Vanessa Kai

An actor, collaborator, and native New Yorker, Vanessa Kai was born Vanessa Kwong. After her parents divorced, Kai legally changed her name to combine the surnames of both her parents: (K)wong & Ng(ai). Kai studied acting at New York City's LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, also known as the "FAME" school. She is also a graduate of New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study where she concentrated her studies in Sociobiology and Psychology. Most recently, Kai was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in KPOP, a new immersive musical sensation produced by Ars Nova (Broadway's Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) in association with Ma-Yi Theater + Woodshed Collective. Book by Jason Kim (HBO's Girls). Music & Lyrics by Helen Park & Max Vernon. Directed by Teddy Bergman. Other Off Broadway credits include The Architecture of Becoming at Women's Project Theater, Somebody's Dau