Biography
-margaretcho.com

Margaret Cho was born Dec. 5, 1968 and raised in San Francisco. "It was different than any other place on Earth," she says. "I grew up and went to grammar school on Haight Street during the '70s. There were old hippies, ex-druggies, burnouts from the '60s, drag queens, and Chinese people. To say it was a melting pot - that's the least of it. It was a really confusing, enlightening, wonderful time."

Her grandfather was a Methodist minister who ran an orphanage in Seoul during the Korean War. Ignoring the traditions of her patriarchal culture, her mother bravely resisted an arranged marriage in Korea and married Margaret's father who writes joke books - in Korean. "Books like 1001 Jokes for Public Speakers - real corny stuff," Cho says. "I guess we're in the same line of work. But we don't understand each other that way. I don't know why the things he says are funny and the same for him."

Cho started performing stand-up at age 16 in a comedy club called The Rose & Thistle above a bookstore her parents ran. Soon after, she won a comedy contest where first prize was opening for Jerry Seinfeld. She moved to Los Angeles in the early '90s and lived in a house with several other young performers.

I moved out because I wasn't the most famous. If the Manson Family had come, I wouldn't have been Sharon Tate; I would have been one of the supporting victims, and who wants that? Janeane Garofalo moved into my old room. Anyway, 'Cho' written in blood on the wall doesn't look as cool as 'Garofalo.'

Still in her early twenties, Cho hit the college circuit, where she immediately became the most booked act in the market and garnered a nomination for Campus Comedian of The Year. Arsenio Hall introduced her to late night audiences, Bob Hope put her on a prime time special and, seemingly overnight, Margaret Cho became a national celebrity.

In 1994, she starred in a short-lived ABC sitcom called All-American Girl. Says Cho:

"There were just so many people involved in that show, and so much importance put on the fact that it was an ethnic show. It's hard to pin down what "ethnic" is without appearing to be racist. And then, for fear of being too "ethnic," it got so watered down for television that by the end, it was completely lacking in the essence of what I am and what I do. I learned a lot, though. It was a good experience as far as finding myself, knowing who I was and what direction I wanted to take with my comedy."

In 1999, Cho chronicled her experience on the sitcom in an off Broadway one-woman show called I'm The One That I Want. The show was extremely well received, toured the U.S, and was made into a concert film and a best-selling book of the same name. The film, which garnered incredible reviews, broke the record for the most money grossed per print in movie history. After the success of her first show, Cho launched Notorious C.H.O. in 2001, a smash-hit 37-city national tour that culminated in a sold-out concert at Carnegie Hall. Notorious C.H.O. was also recorded and released as a feature film, hailed by the New York Times as "Brilliant!" Both films were acquired by Showtime Cable Networks in 2004 and are currently airing on their channels.

Cho embarked on her third sold-out national tour, Revolution, in 2003. The tour ultimately grossed 4.4M and was heralded as "Her strongest show yet!" by the Chicago Sun Times. The concert film premiered on the Sundance Channel in 2004 and was released on DVD later that year. The CD of Revolution was nominated for a Grammy for best comedy album of the year for 2003.

In 2004, Cho took her politically charged State of Emergency tour through the swing states of the Presidential election. Lauded as "Murderously funny!" by the New York Times, State of Emergency eventually evolved into her fourth national show, Assassin. Her most political and topical work to date, Assassin toured the US, Canada and Australia and was filmed at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C. The concert film premiered in select theatres and on the gay and lesbian premium channel Here! TV in late 2005. It was recently released on CD by Nettwerk records and on DVD by Koch Entertainment.

Cho has also completed her first narrative feature, Bam Bam and Celeste, which she has described as a fag and fag hag "Dumb and Dumber." Bam Bam and Celeste, directed by Lorene Machado and written by and starring Cho, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in late 2005 and has since played at the AFI Fest and at Fusion, the Los Angeles LGBT People of Color Film Festival. Bam Bam and Celeste will screen at the London Lesbian & Gay Film festival on April 8, 2006. On the night following, Margaret will bring her greatest hits show, "I Will Shoot You," to Her Majesty's Theatre for one night only on April 9. Check out her tour page for new show dates and appearances throughout the year.

In addition to her busy touring schedule, Cho's also maintains an award-winning blog, has taken up bellydancing, and has penned a second book, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, a collection of her essays on all subjects political and pop. A deft mix of her trademark acerbic wit and playful wordplay, I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight was released by Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA) in October of 2005, and has been praised as "Raw. Blunt. Passionate. Empathetic, yet no-holds-barred," by the Star-Telegram.

Cho recently received a First Amendment Award from the ACLU of Southern California. Said Ramona Ripston: "In these very troubled times, when the rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution are in jeopardy, we applaud your courage to speak out about the dangerous policies of the Bush administration and your commitment to organizing others to do the same. More than ever before, this country needs activists and artists like you to stand up and let their voices be heard."

She has also been honored by GLAAD, American Women in Radio and Television, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), PFLAG and the National Organization for Women (NOW) for "making a significant difference in promoting equal rights for all, regardless of race, sexual orientation or gender identity."

"I didn't mean to be a role model. I just speak my truth. I guess speaking from your heart really creates a huge impact, and if I can encourage people to do that, then I would love to be a role model. If I could encourage people to use their voices loudly, then that's my reward. I don't care about winning an academy award; I don't care about mainstream acceptance, because it's never going to be what I want it to be. I just want to do my work and love it."

Biography
-wikipedia.org

Margaret Cho (born December 5, 1968) is a Korean-American comedian, fashion designer and actress.

Cho was born Moran Cho in San Francisco, California.

