What followed were several other roles in the series such as The Downer Channel, Girls Behaving Badly, Significant Others and Crossing Jordan. Only two years later, he debuted with a guest appearance in the 1997 crime drama series The Big Easy.
He soon moved to California and obtained a license to practice medicine at the Kaiser Permanente hospital, Woodland Hills with an eye on comedy. Following his win, Jeong became a regular face at the Improv and the Laugh Factory comedy clubs.
In 1995, Ken performed in the Big Easy Laff-off where he did incredibly well that the judges which included then NBC president Brandon Tartikoff and The Improv founder Budd Friedman advised that he move to Los Angeles. Ken Jeong began his professional career as a resident at the Ochsner Medical Center at New Orleans, and while he did that, he also ran stand-up comedy routines, on the side. Armed with an M.D., he was ready for a long successful medical career, but life had other plans. Jeong then moved to the Ochsner Baptist Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he completed his residency in internal medicine. He then attended the UNC School of Medicine where he obtained his M.D. He was even elected to the student council and later graduated with a Greensboro’s Youth of the Month award.Īfter graduating high school at 16, Jeong proceeded to Duke University where he graduated in 1990. He was involved in a host of extracurricular activities like playing the violin in the school orchestra and also played football in his 10th, 11th, and 12th grades where he eventually won the state 4a championship. Little wonder he participated in the Quiz Bowl team. Growing up, he attended Walter Hines Page High School where he so excelled as a student. So, Jeong alongside his two elder twin sisters was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Jeong, worked as a college professor but moved with his family to North Carolina soon after Ken was born to pursue another opportunity as a professor in another university. Ken Jeong was born Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong in Detroit, Michigan, on July 13, 1969, to South Korean immigrant parents. More than that, Ken Jeong is more proud of being a husband and a father.
Ken a series which he created, wrote, and executive produced.Īdditionally, Jeong is actually a licensed physician but has stopped practicing to pursue his acting career full time. Jeong also played the lead role in the ABC situation comedy Dr. Ken Jeong is an American comedian, actor, and physician who is best known for playing the role of Ben Chang on the situation comedy Community and the insufferable gangster Leslie Chow in film series, The Hangover. If you ever thought medicine and humor can’t go together, then think again.