Born in sunny southern California in 1986, actress and comedian Charlyne Yi started pursuing a full-time career in stand-up comedy when she was fresh out of high school. A strange and innovative mix of jokes, games, music, magic, and crowd participation, Yi's act carved out a niche in the comedy scene, and she soon began branching out. She appeared in a 2006 episode of 30 Rock, as well as in the 2008 comedy Semi-Pro, but many fans remembered her as the couch-dwelling stoner in 2007's Knocked Up.
In 2009, Yi expanded her canvas even further, writing, producing, and starring in the romcom Paper Heart. A creative mix of fiction and reality, Yi played a fictionalized version of herself in the film, in a scripted story about the comedienne working with a documentary crew to make a movie about her own search for love (and potentially finding it, with real-life boyfriend Michael Cera, who also played himself). However, the clips of interviewees in the movie-within-the-movie -- whom Yi questioned about their own insights on love and romance -- were all real, melding the fictional and documentary aspects of the film even further. It proved to be a winning combination, taking home the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the Sundance Film Festival.
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