
Jean's career in Toronto began in the early 1980s, where she performed with notable companies such as Upstage Theatre, Toronto Free Theatre, and Canasian Artists Group. Throughout the 1990s, Jean was an active advocate for cultural equity and new play production, serving as the Cross Cultural Coordinator for Theatre Ontario from 1991 to 1992 and later as the Co-Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre Projects from 1992 to early 1994.
During her tenure at Cahoots Theatre Projects, Jean founded Lift Off! and played a pivotal role in establishing the organization as a leader in new play development for playwrights of diverse cultures.
Jean's notable playwriting credits include the Dora-nominated stage play, The Yoko Ono Project, a multimedia performance art comedy, which premiered in Toronto in 2000 and was published by Broken Jaw Press. Her comedic adaptation of a classic Korean folktale, Hongbu & Nolbu: The Tale of the Magic Pumpkins, premiered at Young Peoples Theatre in 2005 and was later published in Seven Contemporary Plays from the Korean Diaspora in the Americas, edited by Esther Kim Lee, Duke University Press in 2012.
Jean's stage credits are equally impressive, with notable performances at Necessary Angel, Young Peoples Theatre, Factory, Tarragon, Cahoots Theatre Projects, Crows, Civilized Theatre, and Die in Debt. In 2011, Jean originated the role "Umma" in the Toronto Fringe production of Kim's Convenience, and went on to perform the show at various venues including Soulpepper Theatre, The Grand Theatre London, National Arts Centre, Theatre Calgary, Theatre Aquarius, and the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope.
Jean is also well-known for her work on the CBC comedy series Kim's Convenience, as well as her roles on The Expanse, Orphan Black, Dragon Boys, and The Time Traveler's Wife. She has also lent her voice to the Emmy Award-winning PBS Kids show Peg + Cat, and is particularly proud of her work on the CBC mini-series Dragon Boys, for which she earned a Gemini nomination in 2007.
