Stephanie Hsu

Experimental Theater as a Battlefield

Stephanie Hsu slept on other people's couches when she started in New York's avant-garde theater scene. She was part of collectives that staged strange works in Brooklyn basements for audiences of barely ten people. That period built a physical endurance she would later apply in front of the cameras.

In 2017 she landed on Broadway in the musical SpongeBob SquarePants. She played Karen, a sentient computer who demanded absolute physical control. The role was exhausting, but it gave her the stage experience she needed to move into television.

And then the Daniels showed up.

They had worked with her on an episode of Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens in 2020. They loved her manic energy so much that they considered her for the role of Joy Wang. They weren't looking for a famous face but for someone who could keep up with the pace of a chaotic shoot.

The Multiverse Explosion in 2022

The release of Everything Everywhere All At Once in 2022 shook up the studio A24. The film earned eleven Oscar nominations and grossed more than 140 million dollars worldwide. Hsu played the villain Jobu Tupaki with a wardrobe that included impossible wigs and high-fashion makeup.

No one expected that outburst.

Hsu earned her Best Supporting Actress nomination after a year of grueling promotion across festivals around the world. But the industry doesn't always award the prize to the one who takes the biggest risks. Despite the enthusiastic reviews, she went home without the statuette on that March night.

So she decided to focus on pure comedy. In 2023 she starred in Joy Ride under the direction of Adele Lim. The film cost about 32 million dollars and gave the actress the chance to explore much raunchier, more direct humor.

Cameras, Action and Stunt Doubles

In 2024 she joined the cast of The Fall Guy to play a spirited production assistant. She shared the set with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in a story that pays tribute to film stunt performers. The shoot in Sydney was massive and required unprecedented technical logistics for the action scenes.

The theater remained her mental refuge.

Hsu prefers projects where the script lets her get her hands dirty. In 2024 she also lent her voice to the animated series The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy for Amazon Prime Video. The contract for this production was signed under strict confidentiality clauses that protected the design of the characters.

The film The Fall Guy had a production budget of 125 million dollars.