Rosalind Chao (born September 23, 1957) is an American actress. She appeared as Soon-Lee Klinger in the mid-1980s CBS show AfterMASH, Rose Hsu Jordan in the 1993 movie The Joy Luck Club, the recurring character Keiko O'Brien on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the 1990s, and Dr. Kim on The O.C. in 2003. She also played Hua Li, Mulan's mother, in the live-action 2020 remake of Mulan. In 2024 she starred as Ye Wenjie in the Netflix production of 3 Body Problem. She played the role of Pei Pei in the 2003 film Freaky Friday and its 2025 sequel Freakier Friday. From 2023-24, Chao appeared in the Netflix fantasy series Sweet Tooth, earning a Children's and Family Emmy Award for her performance.
Early life, family and education
Rosalind Chao was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in nearby Anaheim. Her parents were performers with the Peking opera before they relocated to Anaheim, where they ran a successful pancake restaurant, Chao's Chinese and American Restaurant, across the street from Disneyland. Chao worked there from an early age.
She attended Pomona College in Claremont, California, and then the University of Southern California, where she earned a degree in broadcast journalism in 1978. and contemplated pursuing journalism as a career. She began acting at the age of five, in the California-based Peking opera traveling company with which her parents were involved. During the summer, they sent her to Taiwan for further acting study and experience.
As a child, she played the daughter of a laundry owner (played by James Hong) on a 1970 episode of Here's Lucy, "Lucy the Laundress".
Deciding not to pursue acting, Chao enrolled in the communications department at the University of Southern California where she earned her degree in journalism. However, after a year as a radio newswriting intern at the CBS-owned Hollywood radio station KNX, which aired on February 28, 1983, and was the most-watched US sitcom television episode of all time as of 2021. Chao repeated the role in the M*A*S*H sequel series, AfterMASH (1983), her first role billed at co-star status.
During the development of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Chao was considered for the role of Enterprise security chief Tasha Yar. The role ultimately went to Denise Crosby, but Chao was later cast in a recurring role as Japanese exo-botanist Keiko O'Brien, which she reprised on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.<!-- to really keep this section, it needs more weight to Ms. Chao, not plot. I've culled and trimmed, and will look for such in Star Trek materials before doing anything with -->
In August 2018, Chao was cast as Mulan's mother in the 2020 live-action retelling of Mulan. In 2019, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, citing her contributions to the critically acclaimed films The Joy Luck Club and I Am Sam.
Personal life
Chao met her husband Simon Templeman while they were working in theatre at the Mark Taper Forum. They have a son and a daughter.
Filmography
Film
{| class="wikitable sortable"|-
!Year
!Film
!Role
!Notes
|-
|1980
|The Big Brawl
|Mae
|
|-
|1981
|Spider-Man: The Dragon's Challenge
|Emily Chan
|
|-
|1981
|An Eye for an Eye
|Linda Chen
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1983
|The Terry Fox Story
|Rika Noda
|Theatres in Canada and Britain
|-
|Going Berserk
|Kung Fu Girl
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1987
|Slam Dance
|Mrs. Bell
|
|-
|The Tribulations of a Chinese Gentleman
|Lianhua
|
|-
|1988
|White Ghost
|Thi Hau
|
|-
|rowspan=2|1990
|Denial
|Terry
|
|-
|Thousand Pieces of Gold
|Lalu Nathoy/Polly Bemis
|
|-
|1992
|Memoirs of an Invisible Man
|Cathy DiTolla
|
|-
|1993
|The Joy Luck Club
|Rose
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|1994
|North
|Chinese Mom
|
|-
|Love Affair
|Lee
|
|-
|1997
|The End of Violence
|Claire
|
|-
|1998
|What Dreams May Come
|Leona
|
|-
|2000
|Enemies of Laughter
|Carla
|
|-
|rowspan="3"|2001
|The Man from Elysian Fields
|Female Customer
|
|-
|Impostor
|Newscaster
|Uncredited
|-
|I Am Sam
|Lily
|
|-
|2003
|Freaky Friday
|Pei-Pei
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2005
|Life of the Party
|Mei Lin
|
|-
|Just like Heaven
|Fran
|
|-
|2007
|Nanking
|Chang Yu Zheng
|
|-
|2009
|The Rising Tide
|Narrator
|
|-
|2012
|Knife Fight
|Kate - Focus Group Moderator
|
|-
|2015
|Stockholm, Pennsylvania
|Dr. Andrews
|
|-
|2017
|Tragedy Girls
|Mayor Campbell
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2019
|Plus One
|Angela
|
|-
|The Laundromat
|Gu Kailai
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2020
|Mulan
|Hua Li
|
|-
|Magic Camp
|Lorraine
|Uncredited
|-
|rowspan=2|2021
|Together Together
|Dr. Andrews
|
|-
|The Starling
|Fawn
|
|-
| 2024
|Sacramento
|Dr. Lisa Murray
|
|-
| 2025
| Freakier Friday
| Pei-Pei
|
|}
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"|-
!Year
!Film
!Role
!Notes
|-
| 1970
| Here's Lucy
| Linda Wong
| 1 episode
|-
|1989
|Jake and the Fatman
|Elaine Nakasone
|Episode: "The Way You Look Tonight"
|-
|rowspan="2"|1990
|Drug Wars: The Camarena Story
|Thanh Steinmetz
|3 episodes
|-
|Against the Law
|Toy Feng
|Episode: "Pilot"
|-
|1991
|Thirtysomething
|Willa Camden
|Episode: "California"
|-
|1991–92
|Star Trek: The Next Generation
|Keiko O'Brien
|Recurring role (8 episodes)
|Recurring role (3 episodes)
|-
|Once and Again
|Tami Seitz
|Episode: "Pictures"
|-
|rowspan="2"|2002
|Dharma & Greg
|Patricia
|Episode: "Tuesday's Child"
|-
|MDs
|Angela Yuan
|Episode: "R.I.P."
|-
|2003–06
|The O.C.
|Dr. Kim
|Recurring role (6 episodes)
|-
| 2023–2024
| Sweet Tooth
| Mrs. Zhang
| Guest season 2; Main season 3
|-
| 2024
| 3 Body Problem
| Ye Wenjie
|
|}
Theatre
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
!Role
!Notes
|-
|2008
|Some Girl(s)
|Lindsay
|
|-
|2018
|The Great Wave
|Etsuko
|National Theatre of Great Britain
|}
Video games
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
!Role
|-
|1995
|Shanghai: Great Moments
|Rosalind Chao / Guide
|}
Awards and nominations
{| class="wikitable"
! Year || Organisation || Category || Project || Result || Ref.
|-
| 2025
| Children's and Family Emmy Awards
| Outstanding Supporting Performer in a Preschool, Children's or Young Teen Program
| Sweet Tooth
|
|
|}