Emily Kuroda

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Emily Kuroda bigraphy, stories - American actor

Emily Kuroda : biography

October 30, 1952 –

Emily Kuroda (born October 30, 1952) is best known for her role as Mrs. Kim on TV’s Gilmore Girls, but she has had a long career on stage and screen and is a veteran of East West Players, Los Angeles’ premier Asian American theater group.

Life and career

Kuroda was born in Fresno, California, the daughter of Kay and William Kuroda. She began acting and directing in high school and majored in drama at California State University, Fresno before launching her career on stage and screen. She starred as "Su Ho" on the MyNetworkTV sitcom Under One Roof starring Flavor Flav.

Kuroda has performed in numerous plays including Luis Alfaro’s Straight as a Line at Playwrights’ Arena, directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera, Chay Yew’s Red at East West Players, Winter People at the Boston Court, and Ken Narasaki’s Innocent When You Dream at the Electric Lodge, which was directed by her husband, Alberto Isaac. She appeared in Narasaki’s No-No Boy at the Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica CA, also directed by Isaac, alongside her Gilmore Girls daughter, Keiko Agena. Other theatres include New York’s Public Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Singapore Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, LA Women’s Shakespeare Company, Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival, and Lodestone Theatre Ensemble.

Kuroda completed seven years as Mrs. Kim in Warner Brothers’ Gilmore Girls and 13 episodes of Under One Roof with Flavor Flav. Recent television credits include a recurring role on "Drop Dead Diva (Margaret Cho’s mother)", The Medium, Grey’s Anatomy, In Case of Emergency, Six Feet Under, The King of Queens, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Practice, General Hospital, Port Charles, L.A. Law, ER, The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, The Division, The Agency, Presidio Med, Arliss, and the television special About Love (Emmy nominated). Feature films include RED, PEEP WORLD, Minority Report, Stranger Inside, 2 Days in the Valley, Dad, Broken Words, Worth Winning and Shopgirl. She has also appeared in independent Asian American films, including The Sensei, Yellow and Stand Up for Justice.

Emily is married to actor/director Alberto Isaac. She has two brothers, Paul Kuroda (an award-winning photographer in Oakland, California) and her younger brother Douglas Kuroda, an electrician in Fresno, California.

Awards

  • Drama-Logue Awards for Ikebana, The Maids, Minimata, The Golden Gate, and Visitors from Nagasaki
  • City of Los Angeles Commendation for About Love
  • Back Stage West Garland Award for Outstanding Performance for Straight As a Line.
  • LA Ovation Award nomination, Best Lead Actress, for Straight As a Line.
  • Entertainment Today Best Actress Award for Winter People
  • Playwrights’ Arena Award for Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theater.
  • East West Players’ Rae Creevey Award.