Career and related activities

Cho won the American Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian in 1994. That same year Cho was the first female Asian American to have a television series based around her. The show, called All American Girl, was quickly cancelled after suffering major content changes over the course of its single season, even suffering criticism from within the Asian American community over stereotyping. Cho's desperation to make the show a success led to decisions that affected her health negatively[citation needed]. Her rapid weight loss in order to complete the pilot episode caused serious kidney failure. The program was also problematic because much of the humor was based on broad Asian stereotypical portrayals of her relatives.

Since then, Cho has had several successful one-woman shows. The first, called I'm the One That I Want, dealt with her difficulties breaking into show business due to her ethnicity and weight. The 2000 film version became the highest-grossing film in history in proportion to the number of prints ($1.4 million with only 9 prints). The second, 2002's Notorious C.H.O. (the title a spoof on rap artist Lil' Kim's album The Notorious K.I.M., and that in turn being a tribute to Lil' Kim's late boyfriend's nickname "The Notorious B.I.G.") dealt with her having been raised in 1970s San Francisco and her own bisexuality. Both tours spawned live movie versions, albums, and books.

In 2003, she filmed another stand-up film, Revolution, released in 2004. She also began an internet presence with the advent of http://www.margaretcho.com and her daily weblog. She began to draw intense fire from conservatives over her fiercely anti-Bush commentary; a live performance in Houston, Texas, was threatened with picketing. Although protesters never showed up, she held a counter protest outside the club until security told her she had to go inside.

One of Cho's core base of fans has always been the gay and lesbian community, and she is always a supportive and sympathetic advocate of that group. After SF Mayor Gavin Newsom initiated same-sex marriages in San Francisco in 2004, Cho started Love is Love is Love, a website promoting the legalization of gay marriage in the United States.

In 2004, Cho was performing at a corporate gig in a hotel when, after ten minutes, her microphone was cut off and a band was instructed to begin playing. Cho claims this was because the manager of the hotel was offended by anti-Bush-administration comments. Cho's payment, which was issued by way of check directly to a non-profit organization, West Memphis 3, initially bounced but was eventually honored. In July 2004 during the Democratic National Convention, Cho was un-invited to speak at a Human Rights Campaign/National Stonewall Democrats fundraiser out of the fear that her comments might cause controversy.

In late 2004, Cho began work on her first self-written and starring film role. The movie is called Bam Bam and Celeste and is a low-budget comedy about a fag hag and her gay best friend. The film co-stars Cho's friend and co-touring act Bruce Daniels. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005.

In 2005, Cho started promoting and touring with her new show Assassin. The show became her fourth live concert film, and premiered on the gay and lesbian premium cable network Here! TV in September of 2005. This is the first time in Cho's DVD's in which she includes herself in when talking about gays, saying "we" and "our community." With Cho's outrage over the 2004 reelection of George W. Bush, Assassin features political material as the source of her comedy more so than her previous films. [citation needed] Posters for Assassin feature Cho in paratrooper gear holding a microphone in the style of an automatic rifle, a reference to the infamous 1974 photo of heiress Patty Hearst.

Also in 2005, Cho released her second book I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight, a compilation of essays and prose about global politics, human rights, and other topical issues. Cho launched a national book tour in support of the collection. An audio reading of the book was also released. A DVD of a live taping of the Assassin tour was released in conjunction with the book.

Cho has dated Quentin Tarantino (who appeared on an episode of her sitcom as a favor), Chris Isaak, and Garrett Wang. In 2003, she married Al Ridenour, an artist involved in the creation of Cacophony Society and the Art of Bleeding; she was featured in an Art of Bleeding performance in March 2006.

Cho has three dogs, all adopted. They are Ralph (as in Ralph Fiennes); Bronwyn, named for a car; and Gudrun, named after 1970s German terrorist Gudrun Ensslin of the Baader-Meinhof Gang, and the Norse Valkyrie Gudrun. The source of her third dog's name drew ire from conservatives.

In 2006 Cho took up bellydancing and started her own custom line of bellydancing accessories which are sold through her website. She also had extensive tattooing done to cover the majority of her back. She co-wrote and starred in a sitcom pilot based around the "Mommy" character of her stand-up, but it was not picked up. She began releasing comedic rap animated videos on her website under the moniker "M.C. M.C." (Master of Ceremonies Margaret Cho,) including the tracks "Finger" and "Roofies".

In April 2006 Cho started "The Sensuous Woman," a monthly burlesque/comedy/bellydancing show at a restaurant in California.

Explicit material

Much of her comedy is quite sexually explicit; some of her favorite subjects include her fondness for gay men and proud identity as a "fag hag," sharp political commentary, descriptions of her problems with prejudice, substance abuse, and eating disorders, and her relationship with her mother, which she loves to satirize. She has comedically mentioned her plans to "cover her vagina with leaves" because of her belief that falling in to such a trap was the only way that someone would enter it. In the same vein, she has also opined that if one doesn't have sex for a long time, say two years, then one's virginity is automatically earned back. ("I have a vagina I'm not using. Would any of you like to have it?"[citation needed]) The poster for her first one-woman show (and film), I'm the One That I Want, featured her holding her arms out as if gripping a steering wheel but with her index finger extended, an allusion to a long joke she tells involving the rides home after using digital rectal stimulation as a means to expeditiously complete oral favors for men.

Fashion design

In 2002, Cho began a line of clothing with friend and designer Ava Stander called High Class Cho that was sold exclusively through a website of the same name. Eventually it went defunct. However in 2006 Cho began a line of belly dancing belts called Hip Wear.


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